Delicious & Easy Slow Cooked Braised Beef Cheeks in the Camp Oven
As the temperatures start to drop with winter on our doorstep, you must try this hearty, delicious, and easy slow cooked beef cheeks recipe in the camp oven or dutch oven. All you need is a camp oven, a good fire, and time to sit back, relax and enjoy a drink while you wait for these tender beef cheeks to warm you up.
Beef cheeks are an extremely tough cut of meat with lots of sinew. If your butcher has not trimmed the beef cheeks as clean as possible, you will need to do a lot of prep work to remove all of this. A good butcher will have the beef cheeks prepared ready for cooking. The only real way to cook beef cheeks is slow as this cut is just too tough to cook any other way. Beef cheeks can be hard to come by, so you need to speak with your butcher to see what they can get in for you. It is usually not an expensive cut of meat.
When cooked properly, beef cheeks will come out tender and super tasty. They are a perfect winter meal when sitting around the campfire. See how easy it is to cook braised beef cheeks in the camp oven or dutch oven in our recipe below.
What We Use to Cook Beef Cheeks
This is the gear we used to cook this braised beef cheeks in the camp oven recipe.
- Camp Chef 12-inch Cast Iron Camp Oven / Dutch Oven.
- Camp Chef Heat Resistant Gloves.
- Camp Chef Explore 14 Gas Burner.
- Zebra Pro stainless steel knife with leather Drifta cover.
- Chopping board.
- Tongs.
- Wooden spoon.
Beef Cheeks in the Camp Oven
Prep & Cook Time
Allow for 20 to 30 minutes of preparation time including chopping and browning the beef cheeks. Total cook time in the camp oven will be between 3 to 4 hours depending on the heat from the coals. The longer the better as you need to allow the beef cheeks to get nice and tender.
20-30 minutes prep.
Braised Beef Cheeks in the Camp Oven Ingredients
The below ingredients will provide enough servings for six to eight people depending on everyone’s appetite. Adjust the ingredients for the number of people. Leftovers are fantastic, so do not worry if you cook a little more than you need.
6-8 people.
- 1.5-1.8kgs x beef cheeks trimmed.
- 3-4 x carrots chopped finely.
- 3-4 x sticks of celery chopped finely.
- 2 x onions chopped.
- 2 x gloves of garlic chopped finely.
- 1/3 x bottle of red wine (merlot preferably).
- 500 ml – 1 litre x chicken stock.
- Water to top up liquid during cook if required.
- 1 x bay leaf.
- 2-3 teaspoons x thyme leaves.
- Salt and pepper.
- Olive oil.
How to Cook Beef Cheeks in the Camp Oven
Chop up the onions and garlic. Then chop the carrots and celery quite fine. Now heat up your camp oven. We like to do our preparation on our Camp Chef Explore 14 gas cooker before adding our camp oven to the coals. This makes it easier to get the camp oven ready for the slow cook.
Add quite a bit of olive into the camp oven and let it heat up. Then add the beef cheeks to the camp oven to brown off. Depending on how many pieces of beef cheek you have, you may need to do this in a couple of batches. Make sure that the beef cheeks are nicely browned on all side then set aside.
Add more olive oil to the camp oven and cook the onion and garlic. Once the onion has softened, add the finely chopped carrots and celery, and cook for a few minutes. Now add approximately one third of a bottle of red wine. Merlot is preferred but use what you have. It does not need to be a good wine either. Then add the chicken stock. Stir all the ingredients and then add the browned beef cheeks to the camp oven. You want the liquid to sit approximately three quarters or higher up the meat. If the liquid is lower, add more of the chicken stock or water. Then add the bay leaf and thyme leaves. You can also add a bit of salt and pepper.
Now place the lid on the camp oven and you are ready to add to some good hot coals. We usually go with a 50:50 bottom to top coal ratio but it does not really matter too much. Do not use too many coals as the liquid will reduce to quickly and you could burