Dutch Oven Camping Recipes - Organize and Enjoy

When about to head out on your own outdoor adventure, what better way to be prepared than to supply yourself with some tried and true Dutch oven camping recipes! Dutch oven camp cooking is easy and fun, plus it provides a great way to have quality meals and desserts when you're out on the trail.

Start by arming yourself with a good supply of Dutch oven cookbooks and reading about the different methods and supplies you'll need. Supplies for this method of campfire cooking are really quite simple and consist of your cast iron cookware, a few accessories, coals for cooking, cleaning supplies for your oven, and safety precautions, such as gloves or a shovel for runaway fires. Once you've got that down, start collecting recipes.

Taking a whole car full of cookbooks and loose recipe cards isn't the greatest idea and will cost you space that you need for taking other gear. Instead, make a meal menu. Then spend some time finding recipes for main dishes and desserts that you know your family will enjoy. Print them out from an online source, or copy them from your favorite cookbooks and slip them into a folder or recipe card organizer. Arranging them according to the day you'll be using them really saves a lot of time. In this fashion, everything stays nice and organized so you can enjoy yourself during your trip, rather than worry about what's going to be on the fire that evening.

I'd love to share a simple dessert recipe with you...a Dutch oven makeover of the traditional "s'more" that has become one of my family's favorite campfire-made dishes. It's easy, for a first-timer and has the added benefit of using many bagged or dry ingredients...the only perishable ingredients this one has are a little butter or margarine, almond flavoring, and one egg.

Dutch Oven S'mores

First, line a ten inch cast iron Dutch oven with aluminum foil and grease the foil with butter or a non-stick spray.

Crust:

1 ¾ cups graham crackers, crushed
4 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ tablespoons cocoa
½ cup butter or margarine, melted

Combine graham crackers, sugar, and cocoa and mix thoroughly. Add melted butter to these dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined. Press mixture firmly into the bottom and one-half inch up the side of your foil-lined oven.

Filling:

1 tablespoon cocoa
½ cup flour
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter or margarine, melted
1 egg, beaten
½ teaspoon almond flavoring

Combine cocoa, flour and sugar in a bowl. Add the melted butter and stir. When mixture is blended together, add the egg and flavoring and stir well. Pour this filling into the crust and bake for thirty minutes or until done with approximately eight to ten hot coals on top of your oven and approximately six to eight hot coals under your oven.

Topping:

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup miniature marshmallows

Pour over baked filling and continue baking with coals on top until the chocolate chips have melted slightly; approximately 5 minutes. Eat immediately...but I didn't have to tell you that part...

Enjoy your campfire cooking pursuits and the best of luck to you as you scope out delicious Dutch oven camping recipes for your family!