Welcome to Beyond the Tent’s Guide to Camp Cooking! This guide aims to provide you with the ultimate resource for cooking delicious meals while sitting around the campsite.
Whether you’re new to camping, or a seasoned veteran camper, this guide aims to provide you with the ultimate campfire cooking resource. We want to help you take your camping experience beyond the tent, helping you master the great outdoors. Whether you’re stopping for a meal while hiking or horseback riding, or you’re just camping in your backyard, this guide has something for you.
Let’s talk about what this guide aims to cover. We want to start by giving you an overview of the camping gear you’ll need for cooking. We will discuss some of the most popular devices for outdoor cooking, talking about their proper usage and maintenance, as well as how to exercise the right safety measures.
We will talk about fire grates, skewers and roasters, camping stoves, and outdoor grills, some of the most popular tools for cooking. We will also cover cooking accessories from coolers to cookware and utensils.
After going over the gear, we will look at some of the most important cooking methods you should know for preparing your outdoor cuisine. We’ll tell you how to make your meals over everything from an open fire to a grill, and teach you about some of the more nuanced methods like using a Dutch Oven. We’ll also talk about cooking on the go and how to prepare snacks for the road.
Finally, we have included some of our favorite campsite recipes. At the end of the book, you’ll find some great breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes, as well as tasty snacks and desserts, all designed and tailored to your campsite needs.
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Index
- Different Types of Camp Cooking
- Dry Camping Foods
- Cold Camping Foods & Pre-Made Meals
- Camping Breakfast Ideas
Cooking Gear
For the ideal camping experience, you’ll need the right camping gear. Our first chapter looks at some of the different gear you can use for cooking while camping. We will talk about grates, stoves, and grills, as well as the various utensils and cookware you’ll need to make a meal while out in the woods.
Fire Grates
As kids, the best thing about camping was building the campfire. Even today, we adults still love collecting firewood, arranging the firewood neatly into a structure, setting up the tinder and kindling, and building a beautiful blaze out of a small spark. If you love campfires like we do, you should try cooking over a fire.
One great way to cook using a campfire is a fire grate. A fire grate is a large steel structure, similar to the grates you find on an outdoor grill. These grates are designed to fit over your campfire, letting you cook your food over the campfire without the risk of burning your meal.
Most campfire grates are square, but some are round. They usually have foldable legs.
My favorite grate is the Texsport Over-Fire Camp Grill. It’s made of steel, folds nice and works over just about any fire.
Some other models even include a fire pit underneath the grate, like this one from REI. While this makes it a bit bulky and difficult to carry to your campsite, such grates work well for your backyard. After all, you don’t want to dig a hole in your nice backyard grass!
Building a Fire Pit for a Grate
Clear a large area for the fire and surround it with rocks. Make sure the circle fits the size of your metal grate. You want to have the legs of the grate on the outside of the fire pit. Use rocks to make a circle, setting the limits of your fire.
Make sure the fire pit is deep enough so that the flames won’t reach.
Let the fire burn down a bit before cooking your meal.
When using this method, you need to make sure you time your meal with the gradual decline of your fire. Your fire needs to have significantly simmered down.
This makes the method problematic if you need to add fuel onto the fire. If you anticipate the fire dying down before you’re done cooking, build your fire in the shape of a figure-eight. Keep the fire going on one side, while using the other side for your cooking needs. When the fire under your grate starts to simmer, you can transfer embers from outside the grate underneath. This adds to the heat without burning your food up.
If you’d like to combine your fire pit and your grate in one, then check out this Heavy Duty Fire Pit with Cooking Grate from Catalina Creations. It combines the fire pit and grate in one which is perfect for your backyard fire’s and cooking!
Camping Stoves
Looking to cook your eggs in the morning? If you like your eggs done carefully, you might prefer a gas stove to a campfire. In that case, we would recommend using a camping stove. Camping stoves are miniaturized versions of the gas stoves you might have in your home. They let you control the heat exactly, making them useful for cooking items at precise temperatures.
Check Out My Review of the Coleman Eventemp 3 Burner Stove Here
If you are camping in a place where fires aren’t allowed, we would recommend getting a camping stove.
Gas or a Wood Burning Stoves?
Both gas and wood burning stoves have their pros and cons and personally, I use both quite often. If I plan on using a base camp and have time to gather sticks, I will often choose a wood burning stove. If I am hiking, or consistently on the move, packing an ultralight gas stove tends to be my choice.
If you are looking for a great wood burning stove, I LOVE the Solo Stove (literally for any kind of camping). It’s lightweight, burns hot and packs up nicely.
How to use a gas camping stove:
1. Preparing the fuel cylinder: First, make sure that the burners are turned off. Next, check the fuel cylinder regulator knobs: These should also be turned off. Now you can safely attach the fuel cylinder. Underneath the stove, you should find a regulator valve attachment. Attach the cylinder here, keeping it facing up. Once attached, tighten the regulator knob until the cylinder is secure.
2. Check for gas leaks: It’s important to make sure that there’s no gas leaks. One way to check this is to get a mixture made of a one parts dishwashing liquid and three parts water and apply it to the fixtures. Turn the regulator value two clicks into the on position, letting through no more than nine seconds of gas. If bubbles form, you’ve got a leak and need to tighten the bolts.
3. Light the stove: Slowly the regulator knob two clicks past the “off” position. Light the gas by holding a match over the burner. Be careful.
Now your stove is ready to cook!
What kind of camping stove should you use? Like I said earlier, it completely depends on the type of camping you will be doing. Family / car camping? Then a large 2-3 burner propane stove such as the Coleman Classic 2 Burner Camping Stove or the Solo Stove Titan (a bigger version of the original Solo Stove).
On the other hand, you probably want a lightweight model if you are going to be backpacking, hiking or canoeing. A great option is the Etekcity Ultralight Camping Stove. It’s cheap, light and portable.
Check Out My Review of the Camp Chef Explorer Two Burner
Camping Grills
Another popular way to cook your food while camping is using a grill. Sometimes, you can find a charcoal grill at the campsite. Another option would be a portable gas grilllike the Coleman Roadtrip. This portable propane grill has plenty of grilling space and packs tight for travel. It work well for cooking everything from vegetables, chicken, or burgers.
Make Sure To Read Our Guide To The Best Portable Grills For Camping!
Guide to Public Grills
These grills are often located at parks or near public benches. When using a public grill, we would recommend cleaning the grill thoroughly before using it. The grill has been exposed to the elements, and you don’t know whether the last person to use it cleaned up afterward.
Start by cleaning out the grates. Take a grill brush and briskly scrub the surface of the grill. It doesn’t need to be perfect, as you will be doing this again once the grill gets hot. Try removing the grate, if possible. If you don’t have a grill brush, wad up a ball of aluminum foil as a substitute.
Clean out the bottom of the grill. Empty out the ash catcher.
Cover the grill with foil. This will prevent whatever you’re cooking from contacting the surface of the grill, keeping it clean and preventing it from dropping.
If not using foil, preheat the grill to burn off any old debris, then brush thoroughly.
Clean up the grill after you’re done! You should always leave your campsite in a better condition than you found it.
If you don’t like the idea of cooking on a public grill, a portable grill works just as well. These run off various types of fuel, such as propane. Check our instructions for a portable stove in the previous section for using these, as they operate in a similar manner. The main difference is that a portable grill uses the flame to heat the grilling surface, rather than the bottom of a pan.
Camping Cookware
Once you have picked a method, you’ll need some pots and pans for preparing meals. While one cooking pot can suffice in a pinch, if you have a larger group of campers or a variety of things being cooked, you might need more.
Cookware Sets
Many camping companies sell cookware sets, like the kind you might buy for your home. This saves you the trouble of putting together the individual pieces yourself. Moreover, the pieces will match, giving you an added aesthetic bonus. Many cookware sets also include dinnerware.
One great set is the Stanley Base Camp Cook Set for Four. This set includes a stainless steel pot, frying pan, lids, 4 plates, 4 bowls, 4 sporks and cooking utinsels.
Check out our review of the GSI integrated cookware set on Beyond the Tent
Cookware Essentials
Here’s a list of the basic things you’ll need to include in your cookware set:
- Plates
- Cups
- Bowls
- Sporks
- Pie Irons: The list of things you can make using pie irons is staggering. Check out our own Pie Iron Pizza Calzones and Pie Iron Philly Cheesesteak.
- Roasting Sticks: Useful for marshmellows, hot dogs and other items.
-
Dutch Oven: These are a great way to get the basic functions of an oven while using a campfire.
In addition to the essential items listed above, we would recommend looking at a number of other gadgets.
Camping Dinnerware
In addition to your cookware, you’ll need something to eat off. Here, we would strongly recommend against using disposable plastic, which will have a negative impact on the nature around you. At the same time, you don’t want to bring anice plate from your home into the woods. For this reason, we would recommend getting a set of camping dinnerware.
Personally, I own a few different camping dinnerware sets and all of them work just fine (I use these for family camping). I really like my Coleman Dinnerware Set basically because my wife loves the look of it and they are good and rugged.
Sometimes, you can get a set that includes multiple pieces of dinnerware. These can be made out of heavy-gauge steel or from polypropylene plastic.Other sets are sold per person, and include a bowl, a plate, a mug, and a utensil set.
When putting together your camping kit, take into account how many people will need to be using it, what kind of meals you will be serving, and what utensils or dishes the meals will require.
Camping dinnerware is lightweight, making it easy to transport. The dishes are durable and easy to pack.
Basic Dinnerware Checklist:
- Utensils (either a utensil set or a knife and spork)
- Bowls
- Plates
- Mug
We would also add some kind of plastic storage containers, something with a lid that can be used to keep food closed or for storing it in the cooler.
Camping Coolers
If you want your food to last in the woods, you will need a cooler. While not ideal for carrying on the trail, a cooler is absolutely essential for keeping anything perishable in the heat of the day. You will need to fill your cooler with ice, as well as the cooler pack at the top. This means you will have to prepare your cooler the day before camping.
The Coleman Extreme VS The Yeti Cooler
Coolers were invented in the 1950’s and quickly popularized by the Coleman Company. Coolers sometimes have ice packs which you will need to freeze overnight. These ice packs usually fit into the top of the cooler. Larger coolers usually lack such ice packs, and will need actual ice.
How much ice should you use?
You should use about one pound of ice per quart. If you have a three-gallon cooler, you should use twelve pounds of ice. It’s better to use giant chunks of ice, rather than smaller ice cubes. Large blocks retain their shape longer. You don’t want your cooler melting prematurely!
Great Camping Idea: Small ice cubes, even in a bag, tend to melt quicker than big blocks of ice. I like to purchase large blocks of ice or freeze and empty gallon jug before I go camping. In a nice cooler, I can easily get my gallon ice jugs to last 7+ days in either my Yeti Cooler or my Coleman Extreme.
Pre-Chilling
Make sure you chill your food items at least an hour before putting them in the cooler. Why should you do this? Heat is a process of exchange. If you place a warm item in a cold cooler, the heat from these items will cause the ice to melt. Instead, put these items in your fridge first, transferring them into your cooler when they’re chilled.
If you can, even try to pre-chill your cooler. Packing it with ice that you don’t plan on using the night before will cool down the cooler and prevent ice loss after initially packing your cooler.
Ice on top!
Keep your perishable items underneath the ice, as this will be the coolest part of the cooler. Remember that heat travels upwards! But also remember that water will drip down your food, so make sure it is sealed properly.
Storage
Make sure to store your cooler in the shade. If you keep it out in the sun, the box will get warm, melting the ice.
Buying the right cooler
The prices of coolers vary significantly. YETI sells large coolers that cost about $450! These coolers offer heavy duty features, ideal for keeping stuff cold throughout a hot summer day. Yeti is known for their extreme durability and high quality. Are they worth the money though? Not for most people.
On the lower end, Coleman Coolers cost much less and are still of great quality.
The Coleman Extreme VS The Yeti Cooler
Different Types of Camp Cooking
Alright, so now you’ve learned about all the different types of equipment. Let’s talk about how to put all that equipment to good use. We’re will teach you how to roast your meal over an open fire and how to grill, as well as letting you in on more sophisticated methods, like lightweight cooking and using a Dutch Oven.
We’ve included everything you need to know to be a master camper when it comes to cooking outdoors.
Open Flame Cooking
Let’s start with the most basic kind of cooking: open flame cooking. What is open flame cooking? Ever seen a cowboy holding a pan over a fire? Well, that’s the general idea behind open flame cooking. However, there’s much more to open flame cooking than sticking a pan over a fire. Let’s look at some of the most popular methods out there.
Skewers & Roasters
Ever roasted marshmallows over a fire? That’s the basic idea behind the skewers and roaster method. You can get a set of Roaster forks from Amazonfor a reasonable price, which is much safer than roasting something on a stick you find in the woods.
This is probably the easiest way to cook over a fire. All you need to do is put your food on the end of a skewer and hold it over the fire.
What kind of things can you cook using this method? You cannot hold very heavy things on a skewer, so your choices are somewhat limited. Here’s a list of some of the things you can cook:
- Marshmallows
- Hot Dogs
- Sausages
- Small Poultry
- Small, firm vegetables, like onions, squash, zucchini, or potatoes.
Campfire Grates
The process of cooking using a grate is similar to grilling using a charcoal grill. The only difference is that you are using a campfire.
Consider wrapping the food in aluminum foil before setting it down. This will let you cook smaller items while protecting your food from loose flames.
It’s important to take the direction of the smoke from your campfire into account. The smoke could add a bad taste to your food, so take the direction of the wind into account when cooking your food, and keep an eye on the smoke’s direction while cooking.
Check your food intermittently to see how it’s coming. Make sure you have a safe method of removing it from the grate, such as tongs or a skewer.
Pie Iron Cooking
The last method of open fire cooking we will discuss is pie iron cooking. Pie irons look like waffle irons, only they have a long handle, letting you cook meat, pie, bread items, or anything you can think of in the iron.
You can use a pie iron to make a sandwich. You simply lock the bread and ingredients into place and place the pie iron over the fire. Another option is to place the pie iron in a bed of hot coals, cooking in a manner similar to a Dutch Oven.
Camp Grilling
Grilling is hardly as complicated as it looks and is considered “The Only Way To Fly” by many for outdoor cooking. From backyard grilling to grilling over a campfire to many different grilling options for camping.
Grilling is so popular due to the nearly countless things you can cook on a grill as well as the incredible flavor that grilling adds to your foods.
Ideal Foods for Grilling
What kinds of things can you make on a grill? There are many tasty options.
- Grilled Cheese Sandwich
- Grilled Vegetables
- Grilled Pizza
- Steaks
- Burgers
- Kabobs
- Beef Tenderloin
- Corn on the Cob
- Pork Chops
- Salmon
- Ribs
Staying Safe While Grilling
For safety, it’s important to prevent oily liquids from dripping through the grate and causing the grill to flare. Not only does this cause a danger to your hands, it can burn your food as well.
Make sure you get rid of excess fats when preparing your meats, making sure that they don’t drip down into the grill.
Keep the bottom of the grill and catch pan clean, to prevent grease from accumulating.
If you line the bottom of the grill with foil, this can prevent the grease from draining into the catch pan.
Apply sauces to meats during the last ten to fifteen minutes of grilling, so that they don’t drip off and cause a mess below.
When you are done grilling, turn up the heat and close the lid. Let the excess grease and debris burn off for about fifteen minutes.
Keep the grill clean.
The Art of the Grill
There are two different ways to heat your food using a grill: direct and indirect heat.
Cooking with Direct Heat:
Direct heat cooking works well for quickly cooking burgers or steaks in less than half an hour. Direct heat cooking involves placing the food directly over the source of heat.
Preparing the Grill for Direct Heat Cooking:
If using a charcoal grill for direct heat cooking, spread the hot coals evenly over the bottom of the grill, giving you an even distribution of heat.
If using a gas grill, turn the heat on high for fifteen minutes, then reduce if necessary.
Cooking with Indirect Heat:
Indirect heat, by contrast, doesn’t place the food directly over the source of heat, but lets the heat seep in from the sides. This works well for foods that cook for longer than half an hour, such as chicken, roasts, or ribs.
Preparing the Grill for Indirect Heat Cooking:
For indirect heat cooking, move the coals to the perimeter of the firebox, placing the aluminum drip pan in the center. Place the food over the drip pan.
For a gas grill, let the burners go for fifteen minutes. After turning off the center burner put the drip pan in the center of the grill. Place the food over the drip pan and adjust the heat as necessary.
Lightweight Camp Cooking
Open fire and grill cooking methods will work well for your campsite but require that you at least have a campfire, and often times certain camping situations, regulations or other circumstances do not allow you to have a fire or carry along the heavy equipment needed for grilling.
But what if you’re backpacking through the woods? You can’t easily carry a cast-iron grate or camping stove on your back, nor can you build a large fire every time you stop for lunch. For backpacking through the wilderness, you need to learn the art of lightweight cooking.
The Portable Stove
For lightweight cooking, you will be using a small portable stove with a single burner. Such stoves are available in all price ranges on Amazon. You can carry one of these lightweight stoves, along with your pot, dishes, and utensils, in one of your backpacks.
A very popular and reliable yet lower priced portable stove is the Coleman Bottle Top Propane Stove. This stove fits an 8 inch pan on top, attaches to a standard Coleman propane bottle and packs away nicely.
How do you cook using a portable stove? We would recommend dishes that are easily made in a pot. For breakfast, you might boil some water to make oatmeal. For lunch or dinner, you can boil some pasta for mac and cheese or make soup. You can also boil up some campfire beans, mixing in some rice, and adding some spices and hot sauce. Making stews, soups, or vegetables are other great options.
Read Our review of the GSI Pinnacle Dualist
Preparing Cold Food
On the other hand, lightweight meals don’t have to be cooked. Often, you can save on weight requirements by packing cold sandwiches or any foods that do not need to be heated (or even cooled) to eat on the trail.
Dutch Oven Cooking
If you are looking to do any kind of baking while camping, you will need to use a Dutch Oven. What is a Dutch Oven? A Dutch Oven is made of two large cast-iron pans. You place the food into one of the pans and put the other pan on top to seal it. This creates an enclosed space, simulating the effects of an oven. You place this oven into your campfire, covering the top of the oven with hot coals from the fire.
35 Dutch Oven Camping Recipes That Will Take Your Cookout To The Next Level
Dutch ovens can be used to bake bread, cookies, biscuits, muffins, or any other baked goods you might want for your campsite. If you want to eat black beans and cornbread, you can make the cornbread in the Dutch Oven. It also works well for baking cuts of meat.
To use a Dutch Oven successfully, you need to be able to carefully control the heat. Most of this heat comes from the top of the oven, and generally, you will want to have about two times more heat on top of the oven than on bottom.
You basically want to bury the Dutch Oven beneath your campfire, covering it in ashes. Another method involves taking hot coals and lining the top and bottom of the oven.
My personal favorite brand for cast iron cooking pans (like a dutch oven) is Lodge. They make great products at great prices. I have Lodge dutch ovens, frying pans and griddles.
Dry Camping Foods
Now that we have gone through the different methods of cooking, let’s talk about food that you don’t have to cook. Dry foods can make great snacks to keep you full throughout the day. They can even serve as a quick lunch during a day on the trail.
If you are backpacking in hot weather, you should take some non-perishable dry foods with you, food that doesn’t require cold storage to keep it safe.
Trail Mix
One great dry food option is trail mix. Trail mix combines various nuts with dehydrated fruits, giving you a healthy and safe snack ideal for hiking. You can buy trail mix premade, or create your own. Common ingredients include:
Nuts:
- Almonds
- Sunflower Seeds
- Cashews
- Pumpkin Seeds
- Walnuts
- Brazil Nuts
- Peanuts
Dried Fruit:
- Raisins
- Cranberries
- Apricots
- Cherries
- Figs
- Apples
- Banana Chips
- Coconut Pieces
Other Options
Besides trail mix, you might also look into various nut butters, which can be eaten with crackers. Canned foods are also equipped to stay preserved without refrigeration, so you might take canned goods with you as well.
Cold Camping Foods & Pre-Made Meals
You might also take a number of cold items that don’t require cooking. As long as you have access to a cooler, you can pre-make many meals to be stored cold, eating them on the road.
Let’s look at some of the ideas for breakfast and lunch on the go:
Breakfast:
- Breakfast Cereal with Milk
- Fruit Salads
- Peanut Butter Sandwiches
- Yogurt with Granola
Lunch:
- Cold Cut Sandwiches or Roll-ups
- Tomato Caprese Sandwich
- A Salad with Beans or Tuna
You can also take various dips in your cooler, like hummus, salsa, or bean dip. All you need then are some chips. Carrots and celery also go great with hummus or various dressings.
Of course, you will need to pack all of this into your cooler. If you are camping in a tent, you can usually bring a large cooler from the car for the whole family. Things can get harder when backpacking. In that case, you should use smaller coolers, dividing them up among the different members of your group.
Make sure you keep your coolers in cool locations. Don’t leave them open, keep them closed as often as you can, and separate out the items for each meal into different coolers, so that you don’t have to keep opening up the same cooler.
To learn more about preparing food ahead of time, check out our guide on 25 Make Ahead Camping Meals to Feed the Whole Family.
Keeping It Extra Easy – Pre-Packaged Foods
I’ve actually planned a few different trips where I didn’t want to plan out and pack a bunch of meals. I wanted to spend as little time as possible cooking and spend all of my time hiking, canoeing or being with friends.
It was these times that I turned to pre-made camping meals from Mountain House. With these meals, all you need to pack are the bagged freeze dried meals, a portable stove, a pot and a spork.
Mountain House offers tons of different options for meals and honestly, I have loved almost every one of them I’ve tried.
Camp Cooking Breakfast Ideas
Vegetarian Freezer Breakfast Burrito
This recipe teaches you how to make a delicious breakfast burrito, one that you can freeze the night before, keep in the cooler for the morning, and then wrap in foil and throw on the fire to heat up for a hearty breakfast. This recipe serves two people but can be adapted to larger groups if necessary.
Ingredients:
- Olive Oil
- Half an Onion
- Three to Five Cloves of Garlic
- One Jalapeño Pepper
- Five eggs
- Tomato Paste
- Cumin
- Coriander
- Hot Sauce
- Can of Black Beans
- Mexican Cheese
- Large Flour Tortillas
Heat a light layer of olive oil in a medium to large frying pan. While the oil warms, peel and slice about half of a full-sized onion. Add the onion to the frying pan and stir until coated with oil. Chop up the jalapeño pepper and prepare three to five cloves of garlic diced. Add the jalapeño’s first, then the garlic. Keep stirring the mixture until the garlic begins to look cooked.
Cover the surface of the vegetables in cumin and coriander powder. Let the powder warm on top of the mixture for a moment before stirring the mixture together.
Rinse a can of black beans thoroughly, then add to the frying pan. Mix and let cook.
Finally, add a couple spoonfuls of tomato paste to the mixture, getting the ingredients wet and pasty, but not too runny. Add a dash of water if it looks too dry.
Scramble eggs and warm tortillas.
Fill the burritos with a layer of eggs, then add the tomato and bean mixture on top. Follow this up with shredded cheese and hot sauce. Wrap tightly in foil and freeze. Reheat to eat.
This recipe serves two campers.
Blueberry Breakfast Bake
If you love blueberry pancakes, the Blueberry Breakfast Bake is a great way to have the taste of a blueberry pancake in an easy to make format. Although it lacks the aesthetic appeal of a flat pancake, the bake will give you basically the same taste in an easy to make format.
Ingredients:
- A couple loaves of bread
- Blueberries
- Quarter-teaspoon vanilla
- Sugar
- Cinnamon
- Two eggs
- Milk and Cream
- Non-stick spray
Take a plastic container or cup with a lid and combine all the wet ingredients, sugar, and cinnamon in here, shaking them up. Throw these in your cooler until you’re ready to make the mix.
When you are ready to cook, tear up a slice of bread into bits and place this with the blueberries into a bowl. Cover the bread pieces with the egg/milk mixture, then gently stir, making sure not to break up the break pieces while stirring.
Get a piece of aluminum foil. Spray it with some non-stick spray on the inside. Get a spoon and deposit the blueberry mix into the center of the foil, wrapping it up like a burrito.
Bake these packets either in a Dutch Oven or on your grill. Cook for about half an hour.
Unfold the foil packets and enjoy your breakfast!
Canadian Breakfast Burrito
We have already mentioned the Lumberjack Breakfast in Foil Packed once before, but this time we have decided to add a bit of a twist to this classic recipe. We would like to introduce you to the Canadian Breakfast Burrito!
Ingredients:
- Canadian Bacon
- Frozen Hashbrowns
- Egg
- One tomato
- One Green Onion
- Shredded Cheese
Drop the sausages or Canadian Bacon into the center of the foil. If you don’t eat meat, skip this step or add a vegetarian sausage alternative. You want this to get the bulk of the heat, so have it on the bottom.
Put the frozen hash browns on top of the meat, then add an egg.
Add some salt, pepper, hot sauce, or whatever else you might like to spice up the flavor.
Slice up the tomato and green onion and add to packet.
Close the packet and put on top of your grill or grate for just under twenty minutes. Make sure the meat gets thoroughly cooked.
Get out another sheet of foil and lay down a tortilla. Drop the contents of the first foil packet into the burrito and then add cheese on top. Fold the burrito back up and put on top of grill for less than five minutes, or until cheese melts.
Enjoy your delicious Canadian Breakfast Burrito!
Pie Iron French Toast
In one of our articles, 20 Easy Camping Recipes Anyone Can Make, we talked about how to make Campfire French Toast to feed a large group of people, using a whole slice of bread. But let’s say you’re not feeding an army. We are going to teach you how to make delicious French toast to feed just one person.
All you will need is your trusty pie iron and the following ingredients:
Ingredients:
- Two slices of bread
- A tablespoon of chopped walnuts or other nuts
- Strawberry slices
- Sugar
- Cinnamon
- Maple Syrup
Open your pie iron and spray with butter or other non-stick sprays. Insert a piece of toast on each side. Lightly sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on the insides of each piece of toast. Lightly pour syrup into the center of each piece of toast. Add walnuts and strawberries to the center.
Press the two pieces of toast together like a sandwich. Cook for about three minutes on each side. Open your pie iron to carefully remove your delicious French toast!
For more breakfast ideas, check out our guide on 15 Delicious and Easy Camping Breakfast Ideas.
Camping Lunch Ideas
Pita Pizza
On the blog, we already talked about the Pie Iron Pizza Calzone. Now we would like to tell you about another easy pizza style recipe, this time using only a grill or grate.
Ingredients:
- Pita Bread
- Pizza Sauce
- Mozzarella Cheese
- Pizza Toppings of Your Choice.
The process of making a Pita Pizza is easy. Simply take a flat piece of pita bread, spread tomato sauce on top, add whatever toppings you desire, and sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top. Then, place the pizza on your grill or grate and make a delicious personal pizza! Just keep an eye on the bottom of the pita bread to make sure it doesn’t burn quicker than the sauce and cheese cook.
You can also try folding the pita bread, giving you a delicious Mediterranean pizza calzone!
Quick Campfire Quesadilla
This works as a quick meal you can cook up over your campfire, and works great as a campsite lunch.
Ingredients:
- Flour Tortillas
- Refried Beans
- Mexican Cheese
- Tin Foil
- Salsa
- Meats or Veggies of your choice
Open the tortilla. On one side, spread the refried beans, covering half of the tortilla. Put your meat or veggies on top of this, layering them with cheese. You can add a few dashes of hot sauce as well if you like. Fold the tortilla in half, covering the ingredients and wrap the entire quesadilla in aluminum foil.
Put this over your grate or on your grill. Cook until the cheese melts and the tortilla looks crisp and ready.
Add some cool hot sauce to the top after you take it out. You can also dip the wedge into hot sauce. Just don’t double dip!
Tomato and Pesto Campfire Grilled Cheese
Anyone can make a grilled cheese. Few can make one this fancy. Here’s our recipe for the perfect campfire grilled cheese.
Ingredients:
- Your Favorite Cheese
- Slice of Tomato
- Pesto
- Butter
- Your choice of bread
Butter the inside pieces of two slices of bread. Place over grill or grate for a minute to let butter melt on this sides. Remove bread and apply pesto to cooked side, a tomato to the other. Put cheese in-between. Now butter the outside of the bread. Grill each side until crisp and brown. Enjoy your delicious grilled cheese!
Peanut Butter, Banana, and Jelly Sandwich
You can’t go wrong with this healthy and happy snack. You can make these at your campsite, or prepare them before going on a hike. To settle the debate between jelly and bananas, we have decided to include them both!
Ingredients:
- Peanut Butter
- Banana
- Jelly
- Your favorite bread
Spread peanut butter on both sides of bread. To one side, add a dot of your favorite jelly. On the other, line up three to four thin banana slices in a row. Press the two together, and enjoy your sandwich!
Camping Supper Ideas
Campsite Fajita Fiesta
If you have a large group of people, fajitas give you a great Mexican food option, allowing everyone to make their own. You can grill up a collection of veggies and meats, adding some side options to allow for the ultimate customization. Let’s take a look at this delicious option for your outdoor fiesta. You can make this either on your campfire stove, a grill, or a grate.
Ingredients:
- Fajita sized flour tortillas
- Onions and Bell Peppers, or a Premade Fajita mix
- Olive Oil
- Your choice of Chicken, Beef, or Tofu.
- Salt
- Cumin, Red Pepper, Paprika, and other spices
- Chopped Lettuce
- Salsa
- Cheese
- Hot Sauce
- Several Sealable Storage Containers for Serving
Slice the onions and bell peppers into long strips. If you bought a premade fajita mix, you can skip this step. Lay the strips out on aluminum foil and lightly paint the vegetables with aluminum foil. Cook these vegetables for anywhere from ten to fifteen minutes. For the last five minutes, add the cumin, red pepper, paprika and other spices to the veggies, allowing them to cook. For an even better taste, try cooking them with a cast-iron skillet.
Cut the meat or tofu into long strips, about the same length as a fajita tortilla. Grill these meats until well done, and then put in a serving dish.
Wrap tortillas in foil and cook for less than three minutes over a fire. Place in a sealed container to prevent heat loss.
Arrange lettuce, salsa, and cheese into serving dishes, equipped with utensils. Make sure to keep them covered when not in use to prevent attracting insects. You can also pass these around the table family style.
Give everyone a plate and a couple tortillas to start. Each camper gets to assemble their own fajita from the different items to their own taste.
Pizza in a Dutch Oven
Let’s talk about another great way to make Pizza, this time in a Dutch Oven.
Ingredients:
- Pizza Crust
- Mozzarella (or preferred cheese)
- Tomato Sauce or Pizza Sauce
- Pizza Toppings of your choice
Open up your Dutch Oven and put the Pizza Crust on the bottom. Make sure that you buy crust small enough to fit in your Dutch Oven. Add a layer of tomato sauce, trying to thinly spread this across the crust to form a base. Now, sprinkle the cheese evenly across the entire pizza. Add your favorite pizza toppings to the top of the cheese.
Now, all you have to do is close the Dutch Oven, cover it up with some hot coals or embers, and let it cook. The Dutch Oven will apply heat to both the top and bottom of the pizza, which means it will cook fast. You should take it out after about ten minutes.
Campfire Curry
Get ready to impress your fellow campers with this exotic recipe! Campfire curry takes a while to make but isn’t as difficult as it might sound.
Ingredients:
- Cooked Rice
- Assorted Vegetables
- Tofu or meat of your choice(optional)
- Chopped Ginger
- Sliced Garlic
- Chopped Onions
- Coconut Milk
- Large Pot with Lid
- Olive Oil
- Curry paste
Start warming some oil in the bottom of your cooking pot. Add chopped onions, followed by ginger, and finally garlic. After these have cooked, you start cooking your meat and tofu. After about five minutes, throw your vegetables in the mix. Let these cook for another ten minutes.
Alright, now comes the curry part. Get about three tablespoons of curry powder, along with your choice of spices, and add it into the center of your cooking meat and vegetables. Let it warm for a moment before stirring. Stir the curry powder into the vegetables and let cook for a minute. Don’t let the curry powder cook for too long, or you could end up burning the spices.
