From Campfire Cooking to Cassoulet: 22 Delish Dutch Oven Recipes (2025)

FAQs

How to cook with a Dutch oven on a campfire? ›

Using Coals

Arrange the charcoal by placing them under the oven in a circular pattern so they are at least 1/2 inch inside the oven's edge. Arrange the charcoal on the lid in a checkerboard pattern. Top or bottom, do not bunch the charcoal. Bunching can cause hot spots that will burn food or damage the oven.

For this dish, place your Dutch oven over a fire on a metal grate or rack, which will be hotter for sauteeing. If you don't have a grate, let the fire burn down, and then bury the oven well into the coals so there's plenty of heat.

Fill your dutch oven no more than halfway with oil and then heat to your recipe's prescribed temperature. Submerge your ingredients in the heated oil until cooked, then rest them on a paper towel or wire rack to remove excess oil.

CC: A Dutch oven is intended to cook with coals on top and underneath to create an oven effect of the heat surrounding it. Make sure the oven lid has a lip around the edge to keep the coals from falling off and 3 legs. If you have one without legs you can use a trivet made for a Dutch oven.

Don't cook acidic foods

If your Dutch oven is enamel coated, then you can easily use it to cook homemade tomato sauce or any other acidic foods. However, it's not a good idea to simmer these types of foods when you're using any type of kitchen kit made from cast iron.

Vegetable oil or lard. Vegetable oil and lard have high smoke points, so you can get your Dutch oven smoking hot without burning the coating off, which will affect your food's flavor. Olive oil or butter is not suitable, but peanut, canola, sunflower, or soybean oil can withstand high heat. Paper towels or a soft rag.

Without a good seasoning coat, your food won't taste as good as it could, your dutch oven will rust, and cleaning up after cooking will be more difficult.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (around 200 degrees Celsius). Apply about one tablespoon of vegetable or seasoning oil to the Dutch oven. Using a clean cloth or paper towel, wipe the oil evenly all over the cast-iron surface. Use a second cloth to remove any excess, leaving only a thin layer of oil.

For a 10-inch oven, you need 20 briquettes. For a 12-incher, you need 24 briquettes, and so on.

What do you do with a Dutch oven before first use? ›

You should wash it first.

Before you use your Dutch oven for the first time, wash it in hot, soapy water, and dry it with a soft cloth. While many Dutch ovens are dishwasher-safe, it's generally recommended to hand-wash it when you can.

The most common method is: Preheat Dutch oven in the oven with the lid off at 500F/260C. Many bakers will continue preheating for 10-20 minutes after the oven reaches target temperature to ensure the Dutch oven is at its hottest. Lower the loaf into the Dutch oven using a sling made of parchment or silicone.

Home Dutch ovens (such as those made by Staub and Le Creuset) are made of cast iron and sealed in enamel. This enamel, which is beautiful and makes for easier cleaning, can become damaged when exposed to the high direct heat of an open campfire.

The Dutch oven, an 18th-century invention from the Netherlands, is much more than a cooking pot—it's a symbol of culinary history that has stood the test of time. Rugged and dependable, a Dutch oven's ability to evenly distribute and maintain heat makes it ideal for the unpredictable conditions of campfire cuisine.

Enameled cast-iron cookware

It's not recommended for use over open fire (while standard cast-iron is a campfire classic). Heating one while empty can crack or damage the enamel, and temperature recommendations for oven use are mixed from brand to brand.

Not only are cast iron pans more durable than modern makes (you can literally put one on a burning coal), they are also great at delivering extra flavorful food without packing your whole spice rack.