10 Favorite Vegetarian Camping Recipes

Tater Tot® Hot Dish is the official Minnesota state casserole, but you don’t have to be camping in the Land of 10,000 Lakes to enjoy this one. It’s campfire ready, and has the zesty boost of Dean’s French Onion Dip. Make this recipe!

What’s not to love about this vegetarian campfire recipe? Everyone’s a fan of mac and cheese … including the kiddies. And on top of it all, the roasted cherry tomatoes add just the right savory zing for the adult palate. You better make a double batch because this one won’t last long when your campmates catch wind of it. Roast the cherry tomatoes at home before the trip and bring them along in a zip lock back with just a little olive oil – or sub in reconstituted sun-dried tomatoes if you wish.

It definitely doesn’t get any easier than this, and few things are tastier! Roasting pumpkin seeds over a campfire is so simple, and because you’re doing them yourself, you can choose to flavor them any way that suits you!

You’ll need a food dehydrator for this recipe. Cook time can be greatly influenced by the climate you are in. For example, in Florida during summer season the time will be three to four times greater than needed in a northern, drier climate.

Wherever you go in Colorado you’ll see Chile Verde or Green Chile offered as a side dish or sauce. It goes well as either. For the campsite we cut some corners, but this is still a dish that needs some simmer time to turn out really delicious. You always have the option of making a batch ahead of time and bringing it to camp to reheat. It even freezes very well. Here’s the deal, though. If you plan to make it ahead, do it when you can be alone in the kitchen. The smell of the roasting peppers will gather a crowd who will eat the chili and leave you without any to take to camp. Oh … and one more thing. Authentic Colorado Green Chile is made with Hatch Peppers from New Mexico. The only kind of Hatch Peppers we can get “back East” are canned and you can’t do a good job of roasting anything but fresh peppers. So we substituted a combination of Poblano, Anaheim, and jalapeno. It came out really well.

This is a light, quick salad that makes the most of the late-July to mid-August harvest of sweet cherries in Door County, Wisconsin. You can cut things up ahead of time and just keep them in the cooler to toss together when you’re ready or make the whole thing up in camp. Once mixed, it will keep well in the cooler for about four hours.

This is a great “sit and simmer dish.” Put it together at lunchtime or before, and let it sit on the edge of the campfire coals. The longer it simmers, the more the flavors come together and build. This recipe is wide open for interpretation with your favorites. Mix whatever kind of beans you’d like. And it certainly doesn’t have to be vegetarian if you don’t want – start with some browned sausage or burger to turn it from a side dish into a main course. Or start out with bacon grease to fry the onions and garlic.

Curry lovers listen up! This is a good, fast one. It’s also another vegetarian dish that will satisfy any hungry camper as a side dish or on its own served over rice or couscous.

You can make brown bread pretty easily yourself and, oddly enough, you make it in a can, too! The biggest things that set brown bread apart from “regular” bread are it has no yeast and it is steamed instead of baked in an oven. Here’s a recipe to try with your Dutch Oven right at your campfire. This is a fun “bread making” project for the whole family at the campsite. The kids will get a kick out of making bread in a can.

These banana pancakes can be made with just two ingredients – bananas and eggs – or you can up the game with some vanilla if you like. They are delicious as is or with butter, maple syrup, blueberries, and/or Nutella on top. Dig in!