These Creamy Parmesan Chicken Foil Packets are packed with chicken breast chunks, pearl couscous, and savory garlic-parmesan flavor—baked or grilled in foil for simple cleanup. Great for weeknights or campfire dinners!
Chicken Foil Packets
If you love easy foil packet dinners that feels like comfort food, these Garlic Parmesan Chicken Foil Packets are a must-try. Juicy chicken, tender couscous, and garlicparmesan flavor all cook together in one pouch, then are topped with fresh basil. Like my popular BBQ Chicken Foil Packets—these are great for baking in the oven or cooking on the grill—and the fan-favorite Campfire Meatloaf Foil Packets—ideal for campers and weeknight meals. They’re cozy, kid-friendly, and perfect whether you’re at home or camping in your favorite summer getaway.
Why This Recipe Works
I was asked to share family-friendly chicken recipes that can be cooked outdoors—perfect for camping, RVs, or grilling—without needing to prep separate meals inside, and these foil packets were a big hit.
- One-Packet Convenience: Everything– chicken, couscous, garlic, and cheese–cooks together in foil. No extra pots or pans to wash!
- Flexible Cooking Methods: Whether you’re using your oven, grill, or campfire, these foil packets are tender and flavorful every time.
- Family-Friendly Flavors: Garlic, parmesan, and basil keep it simple yet delicious, making it perfect for picky eaters or a no-fuss weeknight dinner.
- Great for Meal Prep or Camping: Assemble ahead of time and stash in the fridge or cooler. Ideal for outdoor cooking or busy schedules.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here are the ingredients for these garlic parmesan chicken foil packets. See the recipe card below for the exact measurements.
- Garlic: The pungent flavor of minced garlic cloves mellows and becomes aromatic once cooked, infusing the chicken and couscous.
- 1/3-less Fat Cream Cheese: At room temperature so it blends smoothly.
- Parmesan Cheese: Add some to the sauce and sprinkle more on before serving.
- Low-Sodium Chicken Broth helps cook the couscous and keep the chicken moist.
- Salt and Black Pepper for seasoning
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts: Cutting chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes helps them cook faster.
- Pearl Couscous uncooked, it will cook in the foil
- Basil to sprinkle on top for freshness and flavor.
- Heavy-Duty Foil is best, but if you only have regular foil, use a double layer to prevent it from tearing.
How to Make Chicken Foil Packets
Cooking food wrapped in foil gently steams it, while also minimizing cleanup. See the recipe card at the bottom for printable directions.
- Preheat your oven to 375°F or the grill to 400°F.
- Blend the Sauce: Add the garlic, cream cheese, parmesan, broth, salt, and pepper to a small blender or whisk in a bowl. Then, stir in the chicken and couscous.
- Make the Foil Packets: Place the chicken mixture in the center of a 12- inch piece of foil, and tightly fold the foil closed.
- How Long to Cook Chicken Foil Packets: Grill or bake the foil packet for 15 minutes. Then, remove and let sit for 5 minutes. To check the chicken, confirm it’s done with an instant-read thermometer or by slicing a piece in half. If it’s not fully cooked, reseal the foil and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- How to Serve: Stir in the remaining broth and fluff the couscous with a fork. Top with basil and parmesan.
Variations
- Chicken: Substitute breasts for boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Trim off the fat and cut into 1-inch pieces.
- Herbs: Top with fresh rosemary, parsley, or chives.
- Dairy-Free: Use dairy-free cream cheese and parmesan (or substitute nutritional yeast).
- Add vegetables, like sliced zucchini, mushrooms, or bell peppers.
Serving Suggestions
If you’re making these foil packets for a camping trip, below are some vegetable side dish ideas you can make ahead and pack in an ice chest. You could also prep these Veggie Kabobs or slice zucchini and throw them on the grill with the chicken.
Storage
This Chicken Foil Packet recipe is written for one serving, but it’s easy to scale up to make more packs. Just multiply all the ingredients by the number of people you need to feed.
- Refrigerate leftovers for up to 4 days.
- Reheat chicken foil packets in the oven or on the grill at 350°F until warm. If you remove the foil, you can also microwave the food.
More Foil Packet Recipes You’ll Love
For more dinner ideas using foil packs, check out these five delicious grilled foil packet recipes to inspire your next meal!
- Foil Packet Cheesy Sausage and Peppers
- Mediterranean Fish Foil Packets
- Grilled Clams in Foil
- Grilled Fish Fillet in Foil Packets
- Lemon Potatoes in Foil
Chicken Foil Packets with Couscous
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 2 tablespoons ⅓ less fat cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- ⅓ cup + ¼ cup low sodium chicken broth, divided
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 6 ounce chicken breast, cut into 1” cubes
- ⅓ cup uncooked pearl couscous, I used tri color
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
Instructions
- If using the oven: Preheat oven to 375°F.
- If using the grill to cook: Preheat grill to 400°F this should take at least 10 minutes while you prep the rest. (The temp will reduce slightly when you open the lid)
- In a bullet blender or large bowl thoroughly mix cream cheese, 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese, garlic, ⅓ cup chicken broth, salt and pepper until combined. Add chicken breast and couscous, gently stir. The liquid will absorb.
- Tear off a 12-inch pieces of heavy duty foil and fold into pocket-like shape; transfer to an oven-safe or grill safe baking sheet.
- Spoon the chicken and couscous in the center of the foil. Bring two ends up and over the chicken and crimp to close. Crimp sides so everything is completely enclosed.
