Dutch Oven Meatballs in Gravy
Two pounds of ground beef, browned in the pot and simmered down in onion gravy. Car camping food.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 65
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 55 min
- total time
- 75 min
- water
- 600 ml boiled
- 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
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Ground beef | 2 lbs | 80/20; keep it cold until you mix |
|---|---|---|
| Eggs | 2 | |
| Ketchup | 1/2 cup | packets work if that is what you have |
| Dry bread crumbs | 1 cup | plus more if the mix is loose |
| Onion soup mix | 1 packet | |
| Brown gravy mix | 1 packet | |
| Condensed cream of mushroom soup | 2 cans | |
| Cooking oil | 1/4 to 1/2 cup | |
| Egg noodles | 1 lb | cooked separately, or skip and use bread |
Method
- Build a fire and get coals going, or start a chimney of briquettes. You want a steady bed before you start mixing.
- In a bowl, work the beef, eggs, ketchup, and onion soup mix together with your hands. Add bread crumbs until the mix holds a shape instead of sagging.
- Roll into balls about an inch and a half across. Keep them the same size or they will not finish together.
- Heat a thin film of oil in a 12-inch dutch oven over coals, around 350F. Brown the meatballs in batches, turning them so they color on all sides.
- Pour off the fat. This matters. Two pounds of beef leaves more grease than the gravy can absorb.
- Mix the gravy packet with water per the package and pour it over the meatballs. Add both cans of mushroom soup. Splash in water if it looks like paste.
- Lid on. Simmer 40 minutes with about two thirds of the coals underneath and one third on the lid. Check once at the halfway mark and add water if it has tightened up.
- Serve over noodles, or over bread if you would rather not run a second pot.
This is a Scout dutch oven recipe and it stays one. Two pounds of beef, eggs, and cans of soup mean a cooler and a car, so it is not going in a pack. The browning step is what separates it from a pot of boiled meatballs: the crust holds the balls together through 40 minutes of simmering, and the fond that sticks to the pot ends up in the gravy.
Bread crumbs and egg do the binding, and the amount of crumbs is a judgment call, not a measurement. Ground beef varies in moisture. Add until the mix stops sticking to your palms. Draining the fat after browning is the step most people skip, and skipping it gives you an orange slick on top instead of gravy.
Packing
Mix the bread crumbs and both dry packets into one labeled bag at home so you are opening one thing at camp. Beef and eggs ride in the cooler. Cans and oil go in the dry bin.
Variations
- No cooler and no beef: use a pound of freeze-dried ground beef, rehydrated, plus stuffing mix as the binder. It is a different dish but it works on the same coals.
- Swap one can of mushroom soup for a can of beef broth if you want gravy that pours instead of clings.
- Bake the meatballs on the lid-off oven at 375F for 20 minutes instead of browning them in oil if you want less grease to drain.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/meatballs_in_gravy-1730.asp