24 Camping Food Ideas and Recipes

Less stress, fewer dishes and more time to enjoy the great outdoors.

Mark Bittman’s salmon and tomatoes in foil.Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Published July 17, 2025Updated July 17, 2025

Camping invites us to slow down, reconnect with nature and savor life’s simple pleasures. But when it comes to mealtime, the magic can quickly wear off (see: scrubbing pans in the dark). Below are 24 easy, approachable recipes — for breakfast, dinner, dessert and more — that can all be made with just a handful of ingredients in a single pot or pan over a campfire and in under an hour.

A metal spoon is scooping into a skillet of tortellini that’s been tossed with a red meat sauce.

This pasta recipe from Ali Slagle has everything you’d want in a camping meal: It requires no chopping, cooks in one pot (for easier cleanup) and comes together in about 45 minutes.

Tip: Store-bought marinara sauce works wonderfully as a shortcut; the browned sausage does the heavy lifting when it comes to flavor.

Recipe: One-Pot Tortellini With Meat Sauce

An overhead image of a skillet filled with sausages nestled on a bed of sliced peppers and onions.

David Tanis’s recipe can be easily adapted for the great outdoors. Rather than use two separate pans, you can look to a single cast-iron skillet to cook your sausages, peppers and onions over a campfire. Start by cooking the sliced peppers and onions, then transfer the mixture to a plate and heat up the sausages. Be sure to prick them all over with a skewer first to prevent them from bursting open.

Recipe: Sausage With Peppers and Onions

An overhead image of a cast-iron skillet filled with beans topped with eggs, sliced avocado and herbs.

In this easy, one-pan recipe from Rick A. Martínez, canned black beans are cooked with chipotle chiles and crushed garlic until tender enough to smash. (He recommends a potato masher, but a fork works, too.) Eggs are then dropped into the rich, creamy beans to poach. Serve with crunchy tostadas or tortilla chips and some sliced avocado for a hearty breakfast or dinner.

Recipe: Huevos Enfrijolados

An overhead image of a Dutch oven filled with rice and beans next to a plate topped with lime wedges.

Ali Slagle has optimized that classic pair — rice and beans — for camping. Here, the rice cooks with the beans in their starchy liquid. Much of the rest is up to you: Use stock or water as your boiling liquid, garnish with cilantro and lime as you wish. Whatever you do, it’ll be sure to satisfy.

Recipe: One-Pot Rice and Beans

An overhead image of two bowls filled with chili and topped with sour cream and slivered red onions.

“I love beans so I used four different kinds, two cans of diced tomatoes and added diced canned peppers. This was definitely the quickest cooking chili I’ve ever made,” one reader wrote about Melissa Clark’s 30-minute recipe, which has more than 10,000 five-star ratings. It’s simple and incredibly riffable.

Recipe: Vegetarian Skillet Chili

A side image of four cups filled with yogurt and topped with berries.

Don’t it twisted. We love s’mores here at New York Times Cooking, but some nights just call for a brighter, fresher dessert. The key here is to let the berries macerate for at least 30 minutes, so they get nice and juicy.

Tip: Pour heavy cream, sugar and vanilla in a Mason jar and shake until you’ve got a loose whip, or opt for canned whipped cream.

Recipe: Berries and Cream

An overhead image of a cast-iron skillet filled with cheesy gnocchi with cherry tomatoes.

Brown store-bought gnocchi in a skillet to get crispy outsides and chewy middles, no boiling required. Toss in some cherry tomatoes, red-pepper flakes and garlic, and you’ve got a sauce. For the mozzarella, cover your cast-iron with a lid (or even a sheet pan) for a couple of minutes to help the cheese melt.

Recipe: Crispy Gnocchi With Burst Tomatoes and Mozzarella

An overhead image of a cast-iron skillet with chicken thighs, a whole bulb of garlic, scallions and lime.

