Camp cooking doesn’t need to be a hassle. And Dutch oven camping recipes can make even the most complicated camping meals easy. Dutch ovens are versatile, easy to clean, and can take a beating. Just the kind of cookware you need to take on your next rugged outdoor adventure.
While Dutch ovens tend to be on the heavier side, the benefits of bringing one camping outweigh the drawbacks. Almost any camping meal can be prepared and cooked in one pot and it can be heated either on a camp stove, a grill grate or directly on your campfire coals.
Here’s some information that will help you get to know your Dutch oven a little better and some yummy Dutch oven camping recipes to try at home or on your next camping trip.
Index
- Easy Dutch Oven Camping Recipes
- Dutch Oven Chicken Recipes
- DutchOven Bread Recipes
- Dutch Oven Desserts
- What is a Dutch Oven
- Types of Dutch Ovens
- How to use a Dutch Oven When Camping
- The Best Camping Dutch Ovens
- Other Recommended Gear For Dutch Oven Camping
35 Easy Dutch Oven Camping Recipes
With any cooking technique, there is a learning curve. Some foods and recipes take a bit more finesse and experience to master. But some recipes are easy enough for even a novice to pull off. Here are some incredibly easy Dutch oven recipes that you will have no problem making, even if you are a first-timer.
Campfire Nachos
Campfire nachos are easily one of my family’s favorite dutch oven campfire recipes to make while out in our hybrid RV.
Campfire Dutch Oven Pizza
Mountain Man Breakfast
Dutch Oven Cornbread Chili
Dutch Oven Corn on the Cob
Easy Dutch Oven Potatoes
Dutch Oven Spaghetti and Meatballs
Dutch Oven Beer and Sausages
Dutch Oven BBQ Ribs
Dutch Oven Baked Ziti
Chicken Dutch Oven Camping Recipes
Who doesn’t love chicken? Well, vegetarians. But if you are looking for a versatile meat to bring along on your next camping trip, chicken is the way to go. Here are a few delicious Dutch oven campfire chicken recipes that you will love.
Chicken and Cheese Dutch Oven Enchiladas
BBQ Dutch Oven Chicken and Potatoes
Dutch Oven Southwestern Chicken
Dutch Oven Nacho Chicken Casserole
Dutch Oven Chicken Cordon Bleu
Dutch Oven Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
Bread Dutch Oven Camping Recipes
There is nothing like a loaf of homemade bread. The crispy crust, the warm chewy inside. Plus it is super cheap to make and goes with just about everything. Never made your own loaf before? Give it a try on your next camping trip. It isn’t as hard as it sounds. And once you taste it you’ll be hooked. Plus there are so many varieties you’ll be sure to find a bread dutch oven camping recipe that you’ll love.
No Knead Dutch Oven Crusty Bread
Dutch Oven Cheesy Garlic Bites
Olive Oil and Italian Herb Dutch Oven Bread
Dutch Oven Desserts
Dessert is always a welcome addition to the day, especially when you’re camping. If you’re looking for something sweet, warm and gooey to close out your campfire, but are tired of s’mores, get your Dutch oven ready for these yummy recipes.
Campfire Dutch Oven Apple Dump Cake
Dutch Oven Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Oreo Brownies
Dutch Oven Mississippi Mud Cake
What is a Dutch Oven?
At it’s simplest, a Dutch oven is a cooking pot. Most are made of cast iron, hence why they are so heavy. Some are bare cast iron and others are enameled. These ovens have been around for hundreds of years and while no one knows their exact origin, we do know that versions have been used all over the world.
Why do they work so well? It’s all in the iron. Cast iron conducts heat really well and this means it will cook very evenly and efficiently. Heating food in a Dutch oven with the lid on is a lot like heating food in your oven at home. The cast iron gets hot and creates radiant heat inside the pot, which cooks your food from all angles evenly. This means you can cook almost anything in your Dutch oven including bread, meats, soup, and casseroles.
