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★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★
Camping (or Glamping), Your Way
Whether you love roughing it in a tent or prefer the comforts of an air mattress—or even an air-conditioned cabin—there’s one part of camping everyone agrees on: the food. Campfire meals just have a way of making the experience extra special.
The Star of the Fire: Smoked Chicken
This campfire smoked rotisserie chicken is the perfect recipe to make outdoors. It’s hearty, flavorful, and turns a simple camping trip into something memorable. Nothing beats that smoky flavor you only get from a real fire.
Backyard Camping Made Easy
Don’t have time to pack up the family for a weekend away? No problem. This recipe works beautifully right in your backyard. With a little imagination, it can feel just like a campsite—minus the long drive and forgotten gear.
Anytime, Anywhere
That’s the beauty of campfire chicken. You can cook it while camping, glamping, or simply hanging out at home. Wherever you build a fire, this recipe is your ticket to an easy, delicious meal that feels like an adventure.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
Here's what you'll need to brine and season your smoked chicken.
- Whole chickens
- Salt
- Sugar
- Water
- Apple cider vinegar
- Brown sugar
- White pepper
- Bottled beer (or use water or chicken broth)
- Barbecue sauce
★Tips & FAQs ★
You can easily smoke a chicken over a campfire, you just need a rotisserie style set up and some time.
We actually built our own rotisserie. There were some 4x4s lying around from the garden bed we had just dug up which made a perfect pair of stanchions for the spit. He cut two pieces, each 36" tall then drilled holes towards the top, big enough for the spit to go through.
After that, he secured the boards along the bottom with a scrap piece of metal he had but said they were just for added measure and that you could probably get away with not doing that. The 4x4s were placed on either side of the firepit, far enough away from the fire itself of course, and we used the loose stones from our firepit to secure them in place. The actual spit he got from his sister who had it from an old grill.
If you don't want to go to the trouble of making your own spit, or would just find it more convenient to buy a spit, check out this Grizzly Spit Rotisserie that has great reviews and an electric rotator to help with even cooking.
Depending on the size, temperature of the fire and wind conditions, cook times may vary greatly. Check the internal temperature of your chicken to be sure it is fully cooked before consuming. It's done at 165ºF.
Want an easy side dish to go with this campfire chicken, smoke some corn too. Throw some whole, husk-on, sweet corn into the hot embers while you let the chicken rest. They should cook in about 5 minutes and ideally you'll want to soak them in water first so the husk doesn't completely burn before they're cooked. This also helps to sort of steam the corn inside.
★More Camping Recipes ★
Corn and chicken make a complete meal when you're camping, right? But in case you want to step it up, here are some other ideas that would go well with the smokey flavor of this chicken.
Make-ahead ideas: Beer Bread, Pasta Salad, Edamame Salad, Cucumber and Tomato Salad, and Broccoli Slaw.
And all this washes down nicely with my famous camping sangria.
For more camping recipes, check out my camping food Pinterest board!
This campfire smoked rotisserie chicken recipe and how-to was featured on South Your Mouth!
Campfire Smoked Rotisserie Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 whole chickens
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup salt
- 1 gallon tap water
- 2 cups apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 2 cups water or use beer for extra flavor
- Barbecue sauce to taste for serving
Mighty Mrs. is a #WalmartPartner.
Instructions
- Brine chicken. Place two chickens in large stock pot. Add salt and sugar then fill pot with water to cover chickens. Let chicken sit in brine for at least 4 hours or overnight. (Refrigerate if letting sit overnight).
- Heat your campfire to a point where there are plenty of hot coals in the pit.
- Truss your chickens (see video for how-to) then skewer chickens firmly onto the rotisserie spit over your campfire.
- Combine apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, white pepper and water or beer in a squirt bottle. Douse chicken with this mixture.
- Rotate spit every 20-30 mins (10-15 if your fire is roaring). Add wood to the fire as needed to keep fire nice and hot but don't let flames touch the meat. Douse chicken once an hour with brown sugar and vinegar mixture.
- Cook chicken for 4-8 hours depending on how hot your fire is. Chicken is done when thickest part of the bird is 165˚F. Let chicken rest covered with foil for 10-15 minutes before carving. Rub with barbecue sauce and serve.
Notes
- Cook time can vary greatly due to the difficulty in keeping an open fire a consistent temperature. Please use a meat thermometer to check for doneness.
- Chicken should be about 30" above your hot fire. Smoke is good and heat is good, flames are bad! Don't let the flames touch your chicken.
- Do not leave your slow-cooking chicken unattended.
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