Campfire Stew Dutch Oven Camping Recipe

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 2 15

Total Time: 2 30

Servings: Servings

Camping For Foodies Soups, Stews & Chili Recipes: Campfire Stew Dutch Oven Camping Recipe

Prepare your campfire for cooking over hot coals.
Prep vegetables as described: garlic, onions, potatoes, carrots and celery.
Prep beef and bacon as described.
In 12-inch camp Dutch oven, cook and stir bacon over medium-high heat until bacon is browned and crisp. Scrape up brown bits from bottom of pan.
Season beef with salt and pepper and add to Dutch oven, stir until beef is seared.
Reduce heat to medium, add garlic and onions, cook till softened.
Add remaining ingredients including the tomato paste, beef broth, rosemary, parsley, thyme, potatoes, carrots and celery, stirring to combine.
Bring to simmer over medium heat.
Cover and continue simmering over low heat, stirring occasionally until meat and vegetables are tender, approximately 1-2 hours. (see Note 2)
Remove lid and continue to simmer until the stew reaches your desired thickness. (see Note 2) Serve hot.

We like our stew meat to be extremely tender so I give it as much time in the pot as possible. I always plan for 2 hours of simmering time unless we have a super busy camping day and I just don't have that luxury. No matter what, don't increase the campfire temperature to the boiling point because that will just make the meat tough.
The longer it cooks with the lid removed, the thicker the stew becomes. If you want a soup-like stew you will be ready to serve shortly after the meat and veggies are tender. But if you want a thick beef stew in a rich sauce (which is how our family likes it), you should plan on about 20 more minutes to finish cooking to that consistency.