Cleaning Your Dutch Oven
When you’re done making one of these dutch oven camping recipes, you need to clean your oven. Cleaning your Dutch oven is not difficult, but it is different than how you probably clean the rest of your pots and pans. Make sure to follow these few rules when cleaning your oven:
- Don’t overuse soap – soap, in theory, can remove the seasoning (but won’t with simple washing), cause it to rust and damage the oven
- Wash it right away – preferably while the pot is still warm
- Dry it immediately – this will help avoid rust. Even put it on the burner for 2-3 minutes
- Rub oil on it after each cleaning – once it is completely dry
- Season it regularly – if food seems to be sticking to your pot, you need to season it more often.
If food does get stuck to the inside of the pot and it isn’t loosening easily, try adding a 1/4 cup of coarse sea salt and scrubbing with a non-abrasive brush. If that doesn’t work, fill the pot with water and bring it to a boil. This will soften stubbornly, stuck on food and help it to wash off more easily.
Dutch ovens are also non-stick. That’s right, no more adding cooking spray, oil or butter to keep food from adhering to the bottom of your pot. Dutch ovens are “seasoned”, which means they are treated with oil and heat to keep food from sticking, and to keep your oven clean and free of rust. Here is a great article on how to properly season your cast iron cookware to keep it in tip-top shape.
How can you season it while you’re out at a wilderness campsite? First, kudos to you for hauling it out there. Second, just fry up some thick-sliced bacon or have a fish fry and wipe it clean with a rag afterward. The oil will protect it until you can bake it in your oven at home.
Types of Dutch Ovens
There are so many different types of Dutch ovens on the market right now and each one has its advantages and disadvantages. It all depends on what you plan to use it for. Here is a breakdown to help you decide which oven is right for you.
Camp v.s. Kitchen Dutch Ovens
If you start exploring your cast iron cookware options, you’ll quickly see that Dutch ovens are mainly broken down into two categories: Camp or outdoor ovens and kitchen ovens or bean pots.
You may be thinking, isn’t a pot a pot? But the subtle differences that help classify each oven can actually give you radically different results in food quality, pot durability and ease of cleaning among other things.
Camp Dutch Ovens
If you’re going to be making any of these dutch oven camping recipes, you’re going to want a camp dutch oven.
A camp Dutch oven is a cast iron pot with 3 legs on the bottom, a flat lid with a 1-2 inch lip, and a wire handle. The legs on this pot help the oven to sit up off the coals allowing air to circulate below. The lip around the circumference of the lid holds coals so you can easily heat from the bottom and top of the oven.
These are usually the go-to ovens for campers since you can add coals to the top. By adding coals to the top, you more evenly distribute the heat and the cast iron will act more like a conventional oven than like a typical cooking pot.
Kitchen Dutch Ovens
A kitchen Dutch oven has a flat bottom without legs and a domed lid. Often the underside of the lid will have iron spikes for basting. When the condensation forms on the top of the lid during cooking, the spikes help to evenly distribute the liquid over the food rather than letting it run to the sides and pool.
Don’t be fooled. Just because this oven is labeled for the kitchen, doesn’t mean it can’t find a place around your campfire. This pot is usually best used on a propane stove top, hung from a strong tripod, or even stacked on bricks in your firepit. But you will have to go to some lengths if you want to add coals to the top of this oven.
Cast Iron v.s. Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Ovens
Dutch ovens typically come with one of two surfaces. You can purchase one with bare cast iron or you can choose to buy one that is enameled.
What is an enameled Dutch oven? It is the same design as a bare cast iron oven, however, it has been painted with a glossy enamel paint. This paint is there to protect the surfaces of the oven from wear and tear. Sounds pretty good right?
Why would anyone purchase a bare cast iron oven then? While the two share a lot of similarities, there are also some key differences that can affect your camp cooking when making one of these dutch oven camping recipes.
Enameled cast iron has durability on its side. Due to the protective coating, the oven is much less likely to rust. It also stands up much better to acidic foods like tomato sauce or campfire chili.
But bare cast iron has its advantages as well. First, due to the seasoning (as long as you are keeping up with it), the pan is really non-stick. Enamel pans still require some oil or spray to keep food from adhering to the bottom.
Bare cast iron also wins in overall durability. While the enamel may keep the oven from rusting and does protect it from food acidity, it can chip off. It can also be easily damaged by high heat, like the kind you get from a campfire.
Lastly, bare cast iron also wins when it comes to price. Typically, enameled cast iron Dutch ovens will cost a bit more than their more basic cousins.