- Carefully place the foil packet and sheet pan on one side of the grill and turn the burners below the packets down to low. Close the lid. Cook for 15 minutes at 350°F to 375°F. Remove the foil packets to the rimmed baking sheet and let sit for 5 minutes before opening. Check chicken for doneness, if needs more time or if you have trouble keeping the grill to temp, re-seal and add 5 minutes more.
- Carefully open the foil packets, there will be hot steam trapped inside so use caution while opening.
- Stir in the remaining broth and fluff with a fork, top with basil and parmesan before serving.
Delicious! We used single serve crocks and wrapped them in foil. Had to cook longer but came out so yummy. My husband and I both LOVE garlic and it was very garlicky! The sauce is versatile too for other recipes. I did use cottage cheese instead of cream cheese because it’s what we had on hand! Will definitely make this again!
Should I not heat remaining broth as it had raw chicken in it,
Had to cook about double the recommended time, but it’s very tasty. Would probably be great to add vegetables
I made this on the grill, and we loved it! Next time, I made it in the oven– 15 minutes at 375…and the chicken was still raw. Any tips? Thanks!
I can’t find the pearl couscous. Can I use the smaller ones? Almost like instant
Stellar results! It tasted so rich and creamy and was very flavorful!
Made this last night and it was awesome. The only thing I will do differently next time is add in more couscous and a little more broth…just because that was so awesome I wanted more!!
I increased the recipe to 4 servings. I cooked it for 15 mins at 375 and it wasn’t even close to being cooked. It was still very much raw. Not sure if I did anything wrong 🙁
I wanted to do this, but used ChatGPT to check the logic and it said that the chicken will cook unevenly if you use too much in one packet. It needs to all lay flat. Maybe try again using separate foil packets if you want to make more.
I had the same problem..raw and uncooked. I thought I made the pieces small enough. Not sure what I did wrong. Just put it back in the oven to hope it will work.
I’ve always wanted to try a foil packet dinner and this one did not disappoint! Such good flavor and super easy! Make sure you cut the chicken in smaller chunks so it cooks through in the 15 mins.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Not sure what I did wrong. I cooked in the oven for 15 minutes at 375 per directions and the packets were not even close to done.
Do you think I could cook this in my air fryer instead of oven?
Maybe but I would reduce the temp and play around with the time.
Maybe I used the wrong kind of couscous (Israeli Pearl), but the couscous tasted like cardboard and there wasn’t enough variety of flavor in the dish to save it. The creamy sauce smelled amazing, so I was really disappointed this didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped.
Weird!
This was very good but it took quite a bit longer for the couscous to cook than the recipe suggested. I added asparagus to add some color and flavor. Otherwise I’ve followed the recipe exactly.
Asparagus sounds like a great choice! Adds variety to color and texture.
What a great recipe that is fast and delicious. Foil packs are wonderful as they are portion controlled and can customize as needed. I added red bell pepper, used chicken tenders, and made some smaller using one tab cream cheese and .25 cup for both the orzo and broth, and used 4 ounces chicken. Worked out just fine. At the end with smaller portions added two tabs more chicken broth. We loved these, would be great for company and make ahead packets. Another favorite
So happy you enjoyed them!!
This was so delicious! Was making some for a family of 4 so I just adjusted the measurements accordingly and instead of doing foil packets, I put everything in a casserole dish and covered tightly with foil. Came out great, thanks Gina!
I tried scaling this up to 4 servings and it was not a success. WAY too much garlic even though I cut it in half and it required 45 minutes at 400 in a foil-wrapped casserole dish and still was pretty soupy. Flavor was good though. I would stick to individual packets if you are trying this.
Could you do this on a Blackstone flat top grill?
Not sure?
So I made this this evening but I swapped cottage cheese for the cream cheese. It was delicious.
fun!
Would it be possible to use quinoa instead of couscous?
I have not tried but i think so?
Did you try it? I was looking to see if anyone had tried quinoa or not.
My husband doesn’t like couscous. Could I use rice in its place?
You can try!
Tasty and easy!! I made 2 packets last night and put one in the fridge afterward for today and next time i think i would not make the 2nd one, just put it in the fridge for a day and cook the next day or i would put it in a container not leave it in the foil to reheat the next day
Still loved it and made another 2 foil packet recipes for dinner today! I had the leftovers from last night for lunch 🤣
Loved this! Simple and fast and tasty! Added asparagus, red onion and green pepper to mine
Can I make this in a pan on the stove? Or in parchment?
Thank you.
Stove- oven at 375, bake the foil packet for 15 minutes. Then, remove and let sit for 5 minutes. To check the chicken, confirm it’s done with an instant-read thermometer or by slicing a piece in half. If it’s not fully cooked, reseal the foil and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Thank you. I’m trying this tonight
Just confirming this is for one packet (6 oz. of chicken). If I were to do for 2, then it would be 12 oz. chicken and then 2 packets, correct? Looks perfect for a weeknight!
Correct.
Could Boursin cheese be used instead of cream cheese? I have some leftover from your delicious scallop, Boursin tomato recipe.
It will change the taste but I don’t see why not
Great recipe! I made 4 servings, and instead of making foil packets I put it in a large casserole dish (so the mixture wasn’t too deep and would cook faster) and covered with foil. I cooked it 25 minutes, and it’s delicious! The only change I made was that I added onion and garlic powder along with Italian seasoning. It’s definitely a keeper!
Looks awesome. Thanks for another great recipe (idea). Question, can I sub orzo for the couscous or something else? For whatever reason my hubby not a fan of couscous…
I think it would work!