Two simple ways to make campfire cinnamon rolls, grilled or over the campfire. Ooey gooey, deliciously easy camping recipe you can make ahead and cook outdoors!
People ask what we eat when we're camping, and we pretty much eat anything we'd eat at home; in fact, here are some of our most popular camping recipes. Of course, we try to keep meals simple and easy; and these cinnamon rolls are no exception.
You can mix up a batch of these campfire cinnamon rolls (and the icing for cinnamon rolls) ahead of time and take it all with you in the cooler. I'll have some easy storage tips for you below, as well as a printable recipe.
Like my homemade biscuit cinnamon rolls and Bisquick sweet muffins, they taste just as good as cinnamon rolls. Just like drop biscuits, you can cook these cinnamon biscuits over a grill or a campfire.
While we've taken canned cinnamon rolls with us, I'm just not in love with them. Even though this is a biscuit mix or Bisquick recipe, they taste so good, and our boys absolutely love it when we make fun camping desserts (like these toasted skillet s'mores).
Related Recipes: Bisquick Cinnamon Biscuits and Cinnamon Bisquick Scones.
Ingredients you need to make campfire cinnamon rolls:
- Biscuit mix – I love Pioneer Mix, even more so after visiting the Guenther House in San Antonio and learning more about Pioneer.
- Milk
- Salted butter
- Pure cane sugar
- Cinnamon
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract
Tips for how to make and store these easy cinnamon rolls:
I recommend mixing these up at home and then packing them in the cooler for cooking over the campfire (or grill). If you can't use a campfire or grill, because there have been many times we were in that exact situation, you can cook them in a Dutch oven on your camp stove.
Mixing them up is super easy. Start by mixing the biscuit mix and milk together until you have a nice sticky dough.
Spread a little flour out on a clean surface, and knead your dough just enough so it's not sticky anymore.
Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Brush on the melted butter; then sprinkle it with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Roll the dough tightly into a log. Then cut it into 1-inch slices.
Place each slice in a foil pie plate. Once it's full, just cover with plastic wrap, and then place the whole pie plate down in a plastic gallon bag, seal it, and place it in your cooler.
Now if you want frosted cinnamon rolls, you gotta mix up the icing quick. Just mix together the ingredients; you can use this easy sugar cookie icing, but you may want to cut it down because you won't need that much.
Once your icing is made, you can store it in a simple squeeze bottle with a lid and tip cover and put it in the cooler. This makes it easy to both store in your cooler and then squeeze right on your cinnamon rolls after they've cooked.
No mess, no fuss! It's so simple and easy!
Tips for how to “bake” cinnamon rolls outdoors:
You'll need one of two things… A Dutch oven (preferably with a tripod) and/or a pie iron. Pie irons are fun because then everyone can cook their own, and kids love being able to make their own.
Dutch oven cinnamon rolls:
- For Dutch oven cinnamon rolls, you can make a sling with aluminum foil.
- Place your uncovered foil pie plate down into the Dutch oven using your sling. We like to put a few jar rings in the bottom of our Dutch oven, so our pie plate isn't sitting directly on the bottom of the Dutch oven.
- Let the rolls cook over the campfire or on the grill for probably 10 minutes or a little more. Just check them frequently to make sure they don't burn.
I suggest using a tripod, so that your Dutch oven can sit up off the fire, and the bottoms of your cinnamon rolls won't burn.
If you're using a grill, don't be like us and place your Dutch oven straight on the coals… Place it on the grill above the coals.
Pie iron cinnamon rolls:
- For a pie iron recipe, spray the inside of your pie iron with cooking spray.
- Place 2 or more cinnamon rolls inside, close it up, and hold it over the grill or fire.
- Cook the cinnamon rolls for around 10 minutes. Just check them frequently to make sure they don't burn.
Either way you bake your cinnamon rolls, when they're done, just squeeze on the icing, and they're ready to eat! Yum!
Kitchen/Camping tools you may need to make camping cinnamon rolls:
Mixing Bowl – You'll need a bowl to mix up your dough and your icing.
Rolling Pin – to roll out the dough.
Pastry Brush – You'll use this to brush the melted butter onto the dough.
Foil Pie Plate – This makes it easy to store your cinnamon rolls in the cooler until you're ready to cook them.
Dutch Oven – If you want to make a whole pan of cinnamon rolls, you can cook them in a Dutch oven, either over the campfire on a tripod, or on the grill.
Pie Iron – If everyone would rather cook their own cinnamon rolls, this is the perfect way. It's so fun!
Campfire cinnamon rolls are easy and fun to make for the whole family! I love that I can make them ahead in just a few minutes and pack them in the cooler for a fun surprise treat.
