Kid Friendly Camping Side Dishes
Kids at a campsite are hungry constantly and picky about what they’ll actually eat. These sides thread the needle: familiar enough that no one pushes the plate away, but not so boring that the adults are stuck eating plain noodles.
Most of these are make-ahead and served cold, which means no fighting with a camp stove while a seven-year-old asks “is it ready yet” every 90 seconds. The hot options cook in foil packets, which kids think are fun to open — let them unwrap their own. It buys you five minutes of silence.
Cheesy Campfire Potatoes
Sliced potatoes layered with butter, shredded cheddar, diced onion, and crumbled bacon in a foil packet. Basically scalloped potatoes on a campfire.
Slice the potatoes thin — about the thickness of a quarter. Thicker slices won’t cook through before the cheese burns. Layer them like shingles: potato, butter dot, cheese, onion, repeat. Seal the foil tight with some air space inside so the steam can circulate. About 30 minutes over medium coals, flipping once halfway through.
Pre-cook the bacon at home and crumble it. You can skip the onion for pickier kids — the cheese and bacon do enough work on their own.
Foil Packet Corn on the Cob
Ears of corn, butter, salt, and optional chili powder or garlic powder, wrapped in foil.
Pull back the husk, remove the silk, then pull the husk back up over the corn. That’s the first layer. Then wrap in foil. This double-layer approach steams the corn inside the husk and gives you the most even cook. About 15-20 minutes over coals, turning a few times.
Kids can hold the corn by the husk like a handle once it’s cool enough. Butter and salt is usually all they want. Let them butter their own — it keeps them occupied.
Classic Creamy Coleslaw
Green cabbage, carrots, and a mayo-based dressing with apple cider vinegar, a little sugar, celery seed, and black pepper.
This is the side that goes with literally everything you’d cook at a campsite. The celery seed is what separates forgettable coleslaw from the kind people actually finish. Like the Asian slaw, cabbage-based salads improve with time — make it the night before and it’ll be better by lunch.
Shred the cabbage with a sharp knife rather than a box grater. You want strips, not mush. Kids who claim they don’t like coleslaw will often eat this one if it’s slightly sweeter — add an extra half tablespoon of sugar.
Corn and Black Bean Salad
Corn, black beans, red pepper, red onion, jalapeno, and a cumin-lime dressing.
Similar bones to the cowboy caviar but without the black-eyed peas and avocado, which makes it sturdier and cheaper. This is the throw-it-together version that works when you don’t want to think too hard. The cumin in the dressing ties the beans and corn together in a way that just lime juice alone doesn’t.
Frozen corn works fine — thaw it and don’t bother cooking it. For kids, leave out the jalapeno and it becomes a mild, colorful bean salad they’ll actually eat. Serve with tortilla chips for scooping.
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.
Set up a toppings bar: sour cream, shredded cheese, butter, bacon bits. Kids who are picky about mixed dishes will eat a baked potato because they control what goes on it. That autonomy is the hack.
Italian Bowtie Pasta Salad
Farfalle, salami, fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, basil, and Italian dressing.
The bowtie shape holds dressing in its folds, which means this doesn’t dry out the way tube pastas do. The salami gives it enough salt and fat that it works as a standalone lunch at camp, not just a side. Absorbs dressing as it sits, so toss with slightly more than you think it needs.
Kids gravitate toward pasta salad because it’s familiar. The bowties are fun to eat — that matters more than you’d think with anyone under ten. Full recipe here.
Rotini Pasta Salad with Vegetables
Rotini, bell peppers, cucumber, red onion, olives, and a simple vinaigrette.
The straightforward one. No complicated ingredients, nothing that needs to be kept separate, works at room temperature. This is what you bring when you’re feeding a mixed group and you need something no one will complain about.
Grilled Cheesy Corn in Foil
Corn kernels cut off the cob, mixed with cream cheese, shredded cheddar, butter, garlic powder, and diced jalapeno, wrapped in a foil packet.
This is campfire crack corn. The cream cheese melts into a sauce, the cheddar gets stringy, and the jalapeno keeps it from being one-note rich. Cut the corn off the cob at home — about 4 ears fills a packet for four people. Everything gets mixed in a bowl, scooped onto a double sheet of foil, and sealed.
About 20 minutes over medium coals. Skip the jalapeno for the kids’ packet — the cheese and butter carry it fine without the heat. Kids eat this with a spoon straight from the foil, which they love.
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.
This is the side that gets kids excited about campfire cooking. Let them help assemble their own packet at camp — it’s simple enough that anyone old enough to hold a spoon can do it.
Watermelon Feta Mint Salad
Cubed watermelon, crumbled feta, fresh mint leaves, a squeeze of lime, and a drizzle of olive oil.
Five ingredients, zero cooking. The salt from the feta against the sweet watermelon is one of those combinations that sounds like it shouldn’t work and then immediately makes sense. Mint ties it together. This is a hot-weather-only side — don’t bother in October.
Cut the watermelon at home and pack it in a container. Assemble at camp. For kids who won’t touch feta, just serve plain watermelon cubes — they’ll eat a pound of it on a hot day and that counts as a side.
