Foil Packet Chicken with Peas and Carrots
This foil packet chicken with peas and carrots is beyond easy to prepare but the flavor is fantastic. It is the perfect, gourmet tin foil dinner!
While you can still get your hands on some fresh snow peas and carrots, you must try this recipe. It is one of the most delectable dinners I’ve had in a while.
The ingredients are super simple: chicken, peas, carrots, hoisin sauce, garlic, ginger. But the combination is out of this world. I loved the simplicity of this meal and how quickly and easily it came together.
The chicken, after steaming in the oven, is tender as can be and the subtle taste of garlic and ginger is all this dish needs to be flavorfully perfect.
My kids thought it was ultra-cool that they each got their own foil packet for dinner and they ate everything right up. Apparently, peas taste better baked in foil.
I will definitely be making this meal again while fresh produce is in season! My husband called this a “Gourmet Tin Foil Dinner.” Good thing he didn’t know how easy it was to throw together. He just may get this for his next campout!
Foil Packet Chicken with Peas and Carrots
Ingredients
- 18-24 baby carrots
- 2 cups sugar snap peas
- 1 (1-inch piece) of fresh gingerroot, peeled and grated (I grated mine on my microplane
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped or pressed through a garlic press
- Salt and pepper
- 4 small chicken breasts, about 1 ½ pounds, trimmed (with large, thick chicken breasts, I cut them in half by butterflying them and cutting all the way through to make two thinner cuts of chicken – this helps the chicken cook quicker and helps your chicken to go further)
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cut 4 pieces of aluminum foil (heavy duty) about 12 inches square (if you don’t have heavy-duty aluminum foil, use two pieces of regular aluminum foil for each packet). In a small bowl, combine garlic and ginger (I used my fingers to gently mash them together).
- Arrange the carrots and peas on the aluminum foil. Sprinkle with the ginger/garlic mixture (this doesn’t sprinkle like salt and pepper so don’t worry if you get a clump here and there – the flavors will absorb while baking), and salt and pepper to taste. Brush the chicken on both sides with the hoisin sauce. Top each portion of vegetables with a piece of chicken. Salt lightly.
- Bring opposite sides of the foil up to meet over the chicken. Fold the edges together in a ¼-inch fold, and then fold over 3 more times. Fold the open edges at either end of the packet together in a ¼-inch fold, and then fold over twice again to seal.
- Put the foil packets on a baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes. Transfer the contents of each packet to a dinner plate and serve.
Recipe Source: Adapted from Cooks Illustrated
Simple and delicious. Perfect for after the gym and when I’m feeling down. Thank you!
was very disappointed your recipe would not display. So I adapted my own amounts of the ingredients. IT WAS SUPER!!
Where is the recipe? I would love this recipe for my family’s camping trip in a couple weeks. Pretty please!
mel, I can’t seem to find a recipie for foil pack chicken with peas and carrots. The blog is there but no recipie
Yeah I’m not seeing it either, did i miss something?
Hi Melanie! I just wanted to compliment and rave about your website. Everything I cook and bake is awesome. I think the most recipes I have tried are from your cookie section but even your soups and dinners have made me look like a pro. Thank you, thank you! I’m excited to try this recipe- it reminds me of a dish at my favorite Chinese restaurant. Happy New Year.
Made this tonight and will make it again with a few changes! Thanks for the dinner idea! 🙂 We liked how the veggies turned out but our chicken was bland and a little dry. I checked the chicken temp after 30 minutes and it was at 168 degrees – normally I cook my grilled chicken to 165 and then let it rest so I know I didn’t overcook them. Not sure why they were so dry. 🙁 My chicken also was white on the outside, not brown like yours looks in the pic. Will try again but probably with some marinated chicken the next time and more veggies (thinking water chestnuts will be a nice Asian addition and add little crunch).
Ali – that’s a good question! You are the first to notice that inconsistency so thanks for bringing it to my attention. I use sugar snap peas in this recipe because the chunkier peas hold up better to the cooking.