More camping recipes you may enjoy:
- 30+ Scrumptious Camping Recipes
- Easy Omelet Breakfast Muffin
- How to make campfire coffee – Can't have cinnamon rolls without a hot cup of coffee.
- Easy Bisquick Campfire Drop Biscuits
If you try this recipe, why not leave a star rating in the recipe card right below and/or a review in the comment section further down the page? I always appreciate your feedback. You can also follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. And subscribe to my email list too!
Campfire Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 3 cups biscuit mix
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon salted butter melted
- 1/4 cup pure cane sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 cup icing
Instructions
- Mix the biscuit mix and milk together until you have a nice sticky dough.
- Spread a little flour out on a clean surface, and knead your dough just enough so it's not sticky anymore.
- Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness.
- Mix the sugar and cinnamon together.
- Brush the melted butter onto the dough; then sprinkle it with your sugar/cinnamon mixture.
- Roll the dough tightly into a log. Then cut it into 1-inch slices.
- Place each slice upright in a foil pie plate.
- Once your pie plate is full, just cover it with plastic wrap, and then place the whole pie plate down in a plastic gallon bag, seal it, and place it in your cooler.
- For the icing, just mix together the ingredients, per the recipe link in the ingredients; you can cut the recipe down so you don't make quite so much.
- Once your icing is made, you can store it in a simple squeeze bottle with a lid and tip cover.
- Either way you cook your cinnamon rolls, when they're done, just squeeze on the icing, and they're ready to eat! Yum!
Dutch Oven Recipe Instructions:
- For Dutch oven cinnamon rolls, you can make a sling with aluminum foil, then place your uncovered foil pie plate into the Dutch oven. We like to add a few jar rings to our Dutch oven, so our pan isn't sitting directly on the bottom of the Dutch oven.
- You can cook them over a campfire, using a tripod*, or on the grill.
- Let them cook for probably 10 minutes or a little more. Just check them frequently to make sure they don't burn.
Pie Iron Recipe Instructions:
- Spray the inside of your pie iron with cooking spray.
- Place 2 or more cinnamon rolls inside, close it up, and hold it over the grill or fire.
- Cook the cinnamon rolls for around 10 minutes. Just check them frequently to make sure they don't burn.
Hi,
First, before I comment on this recipe, I am picky about my baked goods. Don’t try to pass off some poppin fresh can of cinnamon rolls with me.
I took my sons camping some weeks ago, and I used this recipe. I even made the sugar cookie icing recipe and put it in a squeeze bottle as directed. I think that I reduced the icing recipe to a 1/4, and it was more than enough. Plus, not all my sons prefer cream cheese icing on their cinnamon rolls.
I’ll tell you what, for the fact that I didn’t have to work with yeast, these were pretty good! All my sons loved them. The icing worked well on them too!
I’ve gone and bookmarked this page for the future!
Thank you so much for the kind feedback, Joe! I’m really glad you and your family enjoyed this recipe.
Delicious a real keeper.
Thank You, Grace! I’m glad you liked it.
How many days can these be made ahead? We are leaving Thursday to go camping but was planning to make these on Monday, is that to far in advance
LaVonne, hmmm, I might would freeze them if I was making them that far ahead, just to be safe. Then you could just take them out of the freezer and put them right in the cooler. Happy camping!
Thank you Mel for this recipe! I searched Pinterest and the internet to find a recipe for camping cinnamon rolls. We went camping over New Years and as it’s a family tradition to have cinnamon rolls New Years morning, we made these. I thought I’d share our experiences. First of all, we forgot our Dutch oven! And we did not have a pie iron. So, we made up the cinnamon rolls (I accidentally put the cinnamon and sugar INTO the dough, so then also added cinnamon and sugar before rolling.) We put the sliced rolls into a disposable round cake pan and covered it with another one, wrapped it in foil to create a sort of oven, and placed it on the grill of the fire pit with some heat underneath. It was a total experiment! They took a bit longer than 10 minutes, but they were really good! I will tweak it just a bit in the future; will add more cinnamon and sugar, and will use brown sugar. And we added cream cheese to the frosting because we had it. The texture was definitely more biscuity than our usual yeast rolls, but of course that was to be expected. But we were so tickled to have these yummy cinnamon rolls for our New Year’s morning! Thank you so much for your recipe!
Erin, this is fantastic! What a great way to bake them if you don’t have a Dutch oven or pie iron. And great tip with the brown sugar; that would be delicious. I’m so glad y’all enjoyed them. Happy New Year!
Thank you for sharing this great recipe with us. You are our “Most Loved” feature this week at Totally Terrific Tuesday. The party goes live at 9 central time tonight.
Thank you so much, Sherry! Have a wonderful weekend!