These citrusy, garlicky chicken thighs are the quick camping alternative to a long, at-home braise. Once the chicken is seared, throw in a head of garlic, scallions, lime juice, soy sauce and a cup of water. Cook until the liquid has reduced and the chicken is nearly falling apart.

Tip: Swap bone-in thighs for boneless for even faster cleanup.

Recipe: Garlicky Chicken Thighs With Scallion and Lime

A cross-section of a kimchi, egg and cheese sandwich, with melted cheese oozing

Ali Slagle recommends adding kimchi to your breakfast sandwich. It’s quicker than cooking up bacon or sausage, and it will balance out the richness of the egg and cheese. If you don’t have kimchi on hand, you can also use another pickled vegetable, like chopped pickled peppers or dill pickles, for that heat, crunch and a jolt of bright flavor.

Recipe: Kimchi, Egg and Cheese Sandwich

An overhead image of a white plate filled with white bean salad with sliced red onions, feta cheese, celery and parsley.

This hearty cannellini bean salad from Hetty Lui McKinnon is the perfect make-ahead dish. Why? Because it gets better with time. The creamy, salty feta balances the sharpness of the quick-pickled celery, but if you’re worried about your cooler and the dairy of it all, you can skip the cheese.

Recipe: White Bean, Feta and Quick-Pickled Celery Salad

An overhead image of a blue bowl full of blistered shishito peppers. A small bowl of flaky salt is visible in the top right corner.

Blistered shishitos are an excellent campfire appetizer, snack or side dish. The charred, sweet peppers really don’t need more than a few minutes over high heat in a cast-iron skillet and some flaky salt for seasoning. The best part: Their stems are a built-in handle, so no need to dirty any plates or utensils.

Recipe: Blistered Shishito Peppers

An overhead shot of three packets of salmon wrapped in aluminum foil, with tomatoes, basil and olive oil.

This Mark Bittman recipe is easy and delicious, but the main selling point? No dirty dishes! Layer salmon, tomato and basil on lightly oiled foil and wrap it up (you can even do it the night before), and then grill or pan-grill the packages over the fire. Feel free to substitute almost any of the ingredients: Fish steak or fillet or boneless, skinless chicken breast can step in for salmon, and the herb and vegetable can also be swapped to your heart’s desire.

Recipe: Salmon and Tomatoes in Foil

An overhead shot of a white plate full of metal skewers of grilled vegetables, like zucchini and eggplant, as well as wedges of lemon for serving.

In this Melissa Clark recipe, zucchini and eggplant are marinated in oregano, garlic and olive oil while your grill pan or grate heats, then brightened with fresh lemon juice before serving. She recommends using flat metal skewers, but bamboo skewers are also great (they’re inexpensive, biodegradable and won’t burn your lips). Just remember to soak them in water before grilling to prevent flare-ups.

Recipe: Summer Vegetable Skewers

An overhead shot of a cast-iron skillet with a frittata with pockets of melted cheese and blistered cherry tomatoes. A wedge is cut out of the frittata.

The possibilities are endless with Sohla El-Waylly’s frittata recipe. Chuck whatever leftovers you have from the night before (sausage? grilled vegetables? rice and beans?) in a cast-iron skillet, pour in beaten eggs, top everything with cheese, and cook until the bottom and sides appear set when you shake the pan.

Tip: Pack any vegetables you need to use up before hitting the road, and throw them in your frittata.

Recipe: Cheesy Frittata

An overhead shot of three hot dogs on a white plate with crinkled edges. One is drizzled with ketchup, one with mustard and one with relish and diced white onion.

There’s arguably nothing easier than grilling up a couple of hot dogs for dinner. Ali Slagle offers tips on how to achieve the perfect one, including letting the flame mellow to a moderate heat to prevent bursting or burning. For toppings, choose your own adventure.

Recipe: Grilled Hot Dogs

A cross-section of a medium-rare steak is cut into with a serving fork.

Heed Julia Moskin’s advice and you’ll have cooked the perfect camp steak: Buy boneless, thinner cuts (they cook evenly) dry them well (to maximize crust), then salt and sear them in a ridiculously hot, cast-iron pan. Most important, you should salt the pan, not the meat, and flip the steak often.

