Skillet Camp Burgers
Patties mixed and pressed at home, cooked in one pan at the site.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 70
- protein
- 31 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 9 min
- total time
- 29 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
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Lean ground beef | 1 1/4 lb | lean keeps the pan from flooding with grease |
|---|---|---|
| White onion, finely diced | 1/2 cup | |
| Eggs | 1 | |
| Bread crumbs | 1/3 cup | |
| Hamburger seasoning | 2 tsp | |
| Worcestershire sauce | 1 tbsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | for the pan |
Method
- At home, mix the beef, egg, onion, bread crumbs, seasoning, and Worcestershire in a bowl until it holds together. Do not work it past that point.
- Weigh out four 5 oz balls and press each into a patty. Stack them with wax paper between and pack them flat in the cooler.
- At camp, set a cast iron or heavy skillet over the fire on a grate, or on a liquid-fuel stove at medium-high. Give it a few minutes to come up to heat.
- Add the oil, swirl, and lay the patties in without crowding them.
- Cook 7 to 9 minutes total, flipping once at the halfway mark. Pull them at 160 F, or when the juices run clear and there is no pink at the center.
- Rest them a minute off the heat before they go on buns.
The binder is the part that matters when you are cooking over a fire. Egg and bread crumbs hold the patty together through a flip on uneven heat, where a plain ground-beef puck tends to crack and drop half of itself into the coals. The diced onion adds moisture that lean beef otherwise does not have.
Mix and press at home. A camp kitchen has no running hot water, and raw beef on your hands with a two-gallon jug is a bad trade. Patties keep two days on ice; past that, freeze them and let them thaw in the cooler on the drive in.
Packing
Patties go in the cooler between wax paper, on top of a frozen block, not buried under it. Buns, oil, and toppings ride in the dry bin.
Variations
- Swap half the beef for ground pork if you want more fat and a softer patty.
- Lay a slice of cheese on each patty in the last minute and cover the pan with a lid or foil.
- No bread crumbs in the bin? Crushed crackers bind the same way.
https://campfirefoodie.com/easy-skillet-burger-recipe