Good morning! With our cooler weather, I am so excited for camping and campfire cooking experiments! I am also happily surprised that the husband requested Camping Crockpot Beef again!
Crockpot Beef is a non-traditional camping food for me.
I like to cook over the campfire and not in a crockpot when we are camping, but it was an easy, yummy meal a few weeks ago. And there were lots of leftovers to experiment with!
Pie Iron Crockpot Beef is a sandwich with a filling similar to a stew. Thankfully, Bucket O’Bread went camping with us. It was the base for my campfire experiment.
Bucket O’Bread is a great frugal base for making pie iron sandwiches…and bread…and breadsticks…and cinnamon rolls…It is cheap, easy to make and can live in the refrigerator for about a week. I usually take it camping if it is ready in the home refrigerator-just in case I want to play and experiment over the campfire.
Mock Lasagna Pie Irons and Coney Dog Pie Irons were great campfire experiments that used leftovers and Bucket O’Bread.
The Pie Iron Crockpot Beef was easy to make like the others, but it needs some adjusting before it becomes a new family favorite.
Pie Iron Crockpot Beef Recipe
1/3-1/2 cup of leftover Crockpot Beef or beef stew, cold is fine, not much of the gravy
Bucket O’Bread dough-I’m not sure bread slices would work, they might get soggy
Flour, a little bit for sprinkling on dough and hands to prevent sticking
Butter or Oil
For each pie iron sandwich, oil the top and bottom of the pie irons so the dough doesn’t stick. Sprinkle top of dough and hands lightly with flour to prevent sticking. Pat out 2 walnut size pieces of dough for a top and bottom crust, and place in pan.
Place leftover Crockpot beef pieces on dough. I used the leftover meat, onions, mushroom and carrots (for the husband) but tried to not use much of the gravy. I was afraid it would be too wet and soggy.
I also did not warm up the leftover Crockpot Beef, I wanted the Pie Iron experiment to be very easy! This worked great, because it was all piping hot when I was done cooking.
Lay the top crust over the filling, then press the edges with your fingers or a fork to seal.
Close the pie iron. The dough should be all enclosed in the pie iron cooker- none of it should be sticking out. You want the sandwich full, so the dough has good contact with the pie iron and gets golden brown. But not so full that it won’t shut easily, the dough sandwiches will also ‘rise and grow’ some as it cooks.
Then, cook on both sides over the fire until golden brown and toasty. Cooking time depends on the heat of the fire, but it is usually 5-10 minutes.
I like our cast iron pie irons, because when I am hungry, I can cook with them faster right in the flames. They are heavier, but hold up to the heat better than the Teflon pie irons we used to have (the ones that I wrecked in the campfires).
I do check them often, so the sandwiches don’t burn with the higher temperature. If they stick when you check the sandwiches, use a fork or butter knife to loosen the edges. Or the bottom! I stretched Bucket O’Bread too thin for the Crockpot Beef sandwiches, and one side had a hole! It was ok though, only a little gravy leaked out and the pie iron cleaned up fine. I put water in the pie iron and set it on the fire before I wiped it clean, I didn’t even need to do a full cleaning!
Once both sides are golden brown, flip them out of the pie irons onto a plate to cool. I always wait for the pie iron sandwiches to cool a bit before eating; they can be amazingly hot inside.
Crockpot Beef was a great way to experiment with leftovers over the campfire. It needs more experimenting though. We tried it, but it was a little bland.
Next time, I’m going to try 2 different changes.
More Gravy! Instead of picking out ingredients so it’s not too wet, I’m going to use more gravy, so it’s really saucy. Maybe it will be like a ‘trapped’ Hot Beef sandwich, have lots of gravy and we will eat it with a fork.
I’m also going to make one pie iron sandwich with only beef chunks, but lots of them! Leaving out the carrots will make me happy, but I’m not sure the husband will like it if I take all the yummy beef from the leftovers!
I can’t wait to take Crockpot Beef camping again, so I can try more leftover experiments with the pie irons! Hopefully, one of the changes to Pie Iron Crockpot Beef will be a new family favorite; maybe you will find a new family favorite soon, too!
Happy Camping (or using leftovers!)
Frugal Campasaurus