This lemon chicken foil dinner is one of our favorites that never disappoints. It’s light, zesty, buttery, and fresh, and the best part is that it’s ready in about 25 minutes. Made with season chicken breast, veggies, pasta, and lemon juice, it’s perfect for camping, outdoor grilling, and weekend dinners with the family!
Foil packet dinners are as easy as sheet pan dinners, but instead of having everything on a baking sheet, we wrap individual dinner portions in foil packets that can be cooked in the oven, on the outdoor grill, or over a campfire!
There’s something so fun about preparing camp foods and foil dinners like sausage and vegetable packet dinners, bruschetta chicken, and lemon garlic chicken that reminds me of fun camping trips with the family. They are portioned-out meals that usually come complete with protein, vegetables, and starch, and the meals always taste extra delicious when eaten under the stars!
Because they come wrapped in individual chicken foil packets, they also make a great dinner for one!
Why You’ll Love Foil Dinners
- Mess-free! Everything is contained in a foil packet, which makes cleaning up a breeze.
- Portable: These are easy to prepare ahead of time to transfer to a different location if need be.
- They’re delicious! The enclosed foil helps to steam what’s inside, infusing flavors into the protein and tenderizing the veggies.
- Customizable: Swap the chicken with a different protein. This works with fish like salmon, shrimp, sausage, lamb skewers, chicken kababs, etc.
Ingredients Needed
- Chicken: boneless, skinless chicken breast. This recipe is written for 1 serving, but you’ll need more if you plan to make more than one packet.
- Stir-fry veggies: I use the Voila! Chicken and stir-fry veggies that also come with pasta.
- Butter: As it melts in the steam, it delivers so much buttery flavor.
- Water: Just a bit of water to help create steam for even cooking and to keep it moist.
- Lemon: You’ll need a pinch of lemon zest and lemon juice from a fresh lemon.
- Seasoning: Garlic, salt and dried basil.
How to a Make Lemon Garlic Chicken Foil Dinner
Step 1: You’ll need a 12 x 18-inch sheet of foil for each foil packet dinner you make. Place a chicken breast in the center of the sheet of foil, and arrange the contents of the stir-fry package (and anything else you want to throw in) around the chicken breast.
Step 2: Bring up the sides of the foil to meet in the middle and double-fold it closed at the top. Do the same with the sides; however, make sure to leave room inside the packet for the heat to circulate.
Step 3: Place them on a cookie sheet and bake them in a preheated 450-degree oven for about 23 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.
Foil Dinner Recipe Tips
- The amount of time will vary depending on the size of the chicken breast and what you throw inside.
- You can place these foil packs over direct heat if the heat isn’t too high. Otherwise, the baking sheet makes a great buffer so that it doesn’t burn.
Variations
- For more lemon flavor, add a couple of lemon slices to the packet.
- Omit the pasta if you would rather serve it with rice.
- You could also use potatoes instead.
- Or, keep it low-carb and skip any pasta or potatoes altogether. Serve it with a side salad instead!
- Add some fresh herbs like parsley, thyme, or rosemary.
- Toss in other veggies like green beans, asparagus, bell peppers, zucchini, cauliflower, or broccoli.
Foil Dinner FAQs
Absolutely. I would only add the lemon juice if you’re preparing them no more than 6–8 hours ahead (or overnight), because the lemon juice may start to “cook” the chicken breast if kept marinating for too long.
Keep leftover chicken and stir-fry veggies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Once it’s been cooked, it should be stored as any leftover chicken would be.
If everything is still in the foil, your best bet is to use the oven. If you prefer to remove everything from the foil and transfer it to a plate, then you can use the microwave to warm up your dinner.
More Easy Chicken Recipes
- Easy Homemade Chicken Fingers
- Chicken Taco Lettuce Wraps
- Healthy Broccoli & Chicken Stir Fry
- 3 Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken Tacos
- Amazing Chicken Divan Recipe
Lemon Garlic Chicken Foil Dinners
Ingredients
- 1 boneless skinless chicken breast
- 2 cups stir-fry vegetables with pasta, such as Chicken Voila!
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon water
- A pinch of grated peel and juice from 1 lemon, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Center 1 chicken breast on sheet of foil. Arrange stir-fry vegetable mixture around chicken; top with butter. Sprinkle with water, lemon peel, garlic salt and basil.
- Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and ends to seal packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside.
- Bake 22 to 24 minutes on a cookie sheet.
- Squeeze lemon juice over chicken, serve and ENJOY!
These were seriously incredible! The chicken was super moist and so flavorful!
Thanks Katie!
Lemon Chicken Pasta Foil Dinner is my all time favorite, there’s something about lemon and chicken together just taste so delicious!
Totally agree! I just love that flavor combo too!
Yum! This is such a filling meal. Love that I can throw it all together and just let it bake. Foil dinners are just so easy and perfect for those busy weeknights.
Totally agree!
This would be a great meal to assemble then freeze. Then you could cook the number of packs that you need. I think I will try this with my meal exchange group. I bet it would be good with tilapia also. Thanks for sharing.
I think baking with foil or parchment packets should be highlighted in every beginner’s cookbook– what a great way to start out in the kitchen when just out of college or when getting married. Come to think of it, it’s perfect for making smaller portions for someone (like my grandmother) who lives on her own. I use this method all of the time and will give your recipe a try. Thanks!