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Dutch oven cooking

Baking, stewing and roasting in a heavy cast iron pot with coals under it and on the lid.

What you need

How

  1. Burn the fire down to a good bed of coals. Flames scorch the food.
  2. Set the pot on a few coals, then put more coals on the lid.
  3. For baking, put more heat on top than below. For stews and frying, put most of it under the pot.
  4. Every fifteen minutes or so, turn the pot a quarter turn one way and the lid a quarter turn the other. It stops hot spots.
  5. Lift the lid straight up so ash does not fall into the food.
  6. Add fresh coals as the old ones die down on a long cook.
  7. Clean the pot while it is still warm, dry it over the fire, and wipe on a thin coat of oil.

Do and don't

Do
  • Heat the pot before you put bread or biscuits in.
  • Keep a pot of water by the fire in case a coal gets away.
  • Carry the pot by the bail with gloves on.
Don't
  • Do not pour cold water into a hot cast iron pot. It can crack.
  • Do not leave food or water sitting in the pot overnight. It rusts.
  • Do not burn charcoal inside a tent, a cabin or any closed space. See Propane and carbon monoxide.

Watch for

Danger
  • The pot, the lid and the bail get hot enough to burn through a glove. Use a lifter.
  • Coals set on dry grass or duff can start a ground fire. Put them out cold when you are done. See Putting a fire out.
  • Too much heat under bread burns the bottom long before the top is done.

Notes

A Dutch oven is heavy, so it suits a cabin, a canoe trip or a camp you drive to, not a long walk in.

Bannock, beans, moose stew and a fruit crumble all come out well in one. See Bannock.

dutch ovencast ironcoalsbakingstew

Updated 2026-09-28

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