How to Use a Dutch Oven When Camping
At home, most people use their Dutch ovens inside their conventional ovens to cook everything from bread and frittatas to bacon and stews. But while camping, most people don’t have the luxury of a conventional oven at their campsite.
That’s why Dutch ovens are so awesome! They can act just like the oven you have at home as long as you have a good heat source.
But what is a good heat source exactly? It depends on what you are cooking. You can use your Dutch oven as a pot on your propane stove if you want to boil water or heat up a soup. But you’ll get the most out of it if you use it as a real oven.
There are two methods that work best for Dutch oven cooking. One is to cook directly in the hot coals and the other is to hang the oven from a tripod above the coals. You’ve probably seen the tripod method used a lot in old cowboy Westerns, but the traditional way was cooking directly in the coals.
Dutch Oven Cooking in Coals
When cooking directly in a bed of coals(which many dutch oven camping recipes call for), the best Dutch oven to use is a camp oven. This is the oven that has the three feet which will keep it stabilized in the coals. It also has a wire handle that will make it easy to pick up and put down, as opposed to the kitchen oven which only has side handles.
It is important that your coals all be approximately the same size. That is why it is so popular to use charcoal briquettes rather than wood coals from a campfire. But either way, you choose to do it, try and find coals that are all relatively the same size so the heat will be evenly distributed. If they aren’t, you may end up with some burned food on the bottom of your oven.
There is actually a formula for how many coals you should use. The general rule of thumb is 2 briquettes, or similarly sized wood coals, for each inch of diameter. So if you are baking in a 12-inch oven, you will want to use 24 briquettes. Here is a good chart to follow for different sized ovens and cooking temperatures.
Don’t forget about the lip around the edge of the lid. It’s time to add some of those hot coals to the top of your oven so you can more evenly distribute the heat. The chart in the link above will also show you how many of your total briquettes should go on the bottom and how many should be placed evenly around the top.
Remember, everything about Dutch oven cooking is hot. The oven is hot, the coals are hot and the wire handle is hot. Always use some really good fire safe grill gloves to avoid getting a burn. You don’t want to ruin your camping trip just as the food is ready.
Dutch Oven Cooking with a Tripod
Many dutch oven camping recipes are
First and foremost you will need the right equipment. You must have a Dutch oven that has a wire handle that it can be hung from. Many kitchen ovens only have side handles and a loop at the top of the lid. Camp ovens are the go-to for this kind of set up, but you can find kitchen ovens with handles, or add your own as long as it is sturdy and will hold up to high heat.
Tripod cooking can be a little bit trickier simply because you need a great set up. Your gear should be top notch. That means a very strong and sturdy tripod that will be able to take the weight of your whole oven and the food you add to it.
The area where you are cooking needs to be generally flat so that your tripod will not be off balance and leaning. Furthermore, the area needs to be free of rocks and other debris including tree roots.
When you set the legs of your tripod, make sure that they are safely secured on, or preferably in, the ground. If they are leaning on a stone, branches, or other debris, there is a good chance it will come tumbling down as soon as you add your oven.
Try setting everything up, even adding your oven to the chain, before lighting a fire. This way you can be sure the set up is sturdy and you won’t have to work around flames and hot embers.
Once your tripod is all set up and you have your fire going, add your food to your oven and hang it by the metal chain from the center of the tripod. The real benefit of tripod cooking is that you can move the oven up or down, closer to or further from the flames and coals, to adjust how much heat it is getting. Bring the pot closer to the flames to the get the contents boiling, then bring it up higher and let it simmer till done.
Now that you know a little bit more about Dutch ovens and how to cook with them, let’s take a look at some delicious recipes you can try today.
The Best Camping Dutch Ovens
When it comes to Dutch ovens, they are not all created equal. A low-quality Dutch oven, will rust faster, be harder to maintain, and will likely heat unevenly due to poor construction.
On the other hand, a quality Dutch oven will be much more durable and will literally last you a lifetime. Unless you are in the mood to head to a junk store or antique shop, find a rusted old cast iron pan or oven and spend countless hours cleaning, reseasoning and restoring it, you will probably opt to get yourself a new one.
