Is it just us, or does breakfast seem to taste better when you’re camping? Camp coffee on a cool Fall morning, paired with warm comfort food for breakfast, there really is nothing more satisfying! Sometimes meal planning can be speed bump along your trip. Suddenly, it’s what to cook, and what do I need?
No fear, we’ve put together several ideas for incredible camp breakfasts everyone will love! Check out the following camp breakfast recipes.
BREAKFAST GRAVY (TWO WAYS)
1.) SAUSAGE GRAVY
There’s nothing better in the whole world than sausage gravy for breakfast. I will die on that hill. Gravy is the one exception to my “food prep EVERYTHING at home before the trip” rule. You can’t shortcut on good gravy. Gravy just doesn’t work that way.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 lb. of ground sausage (sometimes if I know the kids aren’t going to be eating it / complaining about it, I choose the spicy ground sausage for a nice variation with a little kick to it.
- ⅓ cup of all-purpose flour.
- Fresh ground black pepper to taste.
- 1 cup of milk.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1.) Brown sausage in a skillet over medium. Without draining the grease, scoop out roughly half of the sausage and set aside.
2.) Add all-purpose flour into the sausage still remaining in the skillet. Store the sausage, grease, and flour well.
3.) Add milk and reduce heat (if you can). If you don’t have an adjustable heat source, you may have to hold the pan slightly over the campfire flames and stir until mixture thickens.
2.) Sawmill Gravy (No Sausage)
I’ll give you a little disclaimer. This is not a health food recipe. Warning aside, you’re going to need bacon grease. Now if you’re not secretly an 80-year-old Appalachian granny who saves bacon grease in a tin can on your stove — many grocery stores sell rendered bacon grease by the jar. The most logical thing to do would be to have bacon for your camp breakfast (always a win), and make your “meel gravy” immediately after in the same skillet. Some people still save bacon grease in a tin can on the stove. (Some people is me, btw. I save bacon grease. Because dammit, life is short and stuff needs to taste good!)
Note: I’ve seen people argue (mostly on the internet) over whether or not Sawmill gravy contains flour. Traditionally, it doesn’t contain flour; only cornmeal but I use both flour and fine-ground cornmeal in mine. It’s handy if you don’t want your gravy to have the texture of 80-grit sandpaper.
INGREDIENTS:
- Generous helping of bacon grease (Hint - you’ve just cooked bacon in a skillet, this is the best time to start your gravy).
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour.
- ¼ cup fine yellow cornmeal.
- 1 cup of milk.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1.) Add all-purpose flour and cornmeal to simmering bacon grease. Stir well until flour, cornmeal, and bacon grease are blended.
2.) Add milk and reduce heat (if you can). If you don’t have an adjustable heat source, you may have to hold the pan slightly over the campfire flames and stir until mixture thickens.
3.) Serve and enjoy.
Campfire Drop Biscuits (in a Dutch Oven)
Now, you know you can’t have gravy without biscuits. It’d be wrong. So how does one make yummy, lighter-than-air biscuits at a campsite? You could: (1) make them at home beforehand and warm them up at your campsite (easiest) or (2) Prep the dough at home and keep it in a freezer bag in your cooler (easier). But for the purpose of this article, we’ll go the adventurous route. Hot, fresh biscuits on site.
Ideally, these would work best in a cooker with a lid, such as a Dutch oven. If you’re cooking in a Dutch oven, you’ll need one aluminum pie plate and an implement that will securely take the pie plate from the oven without burning yourself, such as tongs. You can also fold a piece of heavy-duty tin foil into a sling for removing the hot plate if you don’t have tongs.
Protip: Build an aluminum foil sling to keep hands safe. See diagram below.
Ingredients:
Biscuit dough recipes can get pretty daggone complicated. To make them lighter than air, you really only need a few things:
- 1 stick of fresh, unsalted butter. Tip: You want the butter as chilly as possible. Keep it on ice before using if you possibly can. The colder the better.
