Blog

Aug 30, 2023

Our Favorite Campfire Cooking Tips, Tricks, and Gear

We’ve gone through this guide and still stand by our staff’s recommendations. Here at Wirecutter, we’re obsessive about figuring out not just the best tool for any job, but the best way to use it. We

We’ve gone through this guide and still stand by our staff’s recommendations.

Here at Wirecutter, we’re obsessive about figuring out not just the best tool for any job, but the best way to use it. We bring this obsessiveness to our outside-of-work lives too—which for many of us includes camping. On our site, we have thoroughly researched guides to gear for picnics and grilling, coolers, camping stove, and portable grills. But because we all have our own approaches to roughing it, we’ve also collected a variety of tools and tricks that help make camp cooking more fun. We would love to hear yours, so please tell us in the comments section below.

Light My Fire Spork Original Bio ($4 at the time of publication)

Unlike many sporks, the Light My Fire Spork Original Bio has the spoon and fork on opposite ends, which makes it much more functional yet still space-efficient. (The serrated knife edge really only works on softer foods, though, so you’ll still need a real knife for any serious chopping.) And because it comes in an array of bright colors, it’s easy to spot in a bag or backpack, or when sweeping a campsite during cleanup. One lives in my own camping go-bag, and I keep another in my kitchen for picnics and packed lunches; when I worked at REI, I always recommended it to people buying camping cookware. Light My Fire also makes larger sporks, as well as kids size, lefty, and titanium versions.

—Anna Perling

Snow Peak LiteMax Stove ($60 at the time of publication)

When car camping with family or a group of friends, having an extra burner can be the difference between a dinner spent juggling skillets and everyone sitting down to a hot meal together. The LiteMax Stove packs smaller than a deck of cards, and tucks away easily into a side pocket of a backpack or duffel bag. It sets up in under a minute, boils water in five, and runs for 50 minutes on a single can of blended propane gas. One of the rituals I enjoy most is boiling a small pot of water for coffee before everyone else is up. I appreciate the LiteMax in these moments—it’s simpler and less obtrusive than igniting a larger stove, fire, or grill.

—Kit Dillon

Original Rolla Roaster camping fork ($20 for a set of two at the time of publication)

Sure, you can use any appropriately sized stick to toast marshmallows or cook sausages over a campfire, but I prefer the Rolla Roaster for the job. This telescoping fork allows me to keep a comfortable distance away from the flames, and packs down to a reasonable length. The thin tines can spear almost any kind of food, and a dial on the handle lets me rotate the fork easily, cooking everything evenly. This is especially important when I’m cooking a Dough Boy, which requires wrapping biscuit dough—the kind from a can is excellent on these occasions—around the fork’s business end to make a long spiraled cylinder, which I then toast over the fire until baked through and fill with butter, jam, Nutella, or fruit and whipped cream. Or just eat straight.

—Winnie Yang

Optimus Kettle (about $27 at the time of publication)

After years of trying to streamline my gear, I realized some extras—like the Optimus Kettle—are worth bringing along. Making pour-over coffee is far easier, and less hazardous, now than it was with a spoutless pan—the same goes for heating water for instant oatmeal or for cleaning pans. The kettle holds about 2 cups and weighs just over 5 ounces, so it’s compact enough to bring backpacking. I stow my coffee beans inside the kettle, and put easily lost items, like lighters or a small bottle of Dr. Bronner’s soap, in its roomy mesh travel bag.

—Anna Perling

Snow Peak Ti-Single 450 Cup ($40 at the time of publication)

I try to pack as lightly as possible regardless of where I’m going or what I’m doing, but the one culinary camping accessory I always make room for is an ultralight titanium mug, such as the 450 mL Snow Peak. It’s perfect for sharing portions of stew in a group while car camping and can also act as a single-serving pot for boiling water for couscous in the backcountry. I’ve used cheaper imitations in the past, but to me, the Snow Peak is worth the extra $10 because it has a smoother finish and a roomier handle design that’s easier to grip. Like other metal cups (including enameled steel ones), the Snow Peak can be too hot to drink from at first pour—the company makes its silicone Hotlips to help mitigate potential scorching.

—Michael Zhao

I don’t bother with a separate coffee setup for camping. Instead, I make great camp coffee with just the thermal carafe from my coffee maker and a pour-over dripper (snagged from a yard sale for $1). This allows me to make enough coffee for six adults in one go, so everyone gets their precious first cup when they need it the most. And it keeps liquids hot for hours, so coffee is still fresh for those who need a late-morning pick-me-up. Now if I could just remember to pack my bottle brush to give it a proper scrub, it would be like I never left the comfort of my home.