Two popular cast iron cookware brands on the market are Lodge and Camp Chef. Here is a little breakdown as to what you can expect from each. Here we’ll be comparing the 12-inch/6 Quart Camp Dutch Oven from Lodge to the Classic 12-inch Dutch Oven (6 quart) from Camp Chef.
Lodge Dutch Oven
Lodge products are the top of the line camping and bare cast iron cookware on the market. While they make a truly beautiful product that will last a lifetime, they have a price tag to match. The 12-inch/6 quart Dutch Oven from Lodge comes in at about $40 more than the Camp Chef oven.
The three benefits that make it stand out from the competition are:
- The lip around the lid is high which helps the coals stay on top without shifting
- The depth of the pot itself (without the lid) is almost 2 inches deeper, which is helpful if you are roasting meats or making large meals where you need more space to fit everything. It can also help with extra room for boiling without boiling over.
- Lodge products are made in the USA.
Camp Chef Dutch Oven
The Camp Chef oven also has a very solid design and good quality cast iron. This means there aren’t any noticeable hot spots that can lead to uneven cooking or burning.
The deluxe version of their Dutch ovens come with feet on the top of the lid so you can use it as a skillet when you’re not baking in your oven.
While the lids on their ovens have a slightly more shallow ridge than the Lodge lids and Camp Chef’s products are made in China, the quality of the ovens are very similar. If you’re looking for a good oven on a budget, or are trying to buy multiple sizes the Camp Chef ovens stand up just as well as Lodge.
Other Recommended Gear for Dutch Oven Camping
Dutch Oven Liners – If you are looking for a way to avoid cleaning your oven as often, try liners. They will protect the interior of your oven from losing its seasoning since you won’t need to wash it as often.
Lid Holder and Serving Stand – Don’t put your lid on the ground when you move it to stir. A lid holder will keep it safe and secure. It is also a good place to put your whole oven once it comes off the coals.
Gloves – When you are dealing with hot coals and potentially flames, it is important to have a good pair of heavy-duty fire safe gloves to protect your hands.
Tripod – If you want to try cooking off the coals you will need a tripod. Make sure you choose one that is sturdy and well built.
Wooden Utensils – Wooden utensils will help protect your oven from scrapes and dings when stirring and serving. Choose some with long handles so you can stay a little further back from the coals and your ladle doesn’t fall in the soup.
Coal Shovel – Bring a small coal shovel with you to help move them around when you need to spread the heat. This is especially important if you plan to cook using wood coals from your campfire.
Steel Table – If you want to upgrade your camp kitchen, or just have a bad back and don’t want to bend, try a steel table. You can add your coals and oven and cook at a more comfortable height.
Whisk Broom – Having a good little broom comes in handy when you are trying to brush the ash off the lid before stirring and serving.
Charcoal Chimney Starter – A charcoal chimney starter is just a metal cylinder that helps light the coals and get them hot quickly and evenly. It can cut down cooking times by a lot.
Storage Bag – Looking for some added protection for your oven against the rest of your camping gear and the elements, get a storage bag.
Lid Lifter – These tools provide a safer and easier way to either turn your lid without disturbing the coals or letting heat out, or removing the lid.
Dutch ovens are one of the original pieces of outdoor cookware. The fact that folks are still using them today speaks volumes to what a versatile and easy option they are for campfire cooking. If you plan to do much camp cooking, get yourself a Dutch oven and try out a few recipes.
Ali
Thursday 26th of September 2019
A tip to use a Dutch oven without feet but a coal ridge on the lid: use a wok ring. It serves the same purpose as the legs, lets you rotate the pot without disturbing the coals, and my 8” wok ring can store in my 10” Dutch Oven for transport. Plus, I can use my DO on my cooktop easily.
Chris B
Thursday 16th of May 2019
Can you please remove your statement about soap? Soap absolutely does NOT damage seasoning, nor will it cause rust. I'm really surprised to see such misinformation on a dutch oven site. I've been cooking in cast iron for 10 years now, at home and while camping...and I have always used soap to clean a really greasy pot or pan. Never let it soak of course, but soap will NOT HARM cast iron!
The Theory: Seasoning is a thin layer of oil that coats the inside of your skillet. Soap is designed to remove oil, therefore soap will damage your seasoning.
