There is nothing quite like the experience of being in the great outdoors and cooking over an open flame. Whether that flame is a campfire, a portable grill, or an in-ground model provided by the campground, BBQ tools and accessories are the key to a successful camping cookout.
If you’re new to cooking away from your home, you’ll quickly find that nothing makes campside cooking easier than having a proper collection of BBQ tools and accessories to complement the camping kitchen gear that you normally pack. Since they are designed for use outdoors and over an open flame, grilling accessories are often more durable than indoor cooking utensils, making them perfect camping kitchen tools.
In this post, we’ve rounded up the best BBQ tools and accessories to use as camping kitchen gear, including:
- Tongs (or a turner and tongs)
- Grilling gloves
- Basting brush
- Meat thermometer
- Rotisserie baskets
Let’s get cooking.
1. Tongs/Turner & Tong
A durable set of tongs or a turner and tong combo is useful in any campsite cooking situation. You can easily flip food or pull foil-wrapped vegetable pouches from the fire without risking your fingers, or use them over your propane camp stove just like you would at home.
For those who like to be well-prepared, we recommend you bring multiple pairs of tongs—a long-handled pair for use over the fire, and a shorter-handled pair for use over a camp stove.
2. Grilling Gloves
Grilling gloves are useful for protecting your hands from flames and—if you’re enjoying a little cold-weather camping—frostbite. Grilling gloves are made from heat-resistant materials to protect you from high temperatures and burns when handling hot cooking instruments or coming in direct contact with flames, making them ideal for campfire cooking. The best grilling gloves also come complete with silicone grips to ensure nothing slips through your fingers.
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3. Basting Brush
Just because you’re camping doesn’t mean your food shouldn’t be properly seasoned and sauced. Basting brushes are the easiest way to flavorize meat and sides during the cooking process, even when you’re camping.
GRILL SPOT TIP: Marinades and glazes should be applied several times during cooking, but how often and when will depend on what you are cooking. The recipe you are using will have the best advice for sauce application. For example, rib recipes usually call for several thin layers applied multiple times over the course of 30 minutes to an hour. For most campfire recipes, you’ll probably only need to re-apply rub or marinade once or twice during the cooking process.
Ensure good sauce coverage by including a high-quality basting brush or sauce mop in your collection of camping cooking tools:
- For the easiest cleaning, we recommend a silicon brush.
- For thicker sauces, like marinades, basting brushes are better for application.
- For thinner sauces, like glazes, sauce mops provide the best coverage.
GRILL SPOT TIP: For safety reasons, a basting brush is best used over a low-flame campfire, a portable propane grill, or on a propane camp stove in conjunction with grilling gloves.
4. Meat Thermometer
If you’re cooking over a campfire, a meat thermometer is one of the most important BBQ tools and accessories to include in your camping kitchen gear. With less temperature control, it’s critical that you know the meat you’re cooking is actually reaching and staying at the proper temperature so that you can be certain your food is done and avoid food poisoning. The timing will likely be different from what you’re used to, so having a thermometer can clue you in as to when to remove your food from the flames to avoid overcooking and drying it out.
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5. Rotisserie Basket
Cooking while camping, even if it is enjoyable, isn’t typically an optimal setup for any chef (unless you are this guy)—you don’t have your usual instruments and appliances, and there is typically more wildlife to contend with. There also isn’t a worse time to drop something you’re preparing because replacing it often isn’t easy or, sometimes, even possible.
Containing your food in a rotisserie basket will ensure nothing gets inadvertently sacrificed to the ashes. Rotisserie baskets can be used to easily cook many menu options over a campfire, such as kebabs and skewers, fish, vegetables, chicken, burgers, etc.
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Wrapping Up
Traditional BBQ tools and accessories easily double as camping cooking tools to make campfire cooking as easy and painless as possible. Don’t find yourself unprepared—make sure you pack up the appropriate basting brush, tongs, meat thermometer, grilling gloves, and grilling basket into your camping gear.
