Campfire Cooking Techniques: How to Cook on Coals Instead of Flames

Most campfire cooking techniques come down to one skill that nobody teaches: making and managing a bed of coals. Get that right and a skillet, a Dutch oven, a sheet of foil, and a stick all start working. Get it wrong and every one of them produces the same meal, which is black on the outside and cold in the middle.

So let's start where the actual cooking starts, which is about an hour before anybody is hungry.

Why cook on coals instead of flames?

Because flames are uneven, unpredictable, and far hotter than anything you want food sitting in.

A flame is combustion happening in the air above the fuel. It moves with the wind, it surges when a log shifts, and it deposits soot. A coal bed is a mass of glowing fuel radiating steady heat upward. It does not jump, it does not blow sideways, and it holds temperature for a long time.

Everything else in this article assumes a coal bed. So:

1. Start the fire 45 to 60 minutes before you want to cook. This is the step people skip and it is the step that matters.

2. Burn hardwood if you have it. Oak, maple, hickory, and fruit woods make dense, long-lived coals. Softwoods like pine burn fast, pop, and leave resinous soot.

3. Keep a flame section and a coal section. Burn new wood at one end of the fire and rake coals out to the other end as they form. That gives you a renewable supply instead of one shot.

4. Rake the coals into a flat, even bed roughly the size of your pan, 1 to 2 inches deep.

To judge heat without a thermometer, hold your palm about 5 inches above the coals and count. If you pull back in 2 seconds, that is high heat. 3 to 4 seconds is medium. 5 or more is low. Getting a good bed of coals in the first place is the part most people rush, and it gets harder when your wood is damp, so it helps to know how to start a fire with wet wood before you depend on cooking over one.

How do you cook in a Dutch oven over a fire?

Coals on top and coals underneath, counted rather than guessed.

This is where campfire cooking stops being camping and starts being actual baking, and there is a real formula for it. Michigan State University Extension gives the rule for roughly 325 degrees F: "Multiply the oven's diameter, in inches, by 2 and then add 3 or 4 for extras."

And for baking, the split between lid and bottom:

Notice how lopsided that is. Far more heat on the lid than underneath, because heat rises and because the bottom is what burns. Most people's first Dutch oven failure is a scorched bottom from piling coals under it like a stove burner.

MSU gives the adjustment too: "To adjust temperature by 25°F- Add or remove 2 briquettes(1 top and 1 bottom)." That is as close to a temperature dial as you get outdoors.

Two other configurations from the same source:

• Frying: "Place briquettes underneath only, no lid-12-14 below the oven to start with."

• Simmering: once the soup or stew reaches temperature, pull some coals from both the top and the bottom.

On timing, MSU says high quality briquettes last about 1 hour depending on wind and weather, and to replace them when they are about half their original size. For anything longer than an hour, get a second batch going in the fire before the first batch fades.

Safety, straight from the same guide: use long leather gloves, open the lid away from you so the steam does not burn you, and make sure hot briquettes do not get left lying on the ground where somebody steps on them.

What are the other core campfire cooking techniques?

Five, and between them they cover almost anything you would want to eat outdoors.

1. Direct on the coals. Cast iron skillet or griddle set right on the flat bed. Best for anything you would normally pan-cook: eggs, bacon, fish, sliced vegetables, cornbread. Cast iron holds and evens out the heat, which is exactly what an uneven coal bed needs.

2. Foil packets. Heavy duty foil, double wrapped, laid on a medium coal bed and turned once. This is steaming, not roasting, so it is excellent for vegetables, fish fillets, and anything that benefits from a little butter or stock sealed in. Keep the packets flat and thin so heat gets to the middle.

3. Grate over coals. A simple metal grate set on rocks or a frame, 4 to 6 inches above the bed. This is normal grilling and it is the easiest way to feed a group. The height is your temperature control.

4. Stick cooking. Underrated and useful. Green hardwood sticks, sharpened, held near the coals rather than in the flames. Works for sausages, bread dough twisted around the stick, and small cuts of meat. Rotate constantly and keep it well back from any flame.

5. Ash roasting. Dense root vegetables (potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, beets) buried directly in the hot ashes at the edge of the fire. No foil required, though foil makes cleanup easier. Slow, forgiving, and almost impossible to ruin.

A sixth, if you have the setup: planking, where a fillet is pinned to a soaked hardwood board angled beside the coals. It is slow and it is the best way to cook a fatty fish outdoors.

What internal temperature does campfire food need to reach?

