An expert’s best advice for cooking over a campfire

UNITED STATES – Campfire cooking can seem complicated, what with the planning, packing and schlepping involved in fashioning a temporary kitchen in the great outdoors. But keep the meal ideas, tools and set-up simple, and campfire cooking might just be more enjoyable than cooking at home.

My partner and I have twice circled the United States in our camper van, but we knew very little when we set out. We learnt as we went. There were many nights of cooking out in the wind and rain, and a lot of ramen. Not every night was dreamy, but every morning, we were glad to wake up where we were.

There is nothing quite like cooking over live fire – and no two times are ever the same – but with this basic information, you might just do it again and again. If you are camp cooking-curious and do not know where to start, you are in the right place.

Safety notes

Always follow local rules and regulations. Some campsites will have pits with grates; others may have a fire ban (in which case, it is sandwiches for dinner).

Use wood that was bought or acquired locally to avoid transporting invasive species.

Keep a bucket of water nearby for emergencies – and to put out the fire before going to bed. Be sure to stir the water with the embers, so they are all drenched.

Helpful equipment

The tools you will use to cook over a campfire are not that different from what you use at home, save for long tongs and a dish bin, so take along a curated selection of what you already have in your kitchen.

When we were packing, whatever tool I used when cooking over the course of a week went into a box for the van. If I had used it at home, chances were I would want it camping too.

You probably need only one skillet. I use a large, carbon-steel version for most things. And certain tools have multiple uses. For instance, a sheet pan can be a table to put tools on, a tray for prepped ingredients, a platter for finished food, a lid for your skillet or a fan to get the fire roaring.

Keep the food from burning

It can be tempting to cook directly over big, glowing, roaring flames, but they will end up charring your food completely.

Instead, wait for the flames to die down a bit. A fire is ready to cook on when the logs have broken down into coals that glow orange and are covered with a layer of grey ash. That is your cue to arrange a grill grate over the coals and let it heat, then add your food, preferably in a skillet, which can be a safer bet than cooking over the grates at the campsite.

If you do find your food consumed by flames, move it to a cooler part of the fire. Look for areas where the coals are not as red or bright, or hold your hand a few centimetres above different parts of the coals to feel their temperature. Avoid spraying the flames with water, which will spray the ash onto your food.

Essential tips

Go easy on yourself when building a campfire, and feel free to use supermarket fire starters.

A carbon-steel skillet can be much easier to use, and lighter to pack, than a cast-iron one. Also, tongs can do double duty, moving food and wood around.

Kitchen shears are your friend. Cut ingredients like kimchi right in the jar or scallions over your bowl to avoid cleaning a messy cutting board.

Choose meals that do not require a lot of measurements. Eyeballing ingredients means less dishwashing.

Build a meal in a foil packet

A foil packet – aluminium foil envelopes of ingredients – can be especially helpful. It is essentially a single-serve steamer, so anything that can be steamed can be foil-packed. And when you are ready to cook, all you need to do is put the packet on the coals or grill grate.

Because you are aiming to cook a number of ingredients in a single packet and working with the unpredictability of a campfire, there can be a lot to get right, so it can be helpful to streamline.

For instance, use already cooked proteins, like canned beans, rotisserie chicken or smoked sausages; and quick-cooking vegetables, such as frozen peas, cherry tomatoes, baby spinach or corn. If you want to eat something heartier, like carrots or potatoes, consider pre-cooking them.

Add some oil or butter inside to keep ingredients from sticking, and go for heavy-duty or a double wrap of foil to avoid leaking. Because the ingredients are not getting any colour, your dinner might need a little boost of flavour at the end. A spoonful of pesto or another sauce, fresh herbs, a sprinkle of cheese or a squeeze of lemon or lime are great for that.

Some suggestions for foil packet meals include canned white beans with cherry tomatoes, pesto and a dollop of ricotta, and topped with arugula; sausages with thinly sliced bell peppers and sauerkraut, and finished with thinly sliced scallions; and store-bought gnocchi with chopped asparagus, frozen peas, butter and lemon.

How to make coffee

I make pour-over coffee at home, so I do that when camping too. Boil a pot or kettle of water on the camp stove, then pour the water into a pour-over set on an insulated travel mug (I like the one from Zojirushi). If that is too involved at daybreak, consider instant coffee.

Pack good camping snacks

For something salty and crunchy, consider a party mix. An Old Bay party mix was a big hit with our Fourth of July camping crew in 2024.

If you prefer something juicy and refreshing, take along cut fruits and vegetables, like watermelon and cucumbers, and a jar of chaat masala to sprinkle on them.

Cocoa granola satisfies chocolate cravings without worry of melting in the summer sun.

How to pick a recipe to cook over a campfire

If you are new to campfire cooking, go easy on yourself and make something familiar. Choose a skillet recipe you already love, since the cooking is similar when you set a skillet on a grill grate.

That said, fire is a wild thing, so there is something to letting it do its thing and cooking something flexible on it. That usually means something vegetarian or a protein that is hard to overcook, like boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

But most important, the great outdoors plus wood smoke make whatever you are cooking especially delicious, so do not worry too much: It does not need to be elaborate to taste special. NYTIMES