The Reality: Seasoning is actually not a thin layer of oil, it's a thin layer of polymerized oil, a key distinction. In a properly seasoned cast iron pan, one that has been rubbed with oil and heated repeatedly, the oil has already broken down into a plastic-like substance that has bonded to the surface of the metal. This is what gives well-seasoned cast iron its non-stick properties, and as the material is no longer actually an oil, the surfactants in dish soap do not affect it. Go ahead and soap it up and scrub it out.
Ryanc
Friday 17th of May 2019
Thanks for the tip Chris!
Steve C
Thursday 9th of May 2019
Like I posted earlier, I have several Dutch ovens, but I am seriously considering getting an 8" camping Dutch oven. I was excited to see that Lodge is once again producing the 8". This is a 2 quart DO and would be great for side dishes or smaller one pot meals. I currently have 10" and 12" and each size is useful depending upon what I am making and how much.
Steve C
Thursday 9th of May 2019
I enjoyed reading the website. The photo of the pineapple upside-down cake made my mouth water. You are right that there is a difference between types and brands of cast iron. I have a very small collection - 6 DO, 2 kettles, 8 skillets of various sizes, 2 popover pans and 1 Griswold waffle iron. Aside from my mom's frying pan, I got started using Dutch ovens in scouts. Over the years I've learned a few things about cast iron. The first is that the longer I use it, the more I love it. The even heating, the way it cooks the foods, the food texture and, ultimately, the food's flavor just is consistently great. Other methods of cooking are out there, so when you go camping, experiment and enjoy the adventure. If you do it will a smile, you will soon find that you might be your own favorite camp cook. When starting out, remember that we have all made cobblers that were burned on one side and gooey on the other. Just laugh about and turn the pot &/or lid to adjust the heat. The accoutrements (lid lifters, lid stands, trivets, brushes, etc.) are not a must have at first - but once you try them, you realize just how handy they are. I got my first Lodge 12" DO as a teenager and use Channel-lock pliers for years. Then I got one of those lid lifters, and wow, it makes it so easy! Actually, now I have thee types of lid lifters -- and I enjoy each one for different reasons. About cleaning, I agree to clean up soon after. Don't leave food in the pot overnight. But I caution strongly about cleaning when the DO is hot. Pouring cold water on hot cast iron is the surest way to crack or warp the cast iron. If you clean when hot, then use very hot water to avoid the sudden temperature change. We inherited a large frying pan from my wife's grandmother that has an un-even bottom likely from this type of thing. Someone probably ran it under cold water when the pan was hot and warped the bottom. Bummer. It is still useable, but uneven. Learning from this, I allow the pan to cool down somewhat before cleaning. After cleaning, I will warm the pan back up and spray or wipe it with cooking oil to replenish the seasoning. When it comes to storage, I really like the zippered bags for my camp Dutch ovens. They protect against humidity and make transporting a breeze.
Laurie
Friday 22nd of June 2018
Hey Ryan you're a kindred spirit. I was looking for ideas to cook ribs in my DO tomorrow and saw your pin. So here's my two cents on cooking with DOs. The lid holder and stand thingy can double as a trivet to convert a footless DO with a ridged lid to a footed where you can put coals under it. Don't know why they make footless DOs with flat ridged lids (for $13 so who can resist?) but they do. Mine is Chinese and aside from lacking feet it's pretty cool because of its small size that's perfect for side dishes and deserts--(3qt). I have both footed and non footed DOs, a home fleet and a camping fleet with the flagship being my giant Lodge 12 qt. I have my mother's Monkey Wards DO from the middle of the Depression that's in the home fleet since it is footless and has a domed lid. I love cast iron, and estimate I have about half a ton of it, including a CI wok that makes the bomb curry and stir fry. I deep fry in a large CI high sided and deep cook pot. It is no wonder my wrists are "blown". Carry on and keep on campin' with your CI!!! Cheers!
Ryanc
Saturday 23rd of June 2018
Thanks Laurie, Comments like this make my day!
I love my cast iron. In the past six years I have gone from no cast iron to a few pieces for camping (a DO and a few other frying pans) to converting most of the pots and pans in my entire kitchen to CI!
Thanks for the tips with the non-footed Dutch Ovens. I actually have a Cabellas DO with a flat lid but no feet!