Anytime Camp Pizza on a Skillet
Bread, sauce, cheese, and peppers cooked with a lid over low heat until the cheese gives up.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 87
- protein
- 24 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Mini baguette or English muffins | 1/4 baguette or 2 muffins | split lengthwise |
|---|---|---|
| Pizza sauce | 1/2 cup | a pouch or squeeze tube, not a jar |
| Shredded mozzarella or cheddar | 1/2 cup | low-moisture, keeps a day out of the cooler |
| Green pepper | 1/4 cup | chopped at home |
| Sliced mushrooms | 1/4 cup | canned drains fine, fresh browns better |
| Avocado oil | 1 tsp | |
| Italian seasoning | 1/2 tsp |
Method
- Wipe the skillet with the oil and set it over low heat. Low, not medium. The bottom will burn before the cheese melts otherwise.
- Lay the split bread cut side down for a minute to toast it. Flip it over.
- Spread the sauce, scatter the pepper and mushrooms, cover with cheese, and dust with the seasoning.
- Put a lid or a sheet of foil over the pan. Give it six to eight minutes without lifting it.
- The cheese is done when it slumps and goes glossy. Pull it off the heat and let it sit a minute before you pick it up.
The oven version of this depends on radiant heat from above, which no camp stove has. A skillet with a lid gets you there another way: the pan heats the bread from below, the trapped steam heats the cheese from above. Low heat is the whole trick, since the bread has a much shorter fuse than the cheese.
Everything here except the cheese and sauce is shelf-stable, so the cooler only carries two items. Peppers and mushrooms go in raw because they only need to warm through under the lid. If you are out past the second day, drop the cheese and treat it as a hot open-faced sandwich instead of pretending it will still be pizza.
Packing
Chop the pepper and bag it at home with the mushrooms if you drained them. Cheese and sauce ride in the cooler; the bread goes on top of the pack so it does not get crushed.
Variations
- Tortillas instead of bread cook faster and pack flatter, but they go floppy under wet sauce.
- A handful of pepperoni or diced salami is shelf-stable and pushes the protein up.
- No lid means no melt. A pot lid, a plate, or crimped foil all work.
https://morefood.org/summer-meals-ideals-for-your-family