Quick question – recipe title says “snow peas” but recipe ingredients say “sugar snap peas”. I’ve always considered those two different things (snow peas being the flatter variety with really no “peas” inside; sugar snaps are the crunchy ones with the fat peas inside the pod. I’m sure both would be delicious, just curious which one you actually use! 🙂
First time I cooked using the foil…and it was a breeze! =) Thank you for a very easy to prepare dinner. My kids and husband were impressed with the packaging and the kids ate all their veggies! =) My husband even commented on how healthy this dish is and that we should have it more often. ( He wants to cut back on the red meat) Thanks Melanie for another hit dish! =) I’ll be browsing your recipe index and will get back to you when I get to them =)
Melanie – I’m seriously impressed you would have snow peas laying around. Amazing. I’m glad you liked this and the changes with the teriyaki sauce sound awesome.
Thanks for this great recipe. We made it last night for dinner after realizing that I had all of the ingredients on hand. (Snow peas laying around? go figure!) The only ingredient I did not have was the hoisin sauce. Instead I made teriyaki sauce and thickened it a little more that my recipe called for. (1/3 c. soy sauce, 1/3 c. sugar, 2 T vinegar, 2 T ?cornstarch heated until thickened)The packets were terrific! Thanks so much!–Melanie S.
made some changes to the recipe… i grated half the carrots into the foil with the garlic. Then i chopped the rest of the carrots. it made the sauce in the bottom of the foil a little sweeter.
i omitted the ginger all together. it made it a little spicy for me.
i stirred the hoison sauce and some sauteed onions into the rice.
this is my “i’m hungry but i don’t want to do dishes” meal.
good stuff!
Krista – I love that: “i’m hungry but don’t want to do the dishes” – that’s my motto every night! Unfortunately, I’m usually the one doing the dishes. Glad you liked this!
Great idea! I love foil packets. They are such easy clean up. 🙂
ohhh peas taste better in foil???Who knew?
I should try it on my kids!
This would be perfect for those days I work in the morning and am tired. I remember seeing foil packets from the reynolds commericals but forgot about them, thanks for reminding me!
I love doing foil packet meals!
This makes an easy and delicious meal with little clean up…great idea!
any idea why they’re called snow peas? i don’t have a clue, but i don’t care–they’re delicious, and foil never had such a perfect use. 🙂
What kind of Hoison sauce do you use? The only kind I find in local stores around here doesn’t taste anything like what I get in restaurants , so it’s hard to know what kind to use with recipes like this one to get the desired flavor.
any substitute reccomendations for the hoison sauce, i dont have any and i was going to whip this up tonight??? love love love your blog
never mind i just found a recipe and ran it through my magic bullet….yummy
Anne – I use the Dynasty brand of hoisin sauce. It’s the only brand I’ve ever found in stores and we like the flavor. I’m not sure if it tastes the same as in restaurants since we don’t eat out much but we really like it.
Anonymous – would you mind commenting and sharing your substitution for hoisin sauce?
Sometimes the fewer the ingredients, the more flavorful the dish. Wonderful combination of ingredients.
Thanks for this awesome recipe! My store didn’t have hoisin sauce (they were out!) so I bought plum sauce instead & it turned out great! I also thought that snap peas were too expensive, so I substituted snow peas instead & that worked great, too!
This looks simple and healthy. I love those two combinations!
Teri – great idea to use plum sauce and snow peas in a pinch. Glad it turned out!
Melanie,
I made these the other night when we had a family ‘campout’ in our backyard. They were so good and a huge hit with my boys. Thanks for the great idea!
I added a 1/4 cup of brown sugar to the hoisin sauce Yum. Thanks. I love all of your great recipes and ideas 🙂
http://tasteeveryseason.blogspot.com/
Jessica – what a fun family activity! Thanks for letting me know you liked these. I bet the addition of brown sugar was awesome. Thanks for your comment!
my favorite thing about this dish is that i can make JUST ONE and cook it only for me. Since I’m a college student with a roomate who isn’t always home, it’s nice to not have to cook for a whole family when it’s just me here.
It smelled wonderful when it went in the oven, and the sauce that goes on the chicken is so yummy, even by itself. What a great recipe, once again.
Thanks so much!!
Krista
Krista – that is a great tip about this meal I didn’t think of – that you can make just one! Glad you like it!