Last Updated on June 13, 2026 by PorchLightReading
Delicious campfire nachos cooked in individual foil packets to fit everyones tastes. Fun, simple, and loaded with cheese! Plus nacho bar set up, toppings, and tips.
What I love about campfire nachos is how quick and easy they are to make! It’s a family meal that really gets everyone involved around the picnic table with tearing the tin foil plates, shredding the cheese, dicing the vegetables, and finally cooking them over the fire.
The campfire brings us all together while we listen to music, share stories, and talk about the adventures we’re excited for the next day. It’s a pretty special feeling and funny enough, it all starts with the nachos.
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- Table on contents: Campfire Nachos Recipe + Easy Foil Packets
- Why campfire nachos work for families
- Campfire nachos recipe & assembly
- Campfire cooking tips
- Substitutions and variations
- What to serve with campfire nachos
- Creating a nacho bar
- Jump to recipe card
Campfire Nachos For Families
Campfire nachos isn’t a new idea, but we have found a few different ways to make them a full family interactive experience instead of just one person doing the legwork.
Camping is about family time, and truthfully, a lot of time is spent around the fire, playing around the campsite, and taking walks nearby. Oh, of course we do our fair share of exploring too! But it’s about the memories we all share together.
So why not turn campfire nachos into a full dinner experience?
Why Campfire Nachos Work So Well For Families
We’ve since traded dutch oven nachos for individual foil packets for a few reasons, but the main one is that everyone has their own tastes!
Dad likes his extra spicy with jalapeños, mom (me) loves red onions and mixing a bit of everything, and the kids are on opposite sides of the scale with wanting all the beef and one only wanting cheese and bean.
Of course us parents want them to load them up with healthy stuff, but we are camping after all and somehow we’ve been lead to believe that chips are a good option for dinner. So I guess we can be flexible.
- Full on family experiance with a nacho bar
- Easy for picky eaters
- Customizable toppings to suit everyones liking
- Older kids can assemble their own foil packet nachos
- Easy clean up and little mess!
- We make these a couple of nights into our camping trip and use leftovers for some toppings!
- Bonus
- Everyone is around the table and campfire
- Good music to listen to
- Turns the campfire into an entire event
Campfire Nachos Recipe
The recipe for campfire nachos is pretty basic and truthfully you probably don’t need my help for most of it! But we’ll go over a few basic ingredients and a few added extra so you can customizes them to your own meal plan.
- Basic Ingredients
- Tortilla chips (1 bag per 6-7 people)
- Shredded cheese (cheddar is great!)
- Protein (fully cooked)
- cooked beef
- shredded chicken
- pulled pork
- black beans
- Optional extras
- onions
- peppers
- diced tomatoes
- Topping ideas
- jalapenos
- sour cream
- salsa
- avacado
- cilantro
- olives
- queso
- a light shake of hot sauce or a thin drizzle of BBQ sauce
How To Make Campfire Nachos in Foil Packets
I’d like to start by mentioning that we try and use a layer of parchment paper (not wax paper) before adding our food to any tin foil packet. This helps prevent sticking and gives a protective barrier against the tin foil.
Regular parchment paper is only rated up to 450℉ but you can find heavy duty parchment paper from Amazon!
Prep the foil- Use heavy-duty foil and lightly spray with olive oil or use parchment paper to prevent sticking. Create a foil packet for each family member.
Layer with chips and toppings- Start with a layer of chips, then add cheese, meat, beans, jalapeños, onions and any other toppings you’d liked cooked into the nachos. Tip- Try not to overfill the packets so they cook evenly.
Fold the foil packets- Seal loosely by using another piece of tin foil on top and roll the edges to create a pocket. Be sure to leave a little room inside for the heat to circulate.
Cook over the campfire- Place the foil packets on campfire grate near medium heat, not directly in the flames. Rotate packets using long tongs so that the chips don’t burn. Cook for about 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and everything is heated through.
You may need to cook these individual nacho packets in batches depending on how large your campfire grate is and how many you are making.
Add fresh toppings and serve- Remove from heat using tongs and heat safe gloves. Allow the tin foil to cool on hot plate before opening and adding fresh toppings.
Top with sour cream, salsa, avocado, or cilantro before serving. Enjoy!
Campfire Cooking Tips For Nachos
Cooking over the campfire takes a bit of practice. Too hot with high flames and your food with quickly burn without cooking. Too low and little heat, and your onions and peppers won’t fully cook.
