Delicious Dutch Oven Campfire Lasagna

A hearty campfire lasagna that is filled with layers of melty cheese, sauce and no-cook noodles. Everyone in your family or camping group will love this camping dinner.

Although this camping lasagna looks like it took forever to make, it’s easy to put together using only a few key ingredients.

Plus, you can easily prepare most of the meal at home before your trip and spend less than 5 minutes putting it all together before cooking over campfire coals.

This delicious lasagna has become a camping staple in our family. I actually rarely make lasagna for meals at home, but there is something magical about gooey lasagna what was cooked while on a camping trip.

How to Cook Lasagna Over the Campfire

Lasagna takes quite awhile to cook all the way through, so the best tool to use is a cast iron dutch oven.

This is your sign that you need a cast iron dutch oven if you don’t already have one! Here’s a great starter kit that’s not too big, plus, the lid can act as a cast iron skillet as well.

If you make this in a aluminum pan, it’s likely the bottom will burn in the amount of time you need to heat all the layers since aluminum doesn’t retain the heat like cast iron. (If you do want to try it in an aluminum pan, I would suggest fully cooking the noodles before assembling. This way, the only need over the campfire will be to heat it all the way through, which takes less time.)

Cook it Over Campfire Embers or Charcoal Briquets

Using a cast-iron dutch oven and cooking over charcoal briquettes is the best way to control the heat source for even cooking.

However, you can also use the hot coals from a fire that has died down as well.

Place the dutch oven over 8-10 pieces of charcoal. Then, add 16-20 pieces on top.

Right after adding the mozzarella cheese to the top, you’ll add a few more fresh coals to the lid of the dutch oven to really toast up that top layer of cheese (as shown in the photo above).

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This recipe is designed to fit inside a 12″ – 6 quart dutch oven, but it can also be made in a 10″ – 4-5 quart dutch oven (the layers will just go all the way to the top).

Ingredients in Dutch Oven Campfire Lasagna

You’ll find the exact amounts of these ingredients in the recipe, but here are a few notes on what’s included and ideas for substitutions.

• Ground Beef: My family loves lasagna with only ground beef, which is how this recipe is written. However, you can substitute 1/2 pound of Italian sausage instead of the ground beef. Or, add an extra 1/2 pound of Italian sausage in addition to the 1 pound of ground beef (just be sure you have a 12″ – 6 quart or larger dutch oven).
• Onion and Garlic: Sauteing onion and garlic with the ground beef adds extra flavor. You can also add in chopped green peppers, spinach or mushrooms to this step to add veggies.
• Marinara Sauce: Use your favorite pasta sauce for this recipe. Just be sure to buy two jars!
• Oven-Ready Noodles: I love to use no boil noodles for easy transport when camping. However, you can also pre-boil regular lasagna noodles for about 5 minutes, allow to cool, and then use those instead. Oven-ready lasagna noodles are SO much easier though for camping!
• Mozzarella Cheese: Mozzarella is stirred into the ricotta mixture and used on top of the lasagna. It toasts up so well in the campfire dutch oven!
• Parmesan Cheese: I love the extra flavor and nuttiness that parmesan adds to lasagna. I recommend using refrigerated parmesan over the shelf stable powdery parmesan for this recipe.
• Ricotta Cheese: This recipe calls for ricotta cheese, but you can substitute equal amounts of cottage cheese, or use half ricotta, half cottage cheese.
• Egg: One egg helps to hold the cheese mixture together, so it doesn’t turn into lasagna soup! (It make seem unnecessary, but I wouldn’t recommend omitting it.)
• Parsley: Adds a bit of freshness to the lasagna, but you can use dried parsley as well.

Looking for other camping meal ideas? Here are over 40 ideas for make ahead camping meal ideas for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’m also adding a ton of my family’s favorite dutch oven recipes to the site this summer.

How to make Campfire Lasagna

Make Ahead DIRECTIONS (optional)

To make my life as easy as possible while we’re camping, I like to pre-make the meat mixture and the cheese mixture that will be used in the lasagna layers.

You can also complete these first steps at your campsite if you prefer.

1. Make meat mixture

Sauté onions, garlic and ground beef (seasoned with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning) over medium heat until cooked through.

Add tomato paste and stir to combine. Add marinara sauce and simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes.

If you’re making this before your trip: Allow the meat mixture to cool completely and then transfer to a large ziplock bag or other leak-proof container. Store in the refrigerator or cooler until ready to use in the lasagna.

2. Make cheese mixture

Lightly whisk one egg. Add the ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup of parmesan, 1 cup of mozzarella and chopped parsley. Stir to combine.

If you’re making this before your trip: Transfer to a leak-proof container and store in the refrigerator or cooler.

Add 1/4 cup of parmesan to the remaining 2 cups of mozzarella and lightly stir to combine.

All you need to pack for this meal is your bag of the meat/sauce mixture, the cheese mixture, the oven-ready noodles, and 2 cups of mozzarella cheese (with the extra parmesan added to it).

Assemble the Lasagna and Cook

3. Layer lasagna ingredients into dutch oven

Line your dutch oven with a piece of parchment paper for easy clean up. Add about 1/4 cup of the meat mixture to the bottom of the dutch oven and spread out evenly.

Add a layer of noodles to the bottom of the dutch oven, covering the sauce (feel free to break apart the noodles here).

Add about 1/4 of the cheese mixture and spread evenly across the top.

Continue adding layers (meat mixture, noodles, cheese mixture) and end with the meat mixture on top. (I was able to make 4 layers in my 12″ dutch oven, but this will vary depending on the thickness of the layers and dutch oven size.)

4. Cook over coals or campfire and top with coals

Place the dutch oven over 8-10 pieces of charcoal or elevated on a cooking grate or tripod over the campfire.

Add 16-20 pieces of charcoal (or campfire coals) to the top of the dutch oven (this is was creates the “oven” effect and cooks the entire lasagna all the way through).

5. Add cheese to the top and more coals

After approximately 20-30 minutes, remove the lid and pour the remaining mozzarella with parmesan cheese on the top.

Cover with the dutch oven lid and add a few more pieces of hot charcoal on top to ensure the cheese melts and browns on top. Cook for approximately 10 more minutes until the top is melted.

6. Remove from heat and enjoy!

The lasagna will take anywhere from 30-40 minutes to cook through. (Although cooking time will vary based on weather conditions and temperature of the coals.)

You’ll be able to know it’s done just by site – the tomato sauce will be bubbling up, the cheese will be melted, and when you cut into it the noodles should cut easily with a knife or even a spoon.

Remove the dutch oven from the coals and dig in!

Variations to this Lasagna

• Make it vegetarian lasagna by sautéing mushrooms, spinach and zucchini instead of using ground beef. Or, substitute a plant-based Italian sausage for the meat.

If you make this recipe on your next trip, I’d love for you to leave a rating and a comment. I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine does!