Dutch Oven Bun Pizzas
Hamburger buns, sauce, and cheese baked over coals. Feeds a whole group in eight minutes a round.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 74
- protein
- 21 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 23 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
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Hamburger buns | 1 package (8 buns, 16 halves) | |
|---|---|---|
| Spaghetti sauce | 1 can (about 24 oz) | a jar works, but cans do not break in a pack |
| Shredded cheese | 1/2 lb | low-moisture mozzarella or a pizza blend |
| Pepperoni | 4 oz | |
| Sliced olives | 1 small can | drain before packing |
| Other toppings | as you like | canned mushrooms, jarred peppers, dried onion |
Method
- Build a bed of coals and get roughly 20 briquettes going, more than you think you need. You want a 12-inch dutch oven at about 350°F: 8 or 9 coals under, the rest ringed on the lid.
- Split the buns and lay them cut side up. Spread a spoonful of sauce on each half, then cheese, then toppings. Do not load them heavy or the bread goes to mush.
- Set six halves in the bottom of the oven, cut side up. They can touch but should not stack.
- Lid on, coals on top. Bake 8 minutes.
- Lift the lid and look. If the cheese has not gone glossy and loose, give it 2 or 3 more minutes and check again.
- Pull that round out, refresh the coals if they have gone grey, and load the next six. Sixteen halves takes three rounds.
This is assembly, not cooking. The dutch oven is just a small oven here, and the only real variable is heat management: most of the coals go on the lid so the cheese melts from above before the bun bottoms scorch. Bottom heat is what burns bread, so keep it light down there.
The bun is the reason it works over a fire. It is already baked, so nothing has to rise or cook through, and eight minutes is only about melting cheese and warming sauce. Go easy on the sauce. A wet bun collapses, and there is no fixing it once it is in the oven. Six halves per round is the honest capacity of a 12-inch oven, which means three rounds to feed eight people, so start early and eat in shifts.
Packing
Buns are the fragile part. Carry them on top of everything in a hard bin or they arrive flat. Cheese, pepperoni, and any opened sauce ride in the cooler; unopened cans do not.
Variations
- Sauce packets from a tomato paste tube plus Italian seasoning cut the weight and the leftovers problem.
- Tortillas or bagel halves instead of buns hold up better in a crowded cooler.
- Skip the pepperoni and it is vegetarian; a canned bean and green chile version works the same way.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/simple_dutch_oven_pizzas-201.asp