Campsite cooking should involve everyone. One of the best ways to accomplish that is with pie irons or a camp fire iron like the Bass Pro Shops Camp Fire Single iron . If you start with basic recipes, but make a variety of ingredients available, then each camper can concoct pie iron creations to their own tastes. Think of it as a camping, pie iron buffet. What a great breakfast, lunch, or dinner activity to involve every one of your campers – young and old. Plus, no one can ever complain about the food, because they made it themselves
Tip: General Pie Iron or Camp Fire Iron Cooking Tips
Cooking Spray is Your Friend
The first thing to do is heat your pie iron. Then take it away from
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| Bass Pro Shops Double Camp Fire Iron |
the fire, open it, and give it a light, even spray of cooking oil. Plain or flavored is fine. Just remember the cooking truism, “Hot pan, cold oil, food won’t stick.”
Butter Your Bread
Any time you’re making a traditional toasted sandwich in your pie iron, remember to butter THE OUTSIDE of the slices of bread, too. For a nice non-stick, golden brown it’s way more important to butter the outside than the inside.
Variety Spices Up Pie Iron Life
It’s not just sandwich fillings that create variety. Try breads like pumpernickel, sourdough, rye, and marble rye for interesting new sandwich varieties. For perfect toasting, one of the best varieties to use is English Muffin toasting bread. Just remember, these will toast at different rates so be careful not to burn your creation.
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| Rome Round and Pudgy Pie Iron |
Much More Than Just Sandwiches
Separate or together, the halves of a pie iron can cook other dishes, too. Think fried eggs, scrambled eggs, omelettes, grilled peppers, onions, and other vegetables.
Avoid Hotspots
Whether you’re heating your pie iron over a campfire or a grill, it’s smart to keep it moving most of the time. It works really good to move the grate in place over the fire and use it to support the pie iron as you slide it in a circular motion. This should toast it evenly without burning.
Cleaning & Caring For Pie Irons and Camp Fire Irons
Just like good cast iron kettles (in fact some pie irons are made of cast iron) they are non-stick because of the seasoning from cooking oil they take on with use. You want to be sure to keep that seasoning, so never wash your pie irons with dish soap. Just scrape out anything that’s stuck on, and wipe them with hot water, dry completely, and recoat lightly with oil.
Basic Pie Iron Recipes
Here are a few camping pie iron recipes that range from simple and basic to more complex and even elegant. Remember, though, these are just starting points. Use your imagination and let your crew’s creativity rein.
1. Fruit Filled Cream Cheese Turnovers Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tube crescent roll dough
- 1 can pie filling (use cherry, blueberry, raspberry, peach – whatever is your favorite)
- 1 small tub of spreadable cream cheese
- Powdered sugar
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Spray inside of pie iron with cooking spray.
- Unroll the crescent dough; take two triangle sections from dough and press seams together to form large rectangle.
- Lay the rectangle of dough on pie iron so half fits in the iron and half drapes over the side.
- Top dough in pie iron with a couple tablespoons of pie filling and one tablespoon of cream cheese.
- Fold outside dough over the dough in the pie iron and seal the edges well, being careful not to split the seams.
- Close the pie iron and cook over medium coals (or gas grill) for 5-8 minutes, turning occasionally, until golden brown. Check often after five minutes.
- Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.
Warn your guests the filling will be hot!
2. Chicken or Turkey Quesadilla Recipe
Ingredients
- Tortillas sized just slightly larger than pie irons – corn or flour both work fine
- Pulled roasted turkey or rotisserie chicken
- Grated cheese – to your taste, pre-grated Mexican varieties work great and add spice
- Hot sauce (for kids who don't like hot sause try how to make hot sause milder)
- Spray cooking oil
- Your favorite salsa (try exotics like mango or pineapple – they are great with this)
Instructions
- Lightly spray oil on inside of pie irons.
- Lay tortillas into the one half of the pie iron.
- Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon turkey on the tortilla
- Add spoonful salsa onto turkey.
- Add hot sauce to taste.
- Sprinkle with generous amount of grated cheese on tortilla, especially around inside perimeter of pie iron.
- Lay second tortilla into place on top of first. Press around inside of pie iron to create seal on cheese.
- Close pie iron, then cut or tear tortilla edges even with pie iron to avoid burning.
- Hold pie iron over campfire, grill, or cook stove flame until tortillas begin to just slightly char and all contents are hot and cheese is melted.
- Open and serve
3. Pie Iron Poppers With Bacon Recipe
Ingredients
- Pre-sliced bread (English Muffin toasting bread works great)
- Butter
- Spreadable cream cheese (either whipped in a tub or a softened block)
- Roasted jalapeno peppers (peeled, seeded, and sliced) (how to make jalapenos not so hot)
- Pre-cooked bacon (either fried or baked until nearly crisp)
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Lightly, evenly coat inside of pie iron with cooking spray.
- Lightly butter one side each on two slices of bread.
- Lay buttered slices into the two halves of the pie iron – butter out against the pie iron.
- Spread cream cheese generously on unbuttered sides of bread slices.
- Layer jalapeno peppers to taste on top of cream cheese on one slice of bread.
- Layer bacon to taste on top of that.
- Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of grated cheese top of bacon.
- Top with other slice of bread by attaching the other half of sandwich iron and “seal” it up by hooking the clasp on the sandwich iron handle.
- Keep pie iron moving over medium heat on wood fire, gas grill, or camp stove.
- Grill for 6-8 minutes or until sandwich is golden brown on both sides and cream cheese is melted inside.
- Slice and serve.
4. Salmon on Toast Recipe
Ingredients
- Pre-sliced English Muffin Toasting bread
- Homegrown, vine-ripened tomatoes (meaty, low-juice variety)
- Grated Monterey Jack cheese (about 1/8 cup per sandwich)
- Salmon fillet with pin bones removed, but skin on (4 ounces per serving)
- Softened butter
- Olive oil cooking spray
- Salt and white pepper
- White pepper
Instructions
- Spray inside of two halves of pie iron lightly with cooking spray.
- Butter both sides of two slices of bread.
- Lay buttered slices into the two halves of the pie iron.
- Sprinkle about half the grated cheese onto one slice of bread.
- Slice tomato ¼- to ⅜-inch thick and lay slice on top of cheese.
- Add another tablespoon of grated cheese on top of tomato slice.
- Top with other slice of bread by attaching the other half of sandwich iron and “seal” it up by hooking the clasp on the sandwich iron handle.
- Place salmon, sprayed lightly on both sides with olive oil and salt and pepper, skin down on cooking grate on heated grill and cook as usual.
- In the meantime, toast the sandwich in the pie iron.
- Move the iron continuously over the heat, checking often after a couple of minutes. Flip often.
- Sandwich is done when the bread is toasted to a deep golden brown and some melted cheese may squeeze through the edges. Remove any burnt edges.
- Keep sandwich warm, wrapped in foil at back of grill until salmon is ready.
- Grill salmon until warm all the way through with just a hint of pink at the middle of thickest part of fillet. Remove skin before serving.
- Plate sandwich with portion of salmon on top.
- Garnish with more fresh tomato and some parsley.
Serve hot!
Learn a few camping kids savory and sweet fire iron recipes in this quick video
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