- 1 quart of buttermilk.
- About 3 cups of a Hot Rise or Southern Biscuit Flour (soft winter wheat flour is the key here). Please don’t use All-purpose. You’ll end up with hockey pucks. Just saying.
- Pinch of salt.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1.) Pour flour into a large bowl and add a pinch of salt.
2.) Drop in butter.
3.) Begin to slice the butter into the flour, using a knife (I use a pastry cutter at home, but rarely ever take mine on a trip). You want to do this until the flour and butter are mixed. You want to see pea-sized crumbles.
4.) Begin kneading small amounts of buttermilk into the crumbly mixture until slightly sticky dough forms (you won't need the whole quart). Knead just until dough is formed. If you knead too much, your biscuits will be tough.
5.) Separate dough into palm-sized pieces. You can form a round shape if desired. Drop into a pie plate.
6.) Take note of the diagram on how to make a “sling” out of aluminum foil to keep your hands safe when lowering and lifting a pie plate from the hot oven.
7.) Cover the biscuits with your oven lid and place a few coals on top.
8.) Cooking times may vary, but start with about 10-15 minutes. Check the biscuits after the 15-minute mark.
9.) Using the foil “wings” on your sling, carefully remove the pie plate when the tops of the biscuits are starting to turn golden.
Cheesy Breakfast Potatoes
Protip: extra crispy potatoes
It’s really tempting to buy frozen, pre-cut hash browns for this recipe. Those will work fine, but I’ll tell you a secret. In all the years I’ve been camp cooking, I’ve never had the frozen potatoes crisp-up the same way fresh potatoes do. They’re always a little soggier for some reason. Remember, you can always cut and prep your potatoes before your trip, just douse them with a little lemon juice and store them in a freezer bag in your cooler. The citric acid will keep them from turning brown. And if you’re really all about that crispy potato, drop the cut potatoes into rapidly boiling water for about three minutes, drain them, and then dump them into your hot skillet. Bonus points if you cook them immediately following your bacon and use a little of the leftover bacon grease.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2-3 lbs. of potatoes, diced.
- A couple of teaspoons of oil for cooking, (or bacon grease if you’re already in that neighborhood).
- 1 Purple onion.
- 1 Red bell pepper, diced.
- 1 Green bell pepper, diced.
- Sharp Cheddar, or Colby Jack cheese, shredded in desired amount.
OPTIONAL:
- 1 Jalapeno pepper - deseeded, and diced.
- Green onions, chopped
INSTRUCTIONS:
1.) Start with the potatoes, heating them in your skillet and stirring often.
2.) Add bell peppers, onion, and jalapeno
3.) Cook until potatoes are fork-tender and starting to brown.
4.) Remove from heat and top with shredded cheese and desired additional toppings.
Southwest Breakfast Burritos
These delicious breakfast burritos use chorizo and melty, soft Mexican cheese. Burritos. If you start the day with a delicious burrito, you’re already winning the day!
INGREDIENTS:
- Soft Flour Tortillas, enough to serve 2-3 per person.
- 1-2 lbs. ground sausage or chorizo.
- 8-12 large eggs, beaten.
- 1 red onion, diced.
- 1 red bell pepper, diced.
- 1 green bell pepper, diced.
OPTIONAL:
- 1 Jalapeno pepper - deseeded, and diced.
- Queso quesadilla cheese.
- Green onions, chopped.
- Fresh cilantro, chopped.
- Sour cream.
- Tajin Classic Seasoning.
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Brown sausage or chorizo in a skillet over medium heat.
- Remove sausage from pan and set aside.
- Cook onions, eggs, and peppers in the same skillet.
- When the peppers and onions are tender, add beaten eggs and scramble in the same skillet.
- Remove from heat, and return sausage to skillet with scrambled eggs, pepper and onions. Mix ingredients well.
- Top mixture with shredded cheese if desired.
- Scoop mixture into burritos and wrap securely.
- Top with favorite optional. toppings and serve
