This campfire creamy chicken soup is a flavorful and hearty meal, easy to prep at home and then assemble to finish cooking on site.
Soup is one of my favorite things to make when we're out camping with a group. It's easy to scale up for extra people, it doesn't require a lot of sides, and best of all, there's a lot of prep that I can do at home!
This campfire creamy chicken soup is perfect for cooler weather. It features sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, and cream cheese in a hearty and comforting blend.
Another version of this soup (the one I typically make at home) uses kale and heavy cream instead of spinach and cream cheese.
Can I Shorten the Prep or Cooking Time?
Yes! You could use pre-cooked chicken while you're prepping the soup base to save a little time.
At camp, you could use pre-cooked rice as a substitute for quinoa, and also make sure to cut your sweet potatoes small so they will require less cook time.
Do I Have to Use Chicken Thighs?
I think chicken thighs offer a nice and tender consistency for soup, but there would be nothing wrong with using a different type of chicken.
As mentioned above, you could certainly buy pre-cooked shredded chicken, or take the meat from a rotisserie chicken.
What Equipment Do I Need for Campfire Chicken Soup?
You'll need a cooler to transport the soup base and cheese to camp. We use the Igloo BMX.
Once you get to camp, the most important thing is a cast-iron Dutch oven. Besides that, you'll need typical items like a mixing bowl and ladle.
Don't forget to bring some kind of safety gear like a heat-resistant glove for pulling the Dutch oven away from the campfire.
How to Make Campfire Creamy Chicken Soup
My preference is to cook the meat and prep the soup base at home.
For this you'll need to cook the onions and carrots in a soup pot. Once they soften, add water, seasonings, and chicken.
Simmer this blend for about 25 minutes. Then pull the chicken out and shred the meat apart with a couple of forks.
Add the chicken and the rest of the soup base to a storage container.
An extra cup of cold water will help to cool down the liquid before you refrigerate it.
If you plan to use it more than two or three days from now, store it in the freezer. (Allow the mixture to cool before adding it to freezer bags.)
Once you get to camp and are ready to finish cooking, let your campfire reach a state of medium-height flames. In the meantime, you can be dicing the sweet potatoes.
Position the cooking grate over the fire. In your cast-iron Dutch oven, combine the soup base you prepared at home with chicken broth, quinoa, sweet potatoes, and canned spinach.
Bring the mixture to a simmer over the campfire.
Cook the soup for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft and the quinoa is cooked. Take the pot off the campfire.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk the cream cheese with some of the hot broth ladled from the soup.
Next, pour the cheese mixture into the soup and stir well.
Finally, adjust the seasonings to your preference, adding more salt, garlic, or red pepper as desired.
Serve the soup while warm. Bread (especially lightly toasted on the campfire grate) makes a great addition to this meal.
For more camping-friendly soups, try my campfire versions of chili, taco soup, fish lentil stew, or red lentil stew.
Campfire Creamy Chicken Soup
Equipment
- mixing bowl
- Heat-resistant glove or a pot holder
- soup ladle
Ingredients
Used at home during prep:
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 onions, diced
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
- 3 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons dried herb mixture (such as Italian seasoning or Herbes de Provence)
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 2 cups water, divided
Used at camp:
- 4 cups chicken broth
- ½ cup quinoa
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes, diced into 1” thick pieces, then halved or quartered (peeling potatoes optional)
- 14 ounce can spinach
- 8 ounces Neufchâtel cheese (low-fat cream cheese), softened (optional), or use 1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
Prep Soup Base at Home:
- Add oil, onions, carrots and sea salt to a large soup pot with a lid, such as a Dutch oven. Heat over medium heat until onions and carrots begin to soften.Add garlic powder, herb mixture, and red pepper flakes (if desired) and stir. Add chicken and 1 cup water. Cover pot and simmer over medium heat about 25 minutes, or until chicken is tender.
- Use a fork or tongs to pull the chicken out of the pot and onto a cutting board with ridges (to catch the juice). Use two forks to pull the thigh meat apart.
- Add chicken, as well as the onion, carrot and liquid mixture to a storage container. If there’s room, add about 1 more cup of cold water to help cool down the soup base. (If using plastic freezer bags, allow soup base to cool before adding.)If using within 2-3 days, refrigerate and keep in an ice cold cooler at camp. Alternatively, freeze and use within 3 months.
At Camp:
- Prepare a campfire with medium-sized flames. Place the metal cooking grate over the fire.Add soup base to a cast-iron Dutch oven. Add 4 cups broth, quinoa, potatoes and spinach (with liquid). Set Dutch oven on campfire grate and bring to a simmer.
- Cook about 20 minutes until the potatoes are softened and quinoa is cooked. Remove soup from heat.
- Place the cheese in a separate mixing bowl. Ladle a little of the hot broth from the soup on the cheese and whisk until cheese is melted.Slowly pour the cheese into the soup, stirring while pouring. Stir until cheese is mixed through.
- Taste soup, adding more seasoning as desired. (Salt or garlic if it tastes bland, more red pepper if you want more spice.) Serve immediately.
Leave a Comment: