One of the most important and best parts of a camping trip is the endless food. It takes time and preparation to make sure you’ve got enough wholesome meals to last your entire. At the same time, you don’t want to spend hours prepping every single meal. Here are five simple, delicious, and relatively inexpensive campfire cooking recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert.
Campfire Beer Pancakes
Campfire cooking can’t go wrong when you’re incorporating beer into the recipe. Even better, start your day off with beer and pancakes. Even though the alcohol cooks out, these campfire beer pancakes are the perfect way to start off your day. You’ll need a sturdy campfire aluminum griddle, pancake mix, and a robust porter, stout, or imperial stout, depending on your taste. To simplify the recipe, get the ‘just add water’ pancake mix and replace the water with your beer at a 1:1 ratio. Heat up your aluminum griddle for a few minutes before adding your batter. We recommend adding a little less beer instructed, so the pancakes aren’t too runny. Cook them until they’re fluffy in the middle and add some maple syrup. Check out the full recipe here.
One Pot Chili
- Ground beef
- Onion
- Red pepper
- Jalapeno
- Several cans of diced tomatoes
- Tomato paste
- Tomato sauce
- Chili seasoning
- Beans
- Beef Bullion
- Enamel cooking pot
- Can opener - if you’re prepping at the campsite
Your campfire chili should be prepped before your camping trip to cut down on trash and time once you’re at your campsite. Use a large plastic container or gallon size freezer bags to dump all of the ingredients in except for the water. On the day you want your campfire chili, pour all of the ingredients into your cooking pot, hang it on the tripod above the fire and walk away. Check your chili every couple of hours and stir when needed. After 5 or 6 hours, you’ll have a delicious pot full of campfire chili! Try a few of these recipes: 5 Can Chili Campfire Chili
Campfire Breadsticks
It doesn’t get much easier than campfire breadsticks. As a favorite of campfire cooking recipes, breadsticks are a staple and go with any meal. All you need is store bought bread dough and some of your favorite spices and toppings like butter, parmesan cheese, paprika, oregano, and any other flavors that make your mouth happy. Use a twig or metal roasting sticks and wrap the dough around it. Cook on each side until golden and you’re ready to dig in. Get the entire recipe here.
Chocolate Banana Boats
Almost more important than breakfast, lunch, and dinner are the amazing campfire desserts you can whip up on the fly. All you need is some tin foil, bananas, chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, and Golden Grahams cereal to make this delicious chocolate banana boat campfire cooking recipe. These banana boats are so easy that you don’t even need to take the banana out of the peel. Just slice it open, stuff it full of goodies, wrap it in foil and cook for about 8 minutes. Check out the Betty Crocker recipe here.
Cast Iron Mountain Pies
There is nothing better than eating a homemade pie from a campfire. These campfire cooking recipes for pies are quick and easy and allow you to get creative with your filling. You’ll need some white bread slices, butter or cooking spray, and pie filling or fresh fruit. The important thing to remember is to spray cooking oil or butter on the inside of the cast iron pie griller, or you’ll end up with something like this:
Cook mountain pies evenly on each side for about 4 minutes or until golden brown. Try out this pie recipe here.
Cooking Supplies to Bring
Beyond these campfire cooking recipes, you’ll need to make sure you pack some basic camping necessities including a magnesium fire starter, measuring cup, military mess kit, and a cast iron paella pan. Coleman’s Military Surplus offers a huge selection of camping gear and campfire essentials for your next trip.