4 Easy Ways To Make Camping Pancakes

It's a cold, crisp spring morning on the trail. You unzip your tent and are greeted by a thin layer of frost on the ground. Brrr! It's time to warm yourself up with some campfire coffee and a batch of steaming hot pancakes.

Yes, that's right, we just said "pancakes."


Just because you're miles from human habitation doesn't mean you have to give up your favorite breakfast comfort food and survive on trail mix and cold oatmeal alone. Use this guide to learn how to make the best camping or backpacking pancakes you've ever had. It all starts with choosing from the best camping pancake recipes...

OPTION #1: BEER PANCAKES

Ingredients and supplies:
1 can of beer
1 leak-proof container of canola oil
1 leak-proof container of maple syrup
1 Ziploc bag of pancake mix -- sugar, salt, baking powder, and flour
Knife
Skillet
Fold-up spatula
Camping stove

Instructions:
First, grease the skillet with a small amount of canola oil. Pour the remainder of the oil in the gallon Ziploc bag that contains the dry pancake mix. Next, pour an entire can of beer into the Ziploc bag. Seal the bag and mix the ingredients by squeezing the bag with your hands until the contents are the consistency of regular pancake batter. Save yourself a big mess by using the knife to cut off the corner of the Ziploc bag. Now you can squeeze the batter into the skillet easily. Your final product will be a slightly beer-flavored but very fluffy pancake.

OPTION #2: JUST ADD WATER PANCAKES TO YOUR CAMPING PANCAKE RECIPES

Ingredients and Supplies:
Desired portion of "Just add water" pancake mix (such as Bisquik; read the instructions on the back of the container to figure out how much mix you'll need to take along)
Fresh water
Sport bottle
1 leak-proof container of canola oil
1 leak-proof container of maple syrup
Skillet
Fold-up spatula
Camping stove

Instructions:
Before you head off on your camping trip, fill up a sport bottle with the amount of pancake mix you need. When you're ready to make your pancakes, add the right amount of water to the sport bottle and shake it vigorously for a few minutes. With your pourable pancake batter inside the sport bottle, you're ready to grease up your skillet and make fresh pancakes.

OPTION #3: USE GHEE IN YOUR CAMPING PANCAKE RECIPES

What are pancakes without the buttery goodness? Traveling with a container of butter in your pack, however, might not be very practical. But what is practical, and what makes a good alternative to both canola oil and butter, is ghee.

Canola oil is helpful for camping pancakes, but even if you put it in a leak-proof container, there's always the possibility that you're going to end up with a pack filled with oil. A better alternative is ghee. Ghee is an Indian form of butter that's had all the milk solids taken out. It tastes almost exactly the same as butter and it's generally considered to be better for you anyway. Ghee can be purchased at a health food store, an Indian/Asian supermarket, or you can make your own ghee (here's a recipe). Stored inside a glass jar, ghee doesn't need to be refrigerated, which makes it a great option for camping. If it gets cold, the ghee will turn solid; if it warms up, it will turn into liquid. Either way will work just fine for your pancakes.

OPTION #4: DEHYDRATE SOME FRUIT

If you're a regular camper or backpacker, you should own a dehydrator. It will save you a lot of money to dehydrate your own meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit rather than paying for someone else to do the dehydrating for you.

When it comes to pancakes, we all love blueberry pancakes, strawberry pancakes, and banana pancakes, but if you're on a multi-day trip in the backcountry, then once again, fresh fruit isn't very practical. Now, if you know what you're doing, you're hiking during the right time of year, and you can tell the difference between poisonous and edible, then by all means, pick fresh fruit along the trail and add it to your pancake mix. If you want to be on the safe side but you still want some fruit in your camping pancakes, then dehydrate some fruit at home and add it to your pancake mix.

When you're ready to make your pancakes and you've added your water or your beer, let the mixture sit for a few minutes to allow the dried fruit to rehydrate. Banana chips will not rehydrate all that well; other types of fruit, like blueberries and strawberries, should get nicely soft and fluffy.

CONCLUSION: PANCAKES ON THE TRAIL ARE VERY EASY AND VERY TASTY

The ease of what goes into camping pancake recipes actually make them a great camp food. The ingredients are simple and almost everyone loves them. As long as you have a few packets of honey or mini-bottles of maple syrup, the pancakes you cook over your propane stove will be just as good as the pancakes you make at home.