—Lesley Stockton

Bringing several coolers is the best way to keep food fresh on your next camping trip: use one each for cold food, dry pantry items, and icy drinks. They can even double as extra seating. Let’s break it down:

—Lesley Stockton

Lodge Pre-Seasoned Skillet (6½ inches, $15 at the time of publication)

This might sound counterintuitive, but the strategy I rely on most when cooking outdoors is … cook as much as I can at home before I leave. It minimizes work and cleanup at the campsite—especially when I use a Lodge Pre-Seasoned skillet (a cast-iron pan we like). On a camping trip last July, my friend Ben came with a foil-wrapped peach blueberry cobbler for two (recipe below) that he’d prebaked in his 6½-inch skillet. (For larger groups, I’d use a 10¼-inch or 12-inch skillet.) After dinner, we plopped it on the fire grate to reheat as we sipped wine and stargazed. What’s on the menu for this summer? I’ll be bringing frittatas for a quick reheated breakfast.

—Anna Perling

My friend Ben was kind enough to share his recipe: Mix 4 cups of sliced peaches, ½ cup blueberries, ⅓ cup sugar, a splash of bourbon, ½ teaspoon lemon juice, ¼ teaspoon vanilla, ¼ teaspoon lemon zest, and ¾ teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl, and let it sit to macerate. Any fruit will do for the filling, though, and you can leave out the bourbon, of course—though really, it just adds a hint of warmth. For the cobbler topping, mix ⅔ cup all-purpose flour, ⅔ cup rolled oats, ⅓ cup sugar, and ¼ teaspoon kosher salt in a large bowl. Cut in 1 stick of cold, cubed, unsalted butter, and add 1½ tablespoon heavy cream, and mix everything until it’s just combined.

Pour the filling into a cast-iron skillet, and cover with the topping. Bake it at 350 °F for 30 minutes, let cool, cover it with foil, and then reheat over the hot coals when you’re ready to eat it.

—Anna Perling

Reynolds Wrap Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil ($12 for 130 feet at the time of publication)

When my husband and I first started to camp together, he introduced me to foil campfire packets, a tried and true technique that I’ve since made my own. His method involved cutting up root vegetables and onions (which can be done at home), gathering these in foil packets of double thickness, slathering the veggies with cubes of butter and seasonings, then roasting the tightly sealed packets in the coals of the campfire. There’s basically no cleanup, because you can throw out the cooking vessel and “dish” you’re eating from. Now, I up our cookout game by adding sausages or chicken to the packets, heating a separate foil packet of brie, raclette, or some other stinky cheese, then dipping the veggies fondue-style. You can also individually wrap unhusked corn or root vegetables like sweet potatoes to cook the same way. I recommend using a heavy-duty foil, like our pick, which is much less likely to puncture than standard foil.

—Christine Cyr Clisset

Rome Industries Square Pie Iron ($30 at the time of publication)

One of the things I look forward to most when car camping is getting to use my pie iron. With this ingenious contraption, I can use just about any kind of dough or bread (or tortilla or puff pastry or biscuit or crescent roll ...) and whatever filling I want to make my own custom hand pie. In the morning, after I get the water boiling for coffee, I’ll put down a slice of bread, buttered side against the iron, crack an egg into it, and add some bacon, cheese, and/or cooked vegetables leftover from the previous night’s dinner. I lay another piece of bread on top, close the iron tight, and toast over the fire for a few minutes for an excellent breakfast sandwich. For dessert, I might put pie filling in the middle instead to make a fruit turnover. The options are endless; the only limits to the pie iron are your imagination and your ingredients.

—Winnie Yang

Of the many quirky ways I learned to cook over the campfire as a Girl Scout—cake inside grapefruit rinds, bread on a stick—making bacon and eggs in a brown paper bag is my favorite. It isn’t efficient, but it sure is fun. Do this on a lazy morning around the campsite, because the bacon takes a while to cook. I like to start by brewing coffee and baking a cast-iron pan’s worth of cinnamon rolls while waiting for the coals to heat, then make a round of these.

All you need is paper bags, eggs, and bacon—you can adapt amounts based on your group’s size. To start, drop two strips of bacon in the bottom of an open lunch bag, and roll the top of the bag down. You can puncture the bag under the rolltop with a stick, and hold the bag over the fire with the stick, as you would a marshmallow. (You can also place the bag on a grill or fire grate if one is available.) Keep it over the coals, and out of direct flame, so it doesn’t catch on fire. Slowly, grease from the bacon will saturate the bag, protecting it from the flame.

Cook the bacon for about 20 minutes (flipping is optional). When it’s done, remove it and set aside. If it’s sticking to the bottom of the bag, leave it in there to avoid tearing a hole in the bag. Crack an egg (or two or three) directly into the greasy bag or over the bacon, then hang the bag back over the fire to cook. When the eggs are done to your liking, tear away the sides of the paper bag, and eat.

—Eve O’Neill

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