At its most basic, an oven works by evenly heating a dish from all directions without allowing moisture to build up. The crispy textures and browned bits that are often the best parts of baked dishes are formed in the low-moisture, high-heat environment of an oven. Tender dishes like roasted meats, vegetables, and even a soufflé are also in an oven’s repertoire. For an appliance that accomplishes so much, an oven is relatively simple to recreate on the stovetop and even outdoors. In short, you can bake food even if you don’t have an oven.
Just like you’d adjust your oven temperature based on what you’re cooking, you’ll have to match your makeshift oven to the heat requirements of the dish. For example, a dish that’s browned on top and would normally require finishing up under the broiler will be difficult to recreate using a stovetop oven setup where most of the heat is coming from below. However, cooking pizza in a cast iron skillet is much easier, since it’s the bottom that requires browning. You can also skip turning on the oven with simple reheated pizza hacks like using a spoonful of water while cooking on the stovetop, which helps redistribute moisture and avoid a soggy slice. Everything from a Dutch oven to sheet pans and even a cardboard box can help you bake dishes sans oven.
Baking at home without an oven
An effective stovetop baking setup can be achieved with two pots. One should be small enough to easily fit inside the other. The bottom of the large pot should be lined with salt, sand, or stones, which help evenly distribute and retain heat. Salt, in particular, is great for lining the bottom of your makeshift oven because it can also absorb moisture, helping keep the cooking environment dry for the bake. Next, place a small stand on the bed of salt, sand, or rocks, and balance the smaller pot on it so it is completely inside the larger pot. Cover the large pot and turn your stove to high to preheat the inside, then place the food you want to bake into the small pot, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the large pot, and let the baking begin! This method is best for moist dishes like baked pasta or cakes. If you find there’s not enough heat on top, consider placing some coals, or even a pot of boiling water on the lid of the large pot.
A Dutch oven on a stovetop can also be used to bake bread and other dishes that require low to medium heat. The utensil is a kitchen workhorse because of how versatile it is, but if you’re only looking for a stovetop baking solution, you may not need to buy a Dutch oven. Instead, consider the next option — a cast iron skillet. Its heavy construction allows the skillet to retain and distribute heat very well, making it great for baking dishes with a golden-brown crust. Use two cast iron skillets with the second one preheated and then placed upside down over the first one to recreate an oven that heats from above and below.
Baking outdoors without an oven
Enjoying freshly baked dishes outdoors, especially when camping, is possible with a makeshift camping oven. The most important aspect of making it work is to have a stable base over the heat source, be it a camping stove or a bonfire, to support the cooking apparatus. The dual pot hack works outdoors as well. For an even easier setup, try the time-honored scouts’ method of lining and wrapping a cardboard box with a few layers of foil and then placing your unbaked dish along with a few ignited smokeless coals inside. The best part is you can easily change whether the heat source is above or below your food and orient the box vertically or horizontally for more flexibility. Just remember that a bigger box is harder to heat up, so use one that’s compact but still large enough to accommodate the food and heat source. To ensure your box oven has even heating, place a baking stone at the bottom. If you don’t want to fashion an outdoor oven, consider picking up a portable camping oven.
Finally, any discussion about baking food outdoors would be remiss without a mention of the ubiquitous baked potato. Poke some holes in a few good quality spuds, slather them in butter and seasoning, wrap them in foil, and put them directly amongst the campfire embers. Irrespective of the baking apparatus you use, a food thermometer will help you ensure your food is well cooked even when you can’t control the cooking temperature. A dual-sensor temperature probe that tells you the ambient temperature inside the makeshift cooker as well as the food’s internal temperature is the perfect companion for baking without an oven.
