Best Open Fire Cooking Pots | 4 Best Pots for Campfire Cooking

Avoid ruining your kitchen cookware by using quality open fire cooking pots that stand up to the heat! When you’re cozied up around the fire at your favorite campsite, the last thing you won’t worry about is messing up dinner because you brought the wrong pots and pans! Not all pots can hold up against the heat of an open fire, but how do you know which ones will? When it comes to looking for an open-fire cooking pot, the options on the market can be endless and overwhelming. We’ve done the research for you and are here to inform you of the best cooking pots built for the open campfire!

Overview

Homful Camping Cookware Set

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Lixada Cookware Set

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Primus Stainless Steel Cookset

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MyLifeUNIT Camping Pot

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Best Value Open Fire Pots

Full Set of Open Fire Cookware

Stainless Steel Pick 

Largest Camping Pot

Manufacturer

Homful

Lixada

Primus

MyLifeUNIT

Material

Titanium

Titanium

Stainless Steel

Aluminum

Capacity

Pot: 1.1L (37 oz)

Cup: 420ml (14 oz)

Lg Pot: 1.6L (54 oz)

Pot: .75L (25 oz)

Cup: .4L (13.5 oz)  

Lg Pot: 1.8L (60 oz)

Pot: 1.0L (34 oz)

Cup: .5L (16.5 oz)  

4.7L (160 oz)

Set Weight

< 0.5 Lbs

< 0.5 Lbs

2.8 Lbs

1.5 lbs

In the Box

Titanium Pot, Cup, Spork, & Mesh Travel Bag 

Two Titanium Pots, One Cup, Spork, Storage Sack

Two Pots and One Frying Pan

One Aluminum Pot with Lid

Sneak Peek: Best Pot for Cooking over an Open Fire

HOMFUL Cookware Set

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  • Lightweight & Durable
  • Two sizes for various uses
  • Foldable handles on each pot for tripod or grill usage
  • Bundled with utensils & storage bag

What to Consider When Finding the Best Open Fire Cooking Pots

Let’s look at a few things you need to know about the camping cookware available on the market!

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Material

Stainless steel is one of the most popular choices for material because it typically heats food evenly. It is often preferred because of its durability and because it doesn’t require a lot of maintenance. Stainless steel camping dishes are often affordable cookware sets and quite easy to clean. If you are a backpacker, however, you should take into account that stainless steel is a bit on the heavier side when compared to other materials such as aluminum.

Another material option is titanium. Titanium is a very lightweight material great for camping or backpacking. However, just because titanium dishes are lightweight does not mean they do not also have strength. Titanium is also highly resistant to corrosion! Something to note about titanium is that it heats up very quickly. This could be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on how skillful of a chef you are! The downside of titanium is it’s a pretty expensive choice, and it does not conduct heat as evenly as stainless steel. Make sure you’re watching the heat at all times when cooking with titanium dishes!

A third popular material for camping cookware is anodized aluminum. This is an oxidized material and does a great job at resisting abrasions and scratches. This is a huge advantage when you consider the environment your cookware is going to be used in! Anodized aluminum is also a durable material, and you might enjoy hearing we have no downsides to report about this material!

The last material that we’ll mention – but won’t cover in this article – is cast iron. Cast iron cookware runs in its own class. Cast iron by far the heaviest of all options but is virtually indestructible. Slightly harder to clean than other pots and pans but will never falter under the heat and will heat food evenly. We are focusing on lighter materials for this roundup.

Weight

When you are choosing camping cookware it is important to consider weight because you won’t have a good experience if you’re exhausted from carrying heavy pots and pans! If you want to take cookware along on your camping journey, you must consider the weight of each utensil.

The thicker the utensil, the better it will be at keeping your food from burning. However, it will also likely be significantly heavier than thinner utensils. If you are a backpacker, you don’t want to feel weighed down by heavy utensils. Lightweight items are easier to carry but not all of them are as efficient when it comes to cooking the food. It’s better to invest in thicker, heavier utensils if you are a frequent car or RV camper.

Design

The final factor to consider is the design of the cookware. It is important to understand that most cookware falls into two categories: ones that can be hung on tripods and ones that are made for flat surface cooking. Let’s learn more about the differences between these two categories!

Tripod Focused Open Fire Pots

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Open fire cooking pots with the ability to hang on a tripod come in basic and complex models. The basic ones typically have three metal legs and some chains for you to hang your utensils, such as pots and pans, over the fire. They are good if you are cooking potatoes or other vegetables in the pot over a steady flame. You can also use the live coal later on for a barbeque on a big grill if you have one.

Flat Grill Focused Campfire Pots

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If you are not confident about cooking on a tripod that can hang the utensils over a flame, you should consider a grill grate. These are rather simple to use and when you have an open fire as the source, they are very useful. This design creates a stable space for you to make your meal by putting a pan or Dutch oven directly on the flame. These mostly look like camping grills which have a small table that is made of metal on top. If you keep food like bacon away (because the fat will be dripping) you can contain the sparks on flame and keep the whole operation safe.

