I am a sucker for Mexican food. I can never turn it down, something about the combination of meat, cheese, beans, and tortillas, gets me every time. I make Mexican food as much as my family will eat, that includes when we are on camping trips. But some Mexican food is tough to make with out an oven unless you have a dutch oven. We love to make this ooey, gooey, delicious chicken enchilada pie in our dutch oven.

If you are new to dutch oven cooking it can be stressful, with plenty of meals that are either burnt or not cooked fully. But if you stick with it, finding the correct temperature with coals becomes easier. Dutch oven cooking can be a really easy thing while camping and allows you to not constantly look or tend to a meal.

If you are trying to cut down on cooking tasks while camping, just do as many preparations ahead of time as possible. For this chicken enchilada pie, I like to cook my chicken, with onions, green peppers, squash, and spices. I then add the drained corn and black beans and heat that up. I put it all in a container and just keep it in my cooler until I am ready to make the meal. When you are at the campsite you can use a camp stove or grill grate on your campfire to heat up the mixture in a cast iron pan.

I found this recipe on wanderlustandlipstick.com and have adapted it a bit to suit my needs. Overall, this can be a really easy meal to make while camping and both kids and adults love it!

By the way –

Here’s our favorite Dutch Oven.

And here’s the best way to clean it.

Chicken Enchilada Pie In A Dutch Oven

Author: Chelsey Janes

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2-inch pieces
• ½ onion, chopped
• 1 medium yellow squash, halved and sliced
• 1 tsp cumin
• ½ tbsp olive oil
• ¼ tsp Red cayenne pepper
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 15 oz can yellow corn, drained
• 1 15 oz can black beans, drained
• 1 package corn tortillas
• 1 28 oz can red enchilada sauce
• 1 small package of jiffy cornbread mix, 1 egg and milk specified on the box.
• 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese

Instructions

1. In a medium pan pour in the olive oil and cook chicken, onions, peppers, squash, cumin and cayenne pepper. This is the best time to start your dutch oven so the coals stay warm. Add corn and black beans to heat through in the pan.
2. You can then assemble it in the dutch oven. Put 1 cup of the enchilada sauce on the bottom, put about 1 cup of the chicken mixture in. Cover with corn tortillas.
3. Repeat these layers by pouring sauce on top of the tortillas, chicken mixture and then tortillas. Mix together your cornbread, just as the instructions say on the box.
4. Once complete, pour the liquid cornbread mixture over your layers. Add the 1 cup of cheese. Get the temperature of dutch oven up to about 350 degrees.
5. Cook for 30 minutes and check to see how solidified it is. If it is still gooey, cook for another 15 minutes.

3.3.3077Joslin Fritz is a source for news, information and inspiration on all topics related to adventure travel and outdoor recreation. She has some good camping cooking recipes here. [/box]