The same temperatures as your kitchen. Cooking outdoors does not change the microbiology.

Per University of Maine Cooperative Extension, citing the USDA safe minimum internal temperatures:

• Poultry (whole birds, parts, and ground poultry): 165 degrees F.

• Ground beef and pork, and sausage: 160 degrees F.

• Beef, pork steaks, roasts, and chops: 145 degrees F with a 3 minute rest.

• Fish: 145 degrees F, or cook until the flesh is no longer translucent and separates easily with a fork.

• Egg dishes such as quiche: 160 degrees F. Plain eggs, cook until yolk and white are firm.

• Leftovers of any kind: 165 degrees F.

Carry an instant-read thermometer. It weighs nothing and it is the only honest way to know. Fire cooking produces a hard seared crust fast, which makes the outside look far more done than the inside is. That visual cue, which mostly works on a stove, actively lies to you over coals.

A sixth, if you have the setup: planking, where you lash fish or meat to a board or a split log and lean it toward the fire. It cooks slowly from radiant heat alone. It is closely related to the old smoking and drying methods, which are worth learning if you want to preserve meat without refrigeration rather than just cook it for tonight.

What do beginners get wrong?

Five mistakes, in roughly the order people make them.

1. Cooking too early. The fire is pretty and the flames are high, so people start. Wait for coals. This is the whole game.

2. One big fire instead of zones. Build a hot end and a cool end. Without somewhere to move the pan, your only temperature control is taking the food off entirely.

3. Piling coals under a Dutch oven. See the table above. It is mostly a top-heat appliance.

4. Using river rocks. Any stone that has been sitting in water can hold moisture in its pores, and heating it can make it crack or burst. Use dry stone from well away from the water, or skip it.

5. No cleanup plan for the coals. Drown the fire thoroughly, stir it, drown it again, and keep going until it is cool to the touch. A coal bed that looks dead holds heat for many hours, which is how abandoned campfires start wildfires.

Check local fire restrictions before you light anything. Burn bans are common in dry months and they apply to cooking fires too. And if the reason you are cooking outdoors is that the power is out, the same fire can do double duty: see our guide to canning without power for how to keep food from spoiling at the same time.

The numbers, in one place

Frequently asked questions

Why should you cook on coals instead of flames?

Because flames give you intense, uneven, unpredictable heat that chars the outside before the middle is done. A bed of coals radiates steady heat you can measure with your hand and spread where you want it. Flames are for making coals. Coals are for cooking.

What temperature does campfire food need to reach?

The USDA safe minimums still apply outdoors: 165 degrees F for poultry and leftovers, 160 degrees F for ground beef and pork, and 145 degrees F for steaks, roasts, chops and fish with a 3 minute rest. The only reliable way to know outdoors is an instant-read thermometer, because color and time are unreliable over a fire.

How many coals does a Dutch oven need?

For roughly 325 degrees F, Michigan State University Extension gives the rule as the oven's diameter in inches multiplied by 2, plus 3 or 4 extras. For baking in a 12 inch oven that is about 15 briquettes on the lid and 9 underneath. To change the temperature by 25 degrees F, add or remove 2 briquettes, one top and one bottom.

How long do charcoal briquettes last when cooking?

About 1 hour for good quality briquettes, depending on wind and weather, according to Michigan State University Extension. Replace them when they have burned down to roughly half their original size, and start a second batch before the first is spent if the cook will run long.

How do you cook in a campfire without any cookware?

Foil packets, flat rocks, sticks, and direct ash roasting all work. Foil packets on a coal bed handle vegetables and fish well, a clean dry flat stone set beside the coals makes a griddle, and dense root vegetables can be buried directly in hot ashes. Do not use river rocks or any stone that has been sitting in water, because trapped moisture can make them crack or burst when heated.

What wood is best for campfire cooking?

Dense hardwoods. Oak, maple, hickory, and fruit woods burn down to long-lasting coals and leave little soot. Softwoods such as pine light easily but burn fast, pop and throw sparks, and deposit resin on your cookware, so they are better for starting the fire than for cooking on it.

Build the fire early, rake the coals flat, count the briquettes, and check the temperature. That is the whole craft, and once you have it the menu opens up considerably. Practice it in the backyard on a Saturday so the first time is not the time it matters.

You never know, but you can always be ready.

Sources: Michigan State University Extension, Dutch Oven Cooking Basics · University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures

Always check local fire restrictions before lighting an open fire, and drown your coals completely before leaving.