A Camp Breakfast Everyone will Remember

All packed-up and ready to go

A little preparation is all it takes

One of the great camping traditions that we enjoy is a hearty breakfast on Saturday morning. We usually arrive at the campground on Friday night, so Saturday morning’s breakfast sets the tone for the weekend and is the de facto “kick off” for the trip.

We tend to mix it up a bit, when it comes to breakfast meals. Pancakes are quick and easy, but they’re not always substantial enough on their own. Since we usually camp in bear country, we also tend to avoid greasy food like beacon and sausage during the spring and summer months.

Like all camping meals, the best way to spend more time camping and less time cooking is to prepare as much of the food beforehand, as possible. Instead of packing a block of cheese and whole vegetables, grate and dice them at home and pack them in individual sealed bags.

We might have sandwiches and hamburgers the rest of the weekend, but for breakfast we pull out all the stops. Here are some of our favorite breakfast recipes.

Beer Pancakes

Don’t cringe, beer pancakes have a tangy flavor that can’t be beat and, because of the beer’s carbonation, they’re very light and fluffy. Best of all, there’s nothing to this recipe; just substitute beer for water in the pancake mix. Light beers work best, since you don’t want the hop or barley flavor, of darker beers, in your pancakes. Give beer pancakes a try – you won’t be disappointed!

Egg Scramble

Man (and woman!) don’t live by pancakes alone, so a substantial egg scramble goes great with pancakes and it doesn’t matter if a little syrup finds its way over, either! We make our egg scramble in a big frying pan, but if you’re not cooking for a family of five you could also mix all the ingredients in a sealable bag and then cook in a foil pouch.

For the perfect (and easy!) egg scramble, start with a bag of frozen hash browns and add diced onion, bell pepper, and cubed ham. Once that is cooking, crack eggs over it (one per person, plus an extra or two) and top with cheese. This needs to be stirred quite a bit and, actually, a spatula works well for this task.

Cinnamon Rolls

Wait a minute – cinnamon rolls and camping? That’s right, cinnamon rolls on a stick, actually, and it’s a lot of fun for the kids and it gives them something to do while the cook is working on breakfast.

Using a can of cinnamon rolls (such as Pillsbury®), uncoil each roll and then wrap the dough around a stick. Roast the dough over the campfire just like a marshmallow, turning it so that it cooks evenly on all sides.

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14 thoughts on “A Camp Breakfast Everyone will Remember”

  2. All good ideas. I have a 12″ Dutch oven that bakes the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls beautifully. Anytime we have guests, and I bake at the campsite, they’re amazed.

  4. How about making your scrambled eggs in a bag? Here’s how: Beat a couple of eggs into a ziplock plastic bag. You can add “goodies” (green pepper, mushrooms, whatever) now or later. Zip the bag closed and squeeze it to “scramble” the eggs. If you didn’t add “goodies” before, toss them in now. Each person gets their own bag. While all this fun was going on, you should have brought a pot of water to a boil. Drop your bag of eggs into the boiling water and let go until it reaches the doneness you like (I go for five minutes while my husband like it closer to ten.) Carefully remove from boiling water, open bag, and let your scrambled egg slide onto a plate. (You can use the boiling water for cleaning up, shaving, whatever.)

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  6. The Egg Beaters are regular eggs with minimal yolks. It’s about 1 yolk for every 3 eggs. My husband was skeptical, but loved them so much we only eat Egg Beaters now. They’re a little lighter than regular eggs so they’re not as heavy in the belly, which is good for hiking. And yeah, the hash browns are the best.

    Karen’s last blog post..Product Review: Luxury Camping in this "Condo" Tent

  7. Uh, Brian – grape juice and shredded wheat sounds kind of weird 🙂 Actually, the beer pancake thing is from my wife’s side of the family. They’re Germans from Eastern Idaho (Brinkmans and Konens, for any Idaho Falls locals) and it was always a camping tradition in their family. Nobody is sure if it started in the US or Germany, but it seems likely that it started here. They also cook their sausage in beer, which is pretty darn good.

    Karen – I have to checkout those hash browns! That sounds a lot better than the frozen Orida’s that we use. We’ve got some friends that use egg beaters, too. I really just have no experience with them – do they taste just like eggs?

  8. Love your tips and tricks. I’ve been thinking about getting the Coleman Portable Camp Oven: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=895626 for fresh, warm cinnamon rolls in the morning, but I may just try your trick first.

    A couple things we’ve found and love are the dehydrated hash browns that are sold in Costco. They come in little cardboard milk containers and you just fill it with hot water, let it sit, then fry them up. They are easy to pack w/no refrigeration and are super tasty, like restaurant hash browns.

    We’ve also started taking Egg Beaters camping since they are easier to pack and we don’t worry about cracking eggs, just shake, open and pour. Breakfast is one of the best meals out doors, there’s just something wonderful about it.

    And yes, I think I’ll try the beer pancakes when we go camping in 2 weeks. I’ll give you our review :). Thanks Roy!

    Karen’s last blog post..Product Review: Luxury Camping in this "Condo" Tent