Detailed Reviews: Best Cooking Pots for Campfires

With those factors in mind, let’s see what the best open fire cooking pots are on the market. These are our choices for the best open-fire cooking pots for your next camping trip.

#1 Homful Camping Cookware Titanium Cooking Set

Best Open Fire Cooking Pots

best open fire cooking pots

Pros

  • Lightweight & Durable
  • Two sizes for various uses
  • Foldable handles on each pot for tripod or grill usage
  • Bundled with utensils & storage bag

Cons

  • Peak height isn’t very impressive
  • Some customers said a few seams were not well sealed

This is a cooking set from Homful. The dishes are made of pure titanium which makes them lightweight, durable, and resistant to corrosion and rust (with the added bonus of being hypo-allergenic). The dishes are also odorless which is very important when you are dealing with food.

The set has three pieces which include a 1,100 ml pot, a 420 ml cup and a foldable spork. Whether you are hiking, camping, backpacking, or just planning a picnic near home, it is a great choice.

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The utensils have round bottom edges which makes heating the food inside easy and cleaning a breeze!

The handles of all the utensils are foldable which makes packing easy and keeps it compact. You also get a mesh bag in the box which makes keeping the whole set together a piece of cake.

#2 Lixada Camping Titanium Cookware Set

Pros

  • Built with titanium – durable, lightweight and resistant to corrosion
  • Includeed storage sack to prevent scratching
  • Small pot is easy to use for cooking or drinking
  • No smell or metal aftertaste

Cons

  • More expensive than other options on this list

Our second choice is a three-piece cookware set which is also made of titanium. Included in this kit is a 1,600 ml pot, a 750 ml pot, a 420 ml cup, and a foldable spork which is perfect for your camping, backpacking, and hiking adventures.

This is also a lightweight and durable set thanks to the titanium build. It is resistant to corrosion and promises to last for a long time. When you are using the dishes, you will notice that they don’t smell of the food or beverage that was in them which is always a plus. You also get a lid that helps you minimize the loss of heat while cooking. This is not just energy-efficient but also makes the process of cooking faster. The dishes have round edges which makes heating the food and cleaning the dishes easy.

The dishes come with collapsible handles making storage easy and includes a bar on the spork to lock the handle when you are using it to help avoid any kind of accidents.

Each of the dishes is packed into a storage sack which means you can break up the set if you want and still carry it with ease and efficiency.

#3 Primus Stainless Steel Campfire Cookset

Best Stainless Steel Open Fire Cooking Pots

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Pros

  • Aluminum bottom advantage over stainless steel counterparts
  • Easy stackable storage
  • Resistant to corrosion and rust
  • Durable construction

Cons

  • Lids are not interchangable
  • More expensive than other options on this list

This is a cooking set made of stainless steel. It comes with a frying pan, two saucepans with lids and integrated colanders. And despite the number of items, it is easy to carry around because they stack up well. You get a 1.8-liter saucepan and a 1-liter saucepan along with a storage bag.

Both the saucepans come with handles that can be wrapped around the pot when you are not using them. The frying pan also has a foldable handle that must be locked in place when being used. It has an aluminum bottom so you don’t have to worry about the even distribution of heat when you are cooking.

The 18/8 stainless steel is durable and is resistant to corrosion. You will notice that it is easy to clean too. This set has been created by Primus to make sure that you don’t have to compromise on the quality of your cooking just because you are out in the wild. This is a great assortment of pots and pans for a campsite where you will be cooking on an open fire.

#4 MyLifeUNIT Camping Pot Cookware

Largest Pot for Open Fire Cooking

Pros

  • Premium aluminum construction makes it sturdy and durable
  • Includes chain that allows you to hang it on a tripod
  • Lightweight and easy to clean
  • Has excellent heat resistance for even cooking
  • Large enough for couples or small families
  • Great value

Cons

  • May be too large for solo campers
  • Not a non-stick pan

This is a portable camping pot with a capacity of 5 quarts and is made of premium aluminum alloy. This is a safe and harmless choice from a health point of view especially if you are planning to use it for a long time. It is a classic round pot that is gray in color and has a compact structure that makes traveling with it a pleasure.

When compared to cast iron pots, this is much lighter and still meant for outdoor cooking. Despite it being lightweight, it is of good size and can handle cooking an entire meal. The pot is resistant to corrosion and rust and also fights off scratches effectively. It is quite easy to clean the inside of the pot as well. The fact that it is legless is a big advantage because it means more surface area of the pot will be coming into contact with the fire.

In Conclusion

Whether you want a whole new set or just one pot for campfire cooking, there are plenty of options on the market. Remember to consider what kind of material you are looking for, how much space you have and if it will be carried in the car or on your back!

Still trying to fill out your open fire cookware? Check out our reviews of the best campfire kettles and more gear reviews!

You Might Also Like…More Open Fire Cooking Gear Guides

About the Author

Photo of author

Robbie

Robbie is a Co-Founder and editor at Midwest Camping. Robbie has backpacked over three hundred miles of the Appalachian trail, visited seventeen national parks, and camped regularly for the last two decades.

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