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Medium/low heat over indirect flames is really the way to go here. The chips will be crisp but not burnt, and the veggies will be fully cooked with melty cheese.
- Avoid direct flames (too much heat will burn the chips)
- Use heavy-duty tin foil (helps prevent tearing and easier to move)
- Use heat safe gloves and rotate packets over campfire with long tongs
- Once cooked, allow tin foil packets to fully cool before opening
- Only adults with campfire experience should be cooking the campfire nachos!
Substitutions and Variations
A lot of the time we cook these a few days into our camping trip, that way we can use leftovers! Leftover chicken, leftover pulled pork. It works great at using the last few things we previously cooked and adding a few more ingredients we want to finish up, like grilled pineapple and onions.
- Swap the protein
- shredded chicken
- ground turkey
- taco beef
- pulled pork
- black beans
- Make it vegetarian
- black beans
- refried beans
- corn & peppers
- avacado
- extra cheese
- Kid-Friendly nachos
- plain cheese
- mild taco meat
- crushed tortilla chips
- simple/light toppings
What To Serve With Campfire Nachos
Well we can think of this a couple of different ways but, for us we’re keeping it simple. Fresh fruit, pasta salad, and sliced watermelon would be perfect with tonights dinner.
You can also get creative. If you have a picky eater then now is the time to offer a bit of our toppings as a side! Baked beans, corn, or a bit of shredded chicken to fill them up before dessert.
- fresh fruit
- pasta salad
- sliced watermelon
- baked beans
- corn
Not to overcomplicate things but the campfire is already going so you might feel ambitious enough to try a campfire dessert!
- Campfire desserts
- campfire cobbler (Recipe)
- strawberry shortcake (Recipe)
- s’mores
- grilled peaches
How To Set Up a Campfire Nacho Bar
Since we are making this an entire family meal activity, we are going to need to use the picnic table to the fullest!
Instead of plates for each person, each person is getting a square piece of tin foil. Parents then can ration out the tortilla chips for each “plate,” before adding their favorite toppings.
In the center of the table on paper plates (easy clean up) add fully cooked taco meat, chicken, tomatoes, corn, onions, and peppers. Let everyone load up with nacho bar toppings and rip another square tin foil for the top of each foil packet plate.
Show everyone how to roll up the edges to create a packet and let the campfire maintainer do the rest! Cooking in small batches if needed.
At this point I’d recommend cleaning up a bit and adding fresh toppings to the table. Salsa, sour cream, avocado ect.
Don’t forget to bring extra hot plates out for the nachos to fully cool on before serving!
- Lessons we’ve learned
- Use cooked leftover meat from previous meals
- Don’t overfill the packets
- Keep the packets near coals, not flames
- Use more cheese than you think!
- Heavy-duty foil is best
Campfire nachos are one of those camping meals that somehow always ends up being a family favorite. The music is going and the sun is setting, giving everyone those warm fuzzy feelings that make good memories to look back on.
Someone will inevitably have a bit of crispy chip edges and it’s best to watch for all the little cheese thief’s, but they are simple to throw together and customize, making this family camping meal one for the books.
I hope you enjoy them as much as our family does and we’ll see you on our next adventure!
Recipe Card
Campfire Nachos Foil Packets
Ingredients
- 1 bag tortilla chips
- 8 oz cheddar cheese (or Mexican blend)
- 2 cups shredded chicken
- 1/2` cup black beans (or refried beans)
- 1 jalapeno
- 1 avocado
- salsa
- sour cream
- cilantro
- 1 lime
Instructions
- Use heavy-duty foil and lightly spray with olive oil or use parchment paper to prevent sticking. Create a foil packet for each family member.
- Start with a layer of chips, then add cheese, meat, beans, and other toppings you'd liked cooked into the nachos.
- Seal loosely by using another piece of tin foil on top, and roll the edges to create a pocket. Be sure to leave a little room inside for the heat to circulate.
- Place the foil packets on campfire grate near medium heat, not directly in the flames. Rotate packets using long tongs so that the chips don't burn. Cook for about 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and everything is heated through.You may need to cook these individual nacho packets in batches depending on how large your campfire grate is and how many you are making.
- Remove from heat using tongs and heat safe gloves. Allow the tin foil to cool on hot plate before opening and adding fresh toppings.
- Top with sour cream, salsa, avocado, or cilantro before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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