Add a cup of coconut milk. Stir thoroughly, and then cover the pot with the lid. Make sure that the ingredients stay at a simmer. Don’t bring them to a boil or it could negatively affect the taste.
Let the ingredients steam for about thirty minutes. When the curry becomes thick, it’s ready. Serve the curry on top of rice.
Easy Campfire Kebab
This Middle Eastern sandwich is a great option for sitting around the fire, and easier to make than you’d think.
Ingredients:
- Peppers
- Mushrooms
- Onions
- Garlic
- Zucchini
- Other Assorted Vegetables
- Meat or Tofu
- Greek Dressing or Ranch
- Large Pita Bread or Wrap
Grill the meat or tofu first, making sure its cut into small slices. Then cook your choice of vegetables. You will want to put them into some foil for added protection. When they’re all cooked, put all the ingredients into your pita bread or wrap, adding cheese on top if desired. Wrap this up in foil and stick it on top of your grate or grill for three to five minutes. Unwrap, add dressing (if desired), and enjoy your delicious campfire kebab!
Delicious Salmon Delight
Here’s an easy Salmon recipe that looks like it came straight out of a gourmet restaurant. It’s perfect for a well-deserved meal at the campsite after a long day of fishing.
Ingredients:
- Three to Four Salmon filet
- Several slices of lemon
- Dijon Mustard
- Dill
- Tarragon
- Butter
- Two cloves of garlic
- Sliced Shallot
- Salt and pepper
Start by showering the Salmon with salt and pepper. Add some Dijon mustard on top.
Place the lemon slices, dill, tarragon, and shallot on top of the salmon with some garlic and butter.
Wrap the salmon up in tin foil.
Place directly into the coals of the fire.
Make sure you have a way to get it out!
Camping Snacks and Desserts
Classic Campfire S’mores
Our camping book wouldn’t be complete without this classic recipe!
Ingredients:
- Marshmallows
- Graham Crackers
- Bar of Chocolate
Roast a marshmallow over the fire using a skewer or large stick. Everyone differs on how long they like their marshmallows roasted, so just roast them to your own preference. Once your marshmallow is done, take two graham crackers and a piece of chocolate and make a sandwich.
When you’re done eating it, go back for s’more!
Pie Iron Chocolate Chip Cookie Extreme
This makes a large cholate chip cookie that you can break into pieces and share with all of your fellow campers.
Ingredients:
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
- Pie Iron
- Non-stick spray
Make sure you douse the pie iron with non-stick spray first. Spread the cookie dough out on the pie iron. Make sure you leave a large amount of space for the dough to rise. Close the pie iron and stick it in the fire. After several minutes, check on your cookie. When it looks ready, break it up and enjoy!
Campfire Nachos
These nachos are a great snack option, but difficult to make at a campfire. We will let you in on our secret nacho method
Ingredients:
- Bag of Chips
- Mexican cheese
- Black beans
- Jalapeño Peppers
- Hot Sauce
- Salsa
- Your choice of meat or veggies
Clear a large space on your grill or grate. Make a large bowl of foil. Curve up the ends to prevent spillage. Fill this bowl of foil with chips. Spread black beans on top of these, along with your choice of meat or veggies. Cover the top of these chips with cheese. Carefully place this on top of your grate. When the nachos look ready, take two large prongs and gently remove the tin saucer from the top of the grate. Carefully remove your tasty nachos, and enjoy!
Trail Mix Breakfast Bars
Trail mix bars are a great item that you can take on the go. You can make these bars yourself, using a simple recipe.
We already talked about some of the ingredients you can use in trail mix. The following recipe tells you how to make these into bars.
Ingredients:
- A cup and a half of your favorite trail mix
- A fourth of a cup of honey
- A cup and a half of dry oats
- Coconut oil, warmed
All you need to do is add these ingredients to a large mixing bowl, mix them up, and then lay them out in the desired shape. The coconut oil will cool, hardening these into tasty breakfast bars.
Conclusion
And that concludes our guide to camp cooking! We have covered everything you need to know about the gear and methods you’ll need to have a blast cooking in your camp kitchen. We hope you like the recipes we have provided, and if you are in the mood for more, you can find plenty on our website: Beyond the Tent.
We hope you have enjoyed the guide. Happy camping and Bon Appétit!
Carl Gutierrez
Monday 15th of November 2021
great share! enjoyed reading eat. wanna try camp cooking these delicious foods too. https://shop.campinggears.ph/products/stanley-basecamp-cookset-for-4
IRS4
Monday 25th of June 2018
"Remember that heat travels upwards!"
Hot AIR will rise over colder air, but that's primarily due to lower density. Warm water can actually sink below cold water because of this. Water is densest at around 4 Celsius, one of the reasons that ice floats.
Camping pedantry, the best kind of pedantry! :)