Recipe: Cast-Iron Steak

An overhead shot of a plate of grilled shrimp and tomato skewers, with lemon wedges on the side. To the left, a smaller plate of shrimp with some bread.

Harissa paste is a quick marinade for grilled shrimp in this Yossy Arefi recipe. The skewers need about three minutes per side to get lightly charred and cooked through. Serve with lemon wedges and some grilled, store-bought flatbread.

Recipe: Grilled Harissa Shrimp

An image shot from the side of two burgers on a wooden cutting board. The burgers have two patties each, melted Cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce, red onion and mayonnaise.

Unlike a typical grilled burger, thinner smash burgers cook best on a griddle or cast-iron skillet. This recipe from Farideh Sadeghin keeps them with crisp edges and melted cheese, so they really hit the spot.

Tip: Buy premade burger patties at the grocery store so you don’t have to portion out the ground beef at your campsite.

Recipe: Smash Burgers

An overhead image of a cast-iron skillet with a giant chocolate chip cookie inside. A slice is cut out of the cookie.

This big chocolate chip cookie from Samantha Seneviratne can be baked in a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet — so there’s no portioning dough, no baking in batches and very little time spent overall.

Tip: The cookie dough can be made in advance, and stored in your cooler until you’re ready for a sweet treat.

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

An overhead image of a cast-iron skillet full of orzo with bacon and eggs on top and a spoon inside. To the left, there is a smaller plate of orzo.

“I could live on this pasta,” one reader wrote about Ali Slagle’s inspired recipe. Start by searing some sliced bacon until crisp, then toasting orzo in the rendered bacon fat, and simmering with stock, or water with a pinch of salt, until the pasta is al dente. Next, you’ll stir in a few handfuls of Parmesan, then crack eggs right into the pan. It’s like a camping-friendly carbonara.

Recipe: Skillet Pasta With Bacon and Eggs

An overhead image of three corn tacos on a black plate. The tacos have carne asada, sliced avocado, diced tomato, diced onion and a white sauce. A wedge of lime and small bowl of pico de gallo on the side.

Skirt steak, because of its high fat content, is perfect for tacos. In Mark Bittman’s simple recipe, garlic and a few spices — cumin, oregano, cayenne, freshly ground black pepper, salt — are rubbed on the meat, which is then grilled for just a few minutes. Cut into slices and pile into tortillas with some store-bought pico de gallo.

Recipe: Grilled Carne Asada for Tacos

Five grilled peaches with blueberries and whipped cream are topped with dukkah and arranged on a rectangular white platter.

“Grilled peaches may be summer’s greatest joy,” Sam Sifton writes. He’s not wrong. In his simple recipe, the fruit is cooked with nothing but a brush of olive oil over a dying fire after dinner. Serve them with whipped cream or nothing at all.

Recipe: Grilled Peaches

An overhead image of a skillet full of brownie, with three scoops of vanilla ice cream on top. A black spoon is in the skillet, and three spoons sit to the right of the skillet.

These chewy and fudgy brownies from Melissa Clark are mixed and baked in the same skillet — just make sure your cast-iron pan is very well seasoned to avoid sticking.

Tip: You could also use store-bought box mix, if you don’t want to lug all these baking ingredients.

Recipe: Easy Skillet Brownies

Two jars filled with overnight oats, including one topped with raw almonds, sit on a white countertop. To the left a bowl of more raw almonds is visible while a lid can be seen behind one of the jars.

Genevieve Ko’s overnight oats are a fantastic make-ahead breakfast for camping. Mix rolled oats, milk, seeds and dried fruits in a Mason jar before leaving home, pop the jar in your cooler, and you’ll have a healthy, tasty breakfast that’s ready even before the birds start singing their chirping.

Tip: Top with some trail-mix before eating for extra crunch.

Recipe: Overnight Oats

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