10 Easy Dutch Oven Recipes for Beginners

Want a flavorful meal, side dish, or dessert with quick prep and almost no cleanup? If so, you’re going to love these easy dutch oven recipes!

How to Cook in a Dutch Oven + 10 Things to Make

One of the great things about the almighty dutch oven is that there are multiple ways you can cook with it. You can use it outside over hot coals if you’re camping, or you can use it at home over the stovetop or in the oven.

There are also many different types of recipes you can make in a dutch oven. From soups and stews to whole chickens, breads, and tasty desserts, you can really do almost anything! Just wait until you see some of the awesome dutch oven recipes we’ve gathered below 🙂

1. Dutch Oven Pizza

Starting out our list is one of our favorite dutch oven recipes – a dutch oven pizza! Yes! Believe it or not, you can cook a really delicious homemade pizza in your dutch oven. It’s super easy to clean up too if you use parchment paper.

Oh, and you can make this recipe right over the hot coals of a fire if you’d like! Nothing beats a homemade pizza while you’re out camping!

2. Spaghetti

Speaking of dutch oven camping recipes, this is another one that is super easy to prep and pack, and it tastes great cooked over a fire. Also, if you cook the full recipe it will feed up to 10 people! It’s super hearty and filling too.

3. Sprite Chicken

With bacon, chicken, red potatoes, baby carrots, onions, and shredded cheese, you already know this dish will be a flavorful one! The special ingredient (Sprite soda) helps tenderize the chicken, but you could use apple juice too.

4. Whole Roast Chicken

Who doesn’t want a super convenient and easy whole roast chicken? This makes for a fantastic family dinner, and you can add some potatoes to the dutch oven for a full one-pot meal.

PS: You can also easily cook a whole chicken in the instant pot!

5. Beef Stew

This is another full meal you can make entirely in your dutch oven, and although it has a long cooking time, it only takes about 15 minutes to prep.

Related: Try our slow cooker beef stew freezer meal next!

6. Pot Roast

We love a quick instant pot roast, but if you have extra time, using a dutch oven instead can provide amazingly juicy and flavorful results. This recipe looks SO tasty too, with carrots and potatoes added in there…YUM!

7. Enchiladas

Back to the really easy dutch oven recipes, this is about as easy as it gets! And who doesn’t love enchiladas? Simple ingredients, great flavor, and customizable toppings. Yum!

With a total cooking time of around 25 minutes, you really can’t go wrong with this recipe. It’s great for camping or for a quick dinner at home.

8. Bread

Yep, you can use your dutch oven to make bread! This recipe really breaks down the process and makes it super beginner-friendly too, and the final result looks amazing.

Related: If you love making homemade bread, check out all of our other yeast bread recipes.

9. French Fries

All you need for simple and crispy dutch oven french fries are a couple of large russet potatoes and some peanut oil! Super simple, and I’ve got to say, these look pretty tasty! Serve them alongside these air fryer chicken tenders for a homemade comfort food meal!

10. Peach Cobbler

Here’s a really simple dutch oven dessert recipe that you can make at home or on the campsite, and just look at how delicious it looks. Only four ingredients are needed to make this beautiful dessert!

Bonus: Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is one of the most popular dutch oven camping recipes because, well, who doesn’t want freshly baked cookies while camping?! All you have to do is prepare the dough ahead of time, and then keep it in your cooler until you’re ready for fresh cookies!

Don’t Have a Dutch Oven Yet?

If you’re looking for a dutch oven to get started with, you don’t need to spend a fortune! The Lodge dutch oven on Amazon is a great, affordable choice. It comes in several colors and sizes too.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, the easy dutch oven recipes above have either convinced you to get a dutch oven of your own or to start using your dutch oven more often! It truly is a wonderful, versatile cooking device, and the recipes above are only scratching the surface of what’s possible.

Before you go, share some of your dutch oven cooking stories below! Have any tips, tricks, or favorite recipes? We’d love to hear about them. 

Find recipes for other awesome appliances:

• Slow Cooker Recipes
• Instant Pot Recipes
• Easy Air Fryer Recipes