Creamy, cheesy, and made almost entirely at home before you ever leave the driveway. This is the campfire meal your family will ask for every single trip.
Try my Campfire Orange Cinnamon Rolls. Premade Cinnamon rolls cooked up in orange peels on the fire. Easy, fun, and delicious!
Are you a camping person? I’m not. Not really. But if you live in Minnesota and are from the Midwest it’s a bit of a prerequisite to be an outdoorsy kind of person, in even the smallest of ways.
Don’t get me wrong, I can do the camp thing as good as the next person. When I camp, however, it’s with my camper, and coffee maker, weighted blanket, and real food. Like this campfire macaroni and cheese. This campfire macaroni and cheese is one of the recipes I make every. single. time we go camping. Every time. It’s a family favorite.
It’s easy to prep this macaroni and cheese recipe ahead of the camping trip and, because it’s cooked on the campfire, it will still have all the great flavor and fun of a true campfire meal. Without having to be a hotdog.
Make It Ahead (Your Campsite Will Thank You)
Here’s the thing about campfire cooking. The last thing you want to do after setting up camp, wrangling kids, and hauling gear is also start cooking from scratch. This mac and cheese is perfectly designed to do the hard work at home.
Make the mac and cheese completely at home, right up through the final stir. Let it cool slightly, then pack it directly into your individual foil pans .To seal your pans for transport, simply press a second foil pan on top, crimped edges and all. No extra supplies needed. Pop it in the fridge. It keeps beautifully for up to two days before your trip.
When you’re ready at the campsite, let everyone put their favorite toppings on, and then set it right over the campfire or camp stove on low heat. Give it a stir every few minutes and let the cheese get melty and bubbly again. It reheats in about 10-15 minutes and honestly tastes even better then when you first made it.
During the summer months, I always keep a stock of the disposable aluminum pans because they are brilliant for campfire cooking! For campfire macaroni and cheese I will sometimes make one big ol’ batch OR sometimes make mini ones that are personalized for each person. It completely depends on my mood and stock of pans.
Fun Toppings to Try
One of the best parts of campfire mac and cheese is letting everyone customize their own pan before it hits the fire. Set out a little topping station and let people go to town.
- Crushed Ritz crackers or breadcrumbs — sprinkle on top and they get golden and crunchy over the fire. So good.
- Bacon crumbles — cook these at home ahead of time and pack them in a zip bag. Everything is better with bacon.
- Diced jalapeños — for the people in your group who like a little heat.
- Hot sauce — Cholula, Tapatio, whatever your crew loves.
- Extra shredded cheese — more cheese is always the right answer. Try pepper jack for something a little different.
- Frozen peas or corn — toss a handful in before reheating and you’ve got a full meal in one pan.
- Everything bagel seasoning — sounds weird, tastes incredible. Trust me on this one.
- Potato Chips — Kids love using potato chips as the crumble on their macaroni and cheese. Let them use a strange flavor like Dill Pickle or Barbecue for added fun!
- Crumbled sausage or hot dogs — campfire classic, kids go absolutely wild for it.
Set everything out before you leave home in small containers or zip bags and you’ve got yourself a mac and cheese bar at the campsite. Zero extra effort, maximum fun.
Campfire macaroni and cheese can be a pre-made meal perfect for camping meals! You can close that pan up and pop it into the fridge until it’s time – a couple of days is fine. Pack it up, and take it with you. Then put it on your campfire to get melty and delicious. Campfire food is the best. Everything tastes better after being made outside.
Smaller pans take a shorter amount of time to cook and can be fun for family members to personalize. Use a Sharpie to write their names on!
Campfire Macaroni and Cheese Tips
- Don’t cook this on a super hot flaming fire or you will have burned macaroni. Yuck!
- Put it on the fire when the flames have just died down and you have good coals. About 15 minutes is all you need.
- The goal is simply to make it hot and melty. Everything is already cooked.
- Keep the lid on while it heats. It traps the heat and gets that cheese extra melty without drying it out.
- Stir it halfway through so the bottom doesn’t stick. A quick stir and the lid goes right back on.
- If it looks dry when you open it, add a splash of milk before it goes on the fire. Mac and cheese thickens up in the fridge and a little milk brings it right back.
- Individual foil pans are your friend. Everyone gets their own, there’s no serving, and cleanup is throwing a pan away. Camp cooking win.
- Set your foil pans inside a cast iron pan to move them on and off the coals. Way easier than trying to maneuver hot foil directly over a fire.
- No lid needed. Just grab a second foil pan, flip it upside down over your filled pan, and crimp the edges together to seal. It works perfectly and keeps all that cheesy steam right where you want it.
Score! A campfire meal that isn’t a tube or comes in a tube! That’s my kind of campfire meal.
Go ahead and experiment with different kinds of cheeses, pasta, toppings, and fresh herbs. This recipe is wonderfully adaptable to your family’s favorite type of mac & cheese.
Campfire Macaroni and Cheese
A creamy, cheesy macaroni and cheese that is easily started and home and finished on the campfire. Perfect for easy campfire cooking!
- 8 by 8 aluminum foil pan OR
- mini aluminum loaf pans
- 7 oz pkg elbow macaroni
- 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup gouda (or similar soft cheese)
- 1/3 cup cream
- 3 Tablespoons cold butter (cubed)
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Let cool.
- Stir your cream into your pasta.
- Add the cheese and butter cubes.
- Stir in salt and pepper to taste.
- Spray your foil pans with nonstick cooking spray.
- Pour your prepared pasta into the pans (or single large pan, if using)
- Cover with aluminum foil (sprayed with cooking spray) or another foil pan (also sprayed) and seal well.
- Store in the fridge or cooler until ready to cook.
- Cook above hot coals (about 3 inches above) for 10-12 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
I bake these in the oven, sometimes, at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes depending on the size of the pan.
If your macaroni and cheese isn’t a bit on the wet side it won’t store well. Be sure that it has plenty of wetness to help it stay moist and non-clumpy.
NOTE: There have been several questions about mixing the cream, butter, and cheese into the warm noodles and THEN cooling. Go ahead. That should make the time it takes on the fire shorter.
I usually don’t do that because I have found my family likes to mix up their own personalized versions of these. So setting up the pasta, cheese, and cream for them to mix while cold is the easiest way to personalize these.
Pan size: I usually get 4 mini loaf pan individual servings from this recipe. Or 1 8 by 8 (generously filled!) pan.
A few other recipes I use when camping are…
- Easy Lemon Poppyseed Scones (make these up ahead and breakfast is done!)
- 3 Ingredient Cookies (I have the kids whip up a batch of these and throw them in a zip lock)
- Grilled Grilled Cheese (I know, it seems too easy!)
- 2 Ingredient French Toast (This is so easy to whip up and then cook on a cast iron skillet. So good!)
Go ahead and throw everything cold into the pan. You absolutely can mix it in hot and it will melt up faster on the campfire. There usually isn’t a need because it melts up well on the fire. That cream is important, though, for helping keep it from being clumpy.
Do you melt the cheese and cream mixture down or just throw everything in Wight the noodles cold and mix it and then put it in the pan!?!
I would on the last couple of minutes. But I’ve done both and had good success. Sometimes, however, if that fire is extra hot it burns the crackers.
Do you add the crackers before going on the fire? Or just the last couple minutes?
I’m so glad to hear that!! We’ve used this for giant family trips, as well. So handy to have it made ahead and the small ones always love it! Thank you for taking the time to come back here and comment.
This will be the third year in a row I am making this for our 40 person (20 kids,20 adults)camping trip. I actually triple the recipe and there seems to be be enough because I never have any left over. Huge hit and always requested.
Sooo glad to hear that! And how fun to be included, from very afar, in your fun! Thanks for that.
We have a yearly all women’s camp out…one of our ladies made this (last weekend) and it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!!! It will be a yearly staple out our camp!!!
How did this turn out? I think macaroni and cheese is a bit of a preference thing, like chili and taco salad :). Everyone has a ration they prefer. Yes, we like alot of cheese in ours. But it always works. Hopefully it worked out for you guys and you loved it!
Is the pasta quantity wrong? Mixing this up.seems like all cheeses not enough pasta
Great question! I think so. My only concern would be it would change the cooking because it would be too cold. I would try to set it out a couple hours before cooking to try to get it from cold to room temp. But otherwise…go for it! Let me know how it goes, I’d love to let our readers know how to try that.
This is exactly what I need for my camp trip with my littlest. My question is: can I freeze it ahead of time to help it stay cold on our trip (we will be eating it our second night out)? Thank!
I usually use a larger cake pan (9 by 13) aluminum pan.
What size pan do you typically use?
I haven’t. They might get toasted if you remove the aluminum foil on top for the last little bit.
Have you ever tried breadcrumbs on top? I’d imagine they wouldn’t get that toasted.
I use a simple whipping cream or half & half. Your favorite milk would work, as well. Cream just makes it taste richer and more decadent.
What cream do you use to make this campfire mac and cheese? Thank you so much
I’m so glad!! It’s a fun one. Nothing quite like sitting by the fire eating and chatting.
This recipe was a huge success! Split it into two pans (per your suggestion). Added bacon to one and green chili to the other…delicious! Thank you for posting this recipe.
I apologize for being late on this response, I was on a quick and needed vacation :). I believe that this recipe feeds 4 hungry humans and 6 small humans. Or, in the case of my 14 year old son…1. :). I would plan on at least doubling it. It really depends on the size of your humans and how hungry they will be. Something about eating outside makes people more hungry! Note: Rather than using a giant pan for doubling the recipe I would break it into 2 pans so that the middle has a chance to heat and get melty.
How many servings in this recipe? I need to feed 10 people and this will be the main entree. Thanks!