Thanksgiving over the fire

These recipes require a cooking fire. This means you need plenty of wood to keep the fire stoked for the duration of the cook. A good way to cook over the fire while stoking the fire is by letting it burn down to coals (20-30 minutes) as you add logs to one side of the fire. This allows you to simultaneously cook as you feed the coals. Put safety first by building your fire at least 10 feet away from any structures and do not attempt during dry conditions.

For consistency, we’ve built these recipes using bagged charcoal brickettes that can be heated in the fire or in a chimney then used as a hot base for our dishes as well as a heat source on top of the Dutch oven.

We know that cooking a turkey on its own is an intimidating task. Even those who do so successfully every holiday give themselves an annual peptalk before dealing with the iconic bird. While cooking a turkey at your campsite might feel like we’re complicating an already complicated recipe, for campers who are more comfortable outside than inside, Thanksgiving dinner over the fire might just put you at ease. Watching for hours as the bird bakes and spending the day stoking a fire might be a beautiful replacement for the traditional dinner.

Stuffing

First, we’ll prepare the stuffing. While you do not have to stuff your bird, making stuffing inside the bird means one less pot to clean and one less side to think about which has camping written all over it.

You could cheat a little bit with some classic stovetop stuffing. All you need is boiling water, which is easy to make on your RV stove, on a camp stove, or even over the fire. Tell them it’s homemade and they’ll never know. But, if you’d rather stick to an entirely homemade Thanksgiving dinner over the fire, test out the recipe below.

Equipment

• Fire-safe pan

• Large mixing bowl

• Spoon

Ingredients

• 1 long loaf of French bread (or 2 smaller loafs), cut into cubes

• 1 cup unsalted butter

• 1 cup chopped celery

• 1 cup diced yellow onion

• 2 ¼ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1 ½ tablespoons poultry seasoning

• 1 ½ cups chicken stock

• 2 large eggs

Instructions

1. Combine the onion, celery, and butter in a skillet and cook on a bed of hot coals (or on your camp stove) until the celery and onions start to tenderize.

2. Place the bread cubes in a large mixing bowl, add the butter mix, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, chicken stock, and eggs. Combine and set aside.

The turkey

Cooking something like this over a fire calls for a lot of patience and flexibility. The size of the bird, the heat of the fire, and the weather will affect the cook time. So, grab a cozy chair and be ready to stoke the fire for as long as it takes.

Equipment

• A large cutting board

• Butcher string

• A firepit

• Enough wood to continuously stoke the fire for at least 4 hours

• 1 bag of charcoal

• A cast iron Dutch oven

Ingredients

• 1 thawed whole turkey

• 1 tablespoon sage

• 1 tablespoon thyme

• 1 tablespoon rosemary

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

• 2 large carrots, chopped

• 2 stalks of celery, chopped

• 1 large vedalia onion, chopped

• Turkey neck, chopped

• 2 cups chicken broth

• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Place turkey on a cutting board and pat dry.

2. Mix the sage, thyme, and rosemary with 5 tablespoons of softened butter. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Separate the skin from the bird and rub the herb butter mixture under the skin.

4. Take the last tablespoon of butter and rub it on the skin of the entire turkey.

5. Season the entire turkey generously with salt and pepper.

6. Stuff the turkey loosely with stuffing and tie the legs together with butcher string.

7. Add the chopped onions, carrots, celery, turkey neck, and chicken broth in the bottom of the Dutch oven.

8. Put the bird in the Dutch oven and place the Dutch oven over a bed of 14 hot coals. Then, close the lid and place 14 hot coals on the lid.

9. Continue to check the turkey temperature throughout the cook and remove it when the thickest part of the turkey and the center of the stuffing both reach a temperature of 165°.

Tip: We brined our bird the night before to create a more tender, juicy outcome. Serious Eats has a chart you can use to calculate the salt to water ratio if you choose to brine it.

It doesn’t quite feel like Thanksgiving unless your plate is drowning in gravy. For this recipe, we’re cooking the gravy directly in the Dutch oven so you’ll have one less dish to clean.

Equipment

• Firepit

• Dutch oven with turkey drippings

• Slotted spoon

• Measuring cup

Ingredients

• Turkey drippings

• ½ cup broth

• ¼ cup all-purpose flour

• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. After the turkey is removed, we’ll make the gravy directly in the roasting pan. Use a slotted spoon to remove the herbs and vegetables from the bottom of the pan.

2. Place the pan back on hot coals.

3. In a measuring cup, whisk the flour with ½ cup broth until smooth.

4. Once it’s simmering, add the flour mixture to the and whisk as the mixture thickens.

5. Cook while mixing until your gravy has reached the desired consistency. If the gravy is too thick, add the other ½ cup of broth.

6. Add salt and pepper to taste and pour over everything.

Tip: If you’re having a hard time thickening your gravy, whisk 1 tablespoon of corn starch with a bit of water and add to gravy while it’s boiling.

Sides

For many, the highlight of Thanksgiving — besides the post-turkey nap — is the sides. There’s nothing quite like stacking all the sides on top of one another parfait-style and taking a bite that encapsulates all the layers to experience the entire holiday dancing on your tastebuds. Without sides, Thanksgiving just feels like an overblown poultry dinner, so let’s bring the magic of sides camping with us.

If you’re not a fan of the wobbly, gelatin goodness of canned cranberry sauce, homemade cranberry sauce is simple to make at camp.

Equipment

• Firepit

• Fire-safe pan

• Spoon

Ingredients

• 1 bag of frozen cranberries

• 1 cup of sugar

• ½ cup water

Instructions

1. Combine all the ingredients fire-safe saucepan. Place on a bed of coals and bring to a simmer.

2. Stir the mixture until the cranberries start to pop.

3. Press the popping cranberries against the side of the pan and continue to cook until the berries have completely broken down into a jam-like consistency.

4. Let the mixture cool for 30 minutes. If it’s too thick, you can add water in one tablespoon increments until it is the desired consistency.

Tip: The best part about cranberry sauce is that you can adjust the flavor to exactly how you like it. While the mixture simmers, you can add orange juice, orange zest, a cinnamon stick, pecans, or other fruit that might taste good.

A baked potato is the easiest and most fun potato to cook while camping. It’s also a great dish for a group as every camper can customize their own potato with their favorite toppings.

Equipment

• Firepit

• Aluminum foil

• Fork

• Tongs

Ingredients

• Baking potatoes

• 1 tablespoon butter

• Any desired toppings

Instructions

1. Poke several holes in each potato with a fork.

2. Smear each potato with about 1 tablespoon of butter.

3. Double-wrap each potato in aluminum foil and bury in the hot coals of the campfire.

4. Cook until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside (about 30-60 minutes).

5. Take the potato out of the fire with tongs and unwrap it.

6. Slice each potato open and smother it with all the fixings you desire. Some people top theirs with sour cream, green onions, butter, bacon, or cheese.

Every epic dinner must have a vegetable, and wouldn’t it be better if that vegetable was drowning in cream of mushroom soup, topped with fried onions, and cooked in a cast iron skillet over a fire? We think so.

Equipment

• Can opener

• Fire-safe pan

• Mixing spoon

Ingredients

• 2 cans French-cut green beans, drained

• 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

• ¾ cup milk

• 1 can French friend onions

• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Combine the green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and milk together in your cast iron pan and place the pan on a grill grate or in the hot coals.

2. Stir the mixture until it thickens and is heated all the way through.

3. Remove the skillet from the fire and top with crispy onions.

While cooking a full pie over the fire isn’t impossible, we think it’s more fun (and much easier) to make a campfire pie.

Equipment

• Firepit

• A long-handled cast iron pie iron

Ingredients

• Cooking spray or butter

• Sliced bread

• Canned pie filling of your choice

Instructions

1. Grease your pie iron with cooking spray or butter.

2. Place one piece of bread on each side of the pie iron.

3. On one side of the pie iron, top your bread slice with canned pie filling and close the pie iron.

4. Cook in the iron over a hot campfire until the bread is toasted golden brown (5-7 minutes)

5. Remove the pie from the iron and let it cool for a few minutes. Then, enjoy!

Tip: to make this dessert even more flaky, you can use a canned biscuit instead of bread. Just stretch and press a roll into both sides of the iron, top with pie filling, and cook for about 5 minutes on each side.

No matter how you spend your Thanksgiving or where you cook the meal, take a moment to express gratitude for all the places life takes you and those who make the journey memorable. Happy Thanksgiving.