Camp Baking

I didn’t know that camp baking was even possible on a stovetop. This revelation is a game-changer and I’m going to transform the way you think about camp cooking too.

Campers need a foolproof food plan that doesn’t require a campfire every time. What if there’s a fire ban? Or if all you want to do after spending the day adventuring outdoors is to throw a few ingredients together and let dinner cook itself?

As a new owner of a teardrop camper, I have researched a TON of ways to cook while we’re out camping. I have recently stumbled upon stovetop baking, and I couldn’t be happier. Finally, something familiar to me in the world of camp cooking, the trusty stovetop. A propane gas stovetop, to be exact, and an Omnia oven.

I’m going to show how effortless it is to bake incredible treats, or a hearty meal to feed a crowd, using the Omnia oven. If you don’t have an Omnia oven but still want to bake on the go, I’ll also throw in a few examples of how to assemble a makeshift campsite oven using common cooking gear. 

This post is all about camp baking when you don’t have a campfire.

No Campfire

For me, the appeal of camping is getting to relax outdoors. A campfire is great, but it should by no means be a requirement to get food on the table. 

I understand that’s not every camper’s viewpoint. There is nothing like the taste of food that’s been cooked by the campfire, but it’s not always up to the campers. Campfires were banned almost all of the last camping season due to widespread wildfires. Anyone roughing it without campsite electricity that was hoping for a hot meal was out of luck if they didn’t have an alternate way to cook.

Camp Cooking

No campfire cooking

The terms baking and roasting are often used interchangeably. Both cooking methods generally take place in the oven and use hot air to cook the food. Roasting is how solid food like vegetables and meat (think, a roast) cooks. Baking entails mixing ingredients that eventually cook into something solid (baked goods, bread, or casseroles). Since it’s the dry heat in the oven and not the oven itself that cooks the food, either of these methods can be recreated on the trails, RV campsite, or even a residential driveway. 

Baking Without an Oven

Baking with or without an oven requires a few basic tools to get the job done:

1. A heat source. The oven has its heating element housed inside, but some alternative options if a campfire is off the table could be some charcoal coals or the propane burner for a barbeque grill, RV stovetop, or portable camp stove or hotplate. 
2. A container that holds the food to be cooked, such as a baking dish, roasting pan, bundt pan, or pot. 
3. A way to enclose the heat around the food. A campsite barbeque grill with a cover can replace an oven. But so can a cast iron dutch oven, or any pot with a lid that is bigger than the container of food to be cooked. 

The heat from a propane burner is by far the easiest method for campsite cooking for a new camper like myself. Nothing beats the reliability of turning a knob to produce fire and regulate its output. This alone makes camp meal planning a breeze knowing that a hot cooked meal won’t depend on whatever the camp conditions happen to be. Most RV’s will come with a propane stove, but if not, a travel stove like this classic Coleman camp stove can be found at any local hardware store. Even buying gas for it couldn’t be more convenient, with one-pound propane bottles readily available at chain grocery stores.

Omnia Oven

Baking and roasting in a commercial product made specifically for use on a propane burner take all the guesswork out of gathering the right size supplies for camp baking. The Omnia oven can cook anything that can be cooked in a conventional oven. It is portable, lightweight, and comes with everything needed (except the stovetop).

The Omnia system starts with a stainless steel base, made to sit on top of a gas burner.  The food is cooked inside of the aluminum Omnia pan, which sits inside of its base during cooking. The lid tops the pan, which holds in the heat coming from both the base and from the tubular opening in the middle of the pan. It’s this opening that funnels hot air to the food on top, too, ensuring browning is happening all the way around.

The lid and the Omnia base act as the “oven,” simultaneously cooking food from both the top and bottom. Just like an oven needs to pre-heat before putting food inside, the Omnia base needs to also pre-heat on the stovetop.

Make-Ahead Camping Meals 

Monkey Bread

Step 1

The night before, start with the frozen bread rolls. I chose to use these foil liners made for the Omnia oven, so we could also store the baked bread in it when it was done.

Step 2

Cut each roll into bite-sized pieces. To coat each piece with the butterscotch sugar mixture, I threw everything into a Ziplock bag and just shook everything together. 

Step 3

Layer in butter and nuts. Next time, I would add a handful of raisins to each layer, too. 😋Step 4

Leave the pan uncovered and let it sit on the counter overnight for the dough to thaw and rise. Mine plumped up so much, the lid barely fit on before cooking. It looks delicious already: Step 5

Cover with the Omnia lid and sit inside the pre-heated base. Turn the gas flame down to low and bake on the stovetop for approximately 30 minutes. Rolls should be golden brown and cooked through. These look done and ready to come off the flame:

Breakfast is served!

Conclusion

No campfire? No problem! Camp baking done on a propane cooktop using the Omnia oven is THE way to go when you’re out camping. 

This post was all about camp baking when you don’t have a campfire.