This easy camping dinner with chicken, pasta and spinach in a delicious sauce cooks up in one pot on a propane stove.
One pot meals are the perfect camping dinner because all the ingredients are added to the pot and cook together. No straining, transferring or preparing multiple dishes.
This makes cooking and clean up so much easier, which is a huge plus when you’re camping.
This one pot meal is made with chicken breast, sun-dried tomatoes, seasonings, chicken broth, pasta, and spinach. It truly is a complete meal in one! Best of all, it can feed my entire family of 6 (two adults and 4 kids).
This camping dinner recipe is so good, (and every single one of my kids loved it) that I’ve added it as one of the weeknight meals I make for my family at home as well.
Looking for more one pot camping meals? I pulled together over 25 of my favorite recipes!
How to Cook One Pot Marry Me Chicken
A propane stove works perfectly to cook up a one pot meal, you just want to be sure you have a large enough pot or pan to hold all of the ingredients.
I also prefer to use a heavy bottomed pan to avoid scorching. A cast iron pan would also work on a propane stove (or over the campfire) because it retains and distributes the heat.
You can also use a cast iron dutch oven to cook this recipe over campfire coals. Follow the same directions, but it will take a little longer to get the liquid up to a boil and to cook the pasta.
To make cooking your camping dinner even easier, you can pre-cook the diced chicken and add the minced garlic, paprika and Italian seasonings before your trip.
Just let it cool completely and then freeze the meat in a ziplock bag or container. Pack the frozen meat in your cooler and then add it to your pot with a little bit of oil.
a note from Jenny
I almost always pre-cook meats before our camping trips and try to add the spices to the meat as well. This saves me from packing a ton of extra seasoning for all the different recipes.
I do have a small spice container I use to store essential spices while camping, which you can see in my camp cooking hacks post here.
Ingredient Notes
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast: Diced chicken breasts helps to decrease the cook time. You can also pre cook the chicken and add garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and the spices to the bag before your trip.
- Pasta: Orzo pasta is perfect for this one pot recipe. It cooks quickly and also doesn’t take up too much room in the pot.
- Parmesan: Freshly grated parmesan will give the best flavor, but you can substitute with the shelf stable kind to free up room in your cooler.
- Chicken Broth: This gives the added liquid needed to completely cook your pasta while adding extra flavor. You can replace with water if needed.
- Fresh Spinach: I prefer to lightly chop or tear the spinach, but you can also leave it whole. It will wilt down in the sauce.
This Ground Turkey Pasta One Pot Meal is another delicious one pot camping meal and my kids love this One Pot Hamburger Mac and Cheese. You can also find all my other campfire dinner recipes here!
Step by Step Directions
In this section you’ll find a step by step tutorial of how to make this recipe with photos. The full recipe with exact measurements, steps and a printable card can be found at the bottom of the post.
Scroll through the step by step images ->
1. Cook the diced chicken breast
Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper and then sauté in oil (olive oil, or use the oil right from the sun-dried tomatoes!) until the outside is seared. Add the minced garlic and diced sun-dried tomatoes and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add seasonings, liquid and pasta to pan
Add paprika, Italian seasoning, chicken broth, and orzo pasta to the pot and stir to combine. Be sure the pasta is covered in liquid. Cover and bring to boil.
3. Boil and add spinach
Boil for about 6 minutes with the lid on, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Add the spinach and heavy cream and stir to incorporate. Continue boiling, with the lid removed, until the pasta is cooked and the liquid is reduced.
4. Add parmesan and serve
Remove from heat and stir in the parmesan cheese.
Marry Me Chicken One Pot Camping Dinner
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil (or reserve oil from sun-dried tomatoes)
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 oz sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/3 cups orzo pasta
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 3 cups spinach, loosely chopped or torn
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
- Season diced chicken breast with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a 3 quart sauce pan. Add chicken and sear on all sides (it's okay if the chicken isn't fully cooked in this step).
- Add minced garlic and sun-dried tomatoes and sauté until fragrant, about two minutes. Add paprika and Italian seasoning and stir to combine. (These first two steps can be completed at home before your trip!)
- Add chicken broth and orzo and stir to combine, making sure that the orzo is covered in the liquid.
- Cover, bring to a boil, and cook for about 6 minutes.
- Remove the lid and stir in heavy cream and fresh spinach. Continue boiling for about 3-4 more minutes until the pasta is tender. (Keep the lid off during this time to reduce the liquid.)
- Remove from heat. Stir in parmesan cheese and serve.