Camp Beans and Franks
Two cans of beans, a package of hot dogs, and bacon over a fire. Feeds a full site.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 47
- protein
- 21 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 40 min
- total time
- 60 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
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Canned baked beans | 2 large cans | drain nothing, the liquid becomes the sauce |
|---|---|---|
| Hot dogs | 1 package | |
| Bacon | 8 slices | |
| Onion | 1 large | diced |
| Hot pepper | 1 | seeded and minced, or leave the seeds in |
| Ketchup | 4 tbsp | |
| Barbecue sauce | 4 tbsp | |
| Yellow mustard | 3 tbsp | |
| Molasses | 2 tbsp | |
| Brown sugar | 4 tbsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp |
Method
- Dice the onion and mince the pepper before the fire is ready. Chopping over coals is how people burn dinner.
- Lay the bacon on a sheet of foil over the coals or in a pan on the grate. Turn it as it colors and pull it while it is still limp. It finishes later on top of the beans.
- Dump both cans of beans into the pot with the onion, pepper, salt, ketchup, barbecue sauce, mustard, molasses, and brown sugar. Set it on the grate away from the hottest coals.
- Simmer and stir often. Beans scorch on the bottom of a pot over a fire faster than you expect.
- Put the hot dogs on the grate while the beans work. Turn them until they are marked on all sides, then cut into half-inch pieces and stir them in.
- Lay the bacon slices across the top. Hold the pot over low heat another 15 minutes, stirring now and then, and serve straight out of it.
This is a car-camping dinner, not a trail one. Two large cans and a package of franks weigh close to five pounds, and the bacon and hot dogs need a cooler, so it belongs at a site you drove to.
The sauce is doing the work. Canned baked beans arrive already sweet, and the mustard, hot pepper, and molasses are what keep them from tasting like a side dish out of a can. Cook the bacon short of crisp and finish it on top of the pot: it stays chewy and its fat renders down into the beans over that last 15 minutes instead of staying on a paper towel.
Packing
Cans, sauces, and sugar can ride in the food bin at ambient temperature. Hot dogs and bacon need the cooler. Premix the ketchup, barbecue sauce, mustard, molasses, brown sugar, and salt into one screw-top jar at home and you have one thing to pour instead of six to measure.
Variations
- Swap the hot dogs for smoked sausage or kielbasa and cook it the same way.
- Skip the bacon and add a teaspoon of smoked paprika to the sauce jar.
- A splash of cider vinegar at the end cuts the sugar if it reads too sweet.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/deltadogs-beans-and-franks