camping oven

The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Camping Oven

Camping no longer means giving up good food and delicious baked goods. With a portable camping oven, you can make home-cooked meals and fresh-baked goodies by the campfire. Whether you camp often or just on weekends, a camping oven can change everything. It can turn your camp kitchen into a place for tasty meals.

Now these are not ovens that you are going to take backpacking, but are perfect for taking car camping and cooking amazing meals for the family.

Top Picks for Camping Ovens

Choosing a camping oven can be hard because there are so many choices. To help you, we have picked two great options – one for those wanting the best and another that is affordable but still works well.

We selected these ovens based on how well they work, how long they last, and how easy they are to use. This way, you will have a trusty cooking partner for your next camping trip.

My Top 4 Camping Ovens

Classic Choice – Coleman Camping Oven
Budget Friendly – Modern Innovations Oven
Luxury Camping Oven – Camp Chef Outdoor Oven

Why Choose a Camping Oven?

Investing in a camping oven can make your time outdoors more enjoyable. Your family can wake up to the smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls, or you can have hot, fresh biscuits with your dinner. 

A camping oven is more than just a way to bake. It makes your camp kitchen more useful and fun. You can cook many types of meals. This can be anything from simple one-pot dishes to fancy meals. It meets many tastes and diets.

Convenience and Versatility

Camping ovens provide great convenience and flexibility compared to normal ways of cooking, like campfires or camping stoves. With a camping oven, you can do more than just boil water or cook over a flame. You can bake, roast, and make different meals using propane. This makes it a handy addition to your camping gear.

Here are some good reasons to invest in a camping oven for your outdoor trips:

  • Expand Your Menu: You can enjoy a wide menu, from pizzas to casseroles, cakes, and bread, even in faraway places.
  • Weatherproof Cooking: You can prepare tasty meals no matter what the weather is like, since camping ovens are made for outdoor use.
  • Fuel Efficiency: Propane camping ovens use fuel better than campfires, which helps to reduce your impact on the environment.

These benefits make a camping oven an essential tool to improve your camping experience.

Enhancing Your Camping

A camping oven elevates outdoor cooking from basic sustenance to a true culinary experience. Imagine enjoying freshly baked bread, a comforting casserole, or even a decadent dessert under the stars. For dedicated camping chefs, the ability to bake opens up a world of possibilities, far beyond the limitations of open-fire cooking.

Baking while camping might sound ambitious, but it’s surprisingly achievable and incredibly rewarding. A camping oven isn’t just a convenient appliance; it’s a game-changer for your outdoor adventures. It allows you to recreate your favorite home-cooked meals, experiment with new recipes, and add a touch of comfort to your wilderness explorations. These shared meals become cherished memories, enhancing the joy of camping and creating lasting bonds around the campfire.

THE CLASSIC CHOICE

The Classic Coleman Camping Oven

Coleman has been turning out outdoor gear for decades and when you say camping oven, theirs is what most people think of.

Made to fold flat, the Coleman Camp Oven opens up to 13.5 x 12.9 x 3.3 in. and is big enough for an 8″ or 9″ square pan. Changing the placement of the rack helps adjust the cooking speed, and the integrated thermometer gives you a reasonably good idea of your cooking temperature.

BEST BUDGET CHOICE

Modern Innovations Portable Camping Oven

Whenever a product is successful, there will be someone to come along and build upon its success. That is what the Modern Innovations Camping Oven is to me. The design is nearly identical to the Coleman Camping Oven, and functions identically, but with one improvement. 

This oven folds flat like the Coleman and the Modern Innovation Camping Oven opens up to 12″ x 11.5″ x 13.5” and is big enough for an 8″ square pan. 

The big change is the window so you can see how your food is doing without opening the door. On top of that it  is cheaper than the Coleman Camp Oven

Hike crew Camping Oven And Stove

Now we jump up to propane combination stoves and ovens. The Hike Crew propane stove and oven lets you bake cinnamon rolls while at the same time frying up your bacon and eggs. 

These are great for more gourmet camp cooking, or cooking for a big family. Dedicated propane ovens allow  for a lot of flexibility and creativity in your camp cooking. 

The only downside is that these stoves are big. This unit weighs in at just under 30 pounds and taking up 19.3″L x 13.4″W x 17.9″H when all put away. 

But if you really like baking goodies when you are camping, propane fired ovens take camp cooking to a whole new level. 

BEST COMBINATION

Camp Chef Outdoor Oven

Going big, we round out this list of camping ovens with the Camp Chef Outdoor oven. 

Like the Hike Crew’s camping oven, it features two stove burners, and an oven for baking all your camping goodies. 

This stove is a bit larger than the Hike Crew camping oven, coming in at 24″L x 15″W x 18″H and a touch over thirty pounds. 

Portable Propane Fired Pizza Oven

If you decide to go straight over the top with you tailgating or camp cooking, you my want to consider this propane fired, rotating pizza oven. 

I can imagine this being a fun way to whip up a stack of premade pizzas when you are in camp. Sure it takes up a lot of room and is limited in what it can make, but if you are going to go over the top, you might as well go all the way.

Accessories For Your Camp Oven

Provided that you already have a well apportioned camp kitchen, you likely will need very few extra things to go with your new camp oven.  Here are a few things that you might want to consider adding to your kit though.

Oven Thermometer

While every oven has a built in thermometer, they are not always accurate or set correctly. An inexpensive oven thermometer will make sure that you are baking at the right temperature and that your creations come out perfectly done. 

Bonus Tip: This applies to your oven at home too, so maybe think about getting a tw0-pack and leaving one in your home oven!

Square Baking Pans

The only baking pan you likely will need is a square 8″ baking pan. I prefer ones that are uncoated as they last forever. A baking pan like this will take care of most of your camp baking needs.

If you are going to use your recipes from home that call for a 9″ x 12″ pan, just halve them and they will work fine. 

Bonus Tip: For easier cleanup in camp, use parchment paper in your baking pans, particularly if you are cooking something that can/will bake on and stick. This will make the after dinner cleanup much, much easier!

Final Thoughts On Picking A Camping Oven

When you choose a camping oven, the big thing to consider is how often you will be using it.

If you are a frequent camper and love cooking fancy outdoor meals, then consider getting a combo stove and oven unit that will give you more precise heat control and kill two birds with one stone.

If you only camp infrequently, then a more affordable option like the Modern Innovations oven that integrates with your existing camp stove is a better choice. 

Either way, a camping oven is a great way to expand your camp kitchen culinary creations and will make you the envy of the campground.

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