You’re almost ready to go camping, everything’s packed. You just need to gather the food that you’ll be taking. You’re great at selecting main dishes—but what about campfire side dishes? Those can be tricky to figure out.
Baked beans, salads, rice, or chips are nice but you need something different. We have a bunch of lip-smacking campfire side dishes that will please just about everybody—and a few surprises too!
6 Campfire Side Dishes You Need to Try
Green Bean Salad (Serves 4)
You can make this recipe 3 days before you serve it while camping.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. of fresh green beans, trim and cut in 2-inch pieces
- ½ cup of feta or bleu cheese, crumbled
- ½ – ¾ c. of red onion, diced
- ⅓ cup of non-creamy Italian salad dressing, fat-free
- ½ cup of ripe, pitted olives, drain and cut
Instructions:
Cook the green beans until they’re bright green and tender-crisp.
In a microwave-safe bowl, warm up the Italian dressing for roughly 30 seconds. Mix the onion, olives, as well as beans with the dressing and let it sit for 1 hour at room temperature.
Put the salad in a large Ziploc bag; toss the cheese in a quart-sized Ziploc bag, close and lay on top of the salad then seal the large bag. Put the bag into your camp cooler until ready to serve.
When serving at your campsite, take out the bag of cheese and toss the salad into a large bowl; lightly mix. Break up the cheese over the salad and enjoy!
Mexican Street Corn (Serves 4)
Ingredients:
- 4 ears of corn, husks off or on
- ¼ cup of mayo
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- Zest and juice of 1 lime
- ½ tsp. of chipotle chili powder
- ¼ cup of sour cream
- ½ cup of crumbled Cotija cheese
- ¼ tsp. of fine sea salt
- ¼ cup of cilantro, minced
Instructions:
Heat the grill to 400˚ F.
If you choose to grill your corn with the husks off, cooking spray should be lightly sprayed on each ear. If you’d rather grill with the husks on, soak all the ears in water prior to grilling for 10 minutes.
Put the ears on your grill. Grill for about 12 minutes and every 3 minutes give the corn ¼ of a turn.
Make the sauce by mixing mayonnaise, garlic, cilantro, sour cream, cheese, and lime juice as well as the zest together in a medium-sized bowl.
Top every corn ear liberally with the sauce; then sprinkle each with some chili powder and finish it off by topping them with more cilantro and cheese.
Dutch Oven Potatoes (Serves 6)
No one can resist these potatoes!
Ingredients:
- 1 medium-sized onion, diced
- 1 jalapeño pepper (remove membranes and seeds), diced
- 8 medium-sized russet, red or Yukon gold potatoes, thinly sliced
- ½ lb. of bacon, diced
- 2½ cup of pepper jack, cheddar, or Monterey jack cheese
- 1 tsp. of seasoned salt
Instructions:
Heat 15 coals until they begin to turn gray. Place the bacon into a 12-inch cast-iron Dutch oven and cook over the coals until just chewy.
Remove the Dutch oven from the coals. Transfer the bacon to a bowl and pour the bacon grease out of the Dutch oven, saving 2 tbsp. in the bottom.
In your Dutch oven, lay half of the potatoes and ½ tsp. of salt should be sprinkled on. Next, layer half of each: jalapeño pepper, onion, bacon, as well as cheese.
Repeat the above step. Cover the Dutch oven with its lid.
Your Dutch oven also needs to be on safe ground or a stand before placing 18 coals on the top and 9 coals on the bottom. The oven should reach 375˚ F. Cook for roughly 45 minutes.
Occasionally check the coals and add more if the coals start to die out.
If you notice the potatoes are cooking too fast—even after adjusting coals—pour ⅓ cup of water into the Dutch oven. The dish is done when the potatoes are tender.
Campfire Fiery Veggies (Serves 6)
This dish is spicy as well as sweet and satisfies your taste buds.
Ingredients:
- 3 medium-sized corn on the cob, each cut into thirds
- 1 medium-sized sweet onion, chopped
- 1 medium-sized zucchini, sliced
- 2 medium-sized bell peppers, seeds removed and chopped
- 1 tbsp. of olive oil
- 1 tbsp. of Sriracha sauce (optional)
- ½ tbsp. of paprika
- 1 tbsp. of chopped parsley
- 1 tbsp. of red pepper flakes
Instructions:
Your grill should be heated to medium-high heat.
Put all the vegetables in a large, cast-iron skillet; now, trickle the olive oil over the veggies (and Sriracha sauce if desired). Scatter the spices over the veggies and mix until everything is well coated.
Place the skillet on the grill and, stirring periodically, grill until the vegetables are tender and bright in color, 10-15 minutes.
Fire Roasted Sweet Potatoes (Serves 4)
Ingredients:
- 4 medium-sized sweet potatoes
- salt, to season
- 1-2 tbsp. of butter
- 2 marshmallows, chopped (or 1 handful of mini marshmallows)
Instructions:
Thoroughly wash each sweet potato then pierce their skin using a fork. Wrap each sweet potato in aluminum foil tightly.
Cook in the coals of a fire pit for about an hour; flip each foil pack after 30 minutes of cook time.
Take all the potatoes off the coals when they’re entirely soft.
Take note, open foil packs very carefully as hot steam will be anxious to escape! Slice each potato in half. Add a bit of butter, salt, and, if desired, marshmallows. Lastly, close each foil again to allow marshmallows and butter to melt, about 1 minute. Enjoy!
Mexican Coleslaw (Serves 10)
Ingredients:
- ½ cup of sour cream
- 2 tbsp. of lime juice
- 1 cup of red cabbage, shredded
- 1 jalapeño, deseeded and diced
- ¾ cup of mayo
- ½ a packet of taco seasoning
- 1 package of coleslaw mix, 14 oz.
- ½ cup of red or yellow pepper, diced
- Cilantro for garnish (optional)
Instructions:
Note: If you don’t like the heat of a jalapeño, cut out the membrane and seeds. You’ll also want to get rid of its oils by rinsing it under cold water then dice.
In a small bowl, whisk sour cream, taco seasoning, mayonnaise, as well as lime juice.
Add in the jalapeño and peppers.
Next, toss in the slaw mix and cabbage.
Mix so that everything is well blended then refrigerate for 30 minutes prior to eating.
Other Recipes to Serve with Your Yummy Campfire Side Dishes
These next 3 recipes can be served with the above campfire side dishes to round out your meal.
Frying Pan Biscuits
Ingredients:
- Vegetable oil
- Favorite refrigerated biscuits
Instructions:
(Note: When you purchase your biscuits, we recommend getting the small biscuits as they’ll cook better.)
Spread the vegetable oil on a Teflon pan.
Fry the biscuits, covered, roughly 3-5 minutes on each side.
Ladybugs
Ingredients:
- Apples
- Chocolate Chips
- Caramel dip
Instructions:
Cut each apple through its core to make 2 halves. Remove the cores.
Take each apple half and coat the skin with caramel dip.
Lastly, scatter chocolate chips on the caramel dip to create “spots”.
A healthier variation is to use peanut butter in place of the caramel dip; raisins can also be used rather than chocolate chips.
Crescent Rolls Sticks
Ingredients:
- 1-inch diameter hardwood, green sticks
- butter and/or jelly
- 1 package of crescent rolls
Instructions:
In a spiral motion, wind the dough around the stick. The fire heat must cook the dough entirely so be sure to leave a small gap between each spiral.
Affix the dough by pressing the dough ends to each stick.
Hold the sticks over the fire, turning frequently, for around 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Lastly, remove each crescent roll from their stick and spread butter and/or jelly on top.
These delicious campfire side dishes are just the tip of the iceberg—there are lots more to choose from! In fact, each recipe will go well with just about any meat, poultry, or fish and can be expanded for a larger crowd. There’s no doubt your family will be clamoring for more!
For more campfire side dishes, recipes, as well as camping and RV ideas for you, your friends, and your whole family, visit our website!
