Campfire Side Dishes for Camping

These are the sides you cook directly over a campfire — on a grill grate, in a dutch oven, on skewers, or buried in the coals. No camp stove needed.

The one rule for all campfire cooking: work with coals, not flames. Let your fire burn down for 20-30 minutes until you have a bed of glowing embers, then start cooking. Flames are unpredictable and too hot — they char the outside before the inside is warm. Coals give you steady, even heat.

Prep everything you can at home. Chop vegetables, pre-season potatoes, mix marinades. At camp, your only job is putting things on fire and taking them off at the right time.

Campfire Baked Potatoes

Whole russet potatoes rubbed with olive oil and salt, wrapped in foil, buried in campfire coals.

The simplest thing on this list and somehow the most satisfying. Poke each potato a few times with a fork before wrapping — this prevents them from building up steam and splitting. Nestle them into the coals, not on top of active flames. They need about 45-60 minutes depending on size. Rotate them every 15 minutes with long-handled tongs.

Bring toppings in separate containers: sour cream, shredded cheese, chives, butter. Baked potatoes at a campfire hit differently than the ones from your kitchen oven. Something about standing around a fire splitting one open on a paper plate.

Dutch Oven Baked Beans with Bacon

Canned navy beans, bacon, onion, molasses, brown sugar, yellow mustard, and a little ketchup, slow-cooked in a camp dutch oven with coals on the lid.

This is one of the few campfire sides that gets better the longer it cooks. An hour is fine, two hours is better. Put a ring of coals underneath and a layer on the lid — the top heat prevents the surface from drying out and gives the top a slight crust. Stir every 30 minutes. The beans thicken as the liquid reduces, and the molasses and brown sugar create a glaze that coats everything.

Start the bacon and onion first, cook until the bacon renders, then add everything else. This is a good one to start right when you arrive at camp and let it work while you set up.

Grilled Veggie Skewers

Bell peppers, zucchini, red onion, cherry tomatoes, and mushrooms on flat metal skewers, brushed with olive oil, garlic, and dried oregano.

Use flat skewers, not round ones. Round skewers let the vegetables spin when you try to flip them, so one side chars and the other stays raw. Cut everything into similar-sized pieces — about 1.5 inch chunks. Mushrooms and peppers take the longest, so put them in the center of the skewer where the heat is highest.

Prep all the vegetables at home in a zip-lock bag with the oil and seasoning. At camp, just thread and grill. About 10-12 minutes over a grill grate, turning every few minutes. They should have grill marks and some char but still have bite — nobody wants mushy grilled zucchini.

Campfire Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes wrapped in foil, cooked in campfire coals the same way as regular baked potatoes.

Sweet potatoes take slightly longer than russets because they’re denser — plan on a full hour. The payoff is that sweet potatoes caramelize in their own sugar as they cook, so the flesh turns soft and almost custard-like. No toppings needed, though a pat of butter and a pinch of cinnamon is good.

Choose medium-sized sweet potatoes that are roughly the same size so they finish at the same time. Poke with a fork, rub with oil, wrap in foil, and bury in coals.

Campfire Corn on the Cob

Ears of corn grilled in their husks directly over a campfire grill grate.

Pull back the husk, remove the silk, then pull the husk back up. Place directly on the grill grate over coals. The outer husk chars and the inner layers steam the corn. About 15-20 minutes, turning a few times. The corn picks up a light smokiness that foil-wrapped corn doesn’t get.

Serve with butter, salt, and chili powder. Or go the street corn route — mayo, cotija, lime, and chili powder brushed on after grilling.

Dutch Oven Cornbread

Cornmeal, flour, buttermilk, eggs, honey, and butter — mixed at home, poured into a greased camp dutch oven, and baked with coals on top and underneath.

The dutch oven gives cornbread a golden crust on all sides that a regular oven can’t match. The bottom gets almost fried from the cast iron contact. Mix the batter at home and transport it in a mason jar or sealed container. At camp, grease the dutch oven, pour, and bake about 25-30 minutes with coals on top.

Check with a toothpick or knife. This pairs with the baked beans better than almost anything else on this list.

Campfire Grilled Zucchini

Zucchini sliced lengthwise into planks, brushed with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper, grilled directly on the grate.

Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise, then each half into planks about a third of an inch thick. Thin enough to get grill marks and soften, thick enough to flip without breaking. About 3-4 minutes per side over hot coals. The sugars in the zucchini caramelize on the grill marks.

Finish with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of Parmesan. This goes from grate to plate in under 10 minutes, making it the fastest hot side on this list.

Campfire Cinnamon Apples

Sliced apples tossed with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of nutmeg in a foil packet.

This leans dessert, but it works as a side next to pork chops or sausages the way applesauce does — sweet and savory together. The apples break down into soft, saucy pieces in about 15 minutes over coals. Use a firm apple like Granny Smith or Honeycrisp so they hold some shape. Softer varieties like McIntosh turn to mush.

Slice at home, toss with lemon juice to prevent browning, and pack in a zip-lock.

Campfire Garlic Bread

A baguette or Italian loaf sliced almost through, stuffed with garlic butter and wrapped in foil. Heated over campfire coals until the butter melts and the bread crisps at the edges.

Make the garlic butter at home: softened butter, minced garlic, parsley, and a pinch of salt. Spread between the slices, wrap the whole loaf tight in foil. About 10-15 minutes near the coals, turning once. The outside stays soft from the foil while the butter soaks into the bread.

This is the side that turns a simple camp meal into something that feels like you planned it. Goes with everything — beans, grilled meat, soup, or just eaten on its own while standing around the fire.

Tips for Campfire Cooking

Cook over coals, not flames. Flames are unpredictable and too hot — they char the outside of food before the inside is warm. Let your fire burn down for 20-30 minutes until you have a bed of glowing coals, then start cooking.

A grill grate is the most useful piece of campfire cooking gear you can own. Many campgrounds have built-in ones, but a portable grate that fits over a fire ring gives you a flat, stable surface for skewers, planks, and anything that would fall through a standard campground grate.

Keep heat-resistant gloves and long-handled tongs within reach. Campfire cooking means reaching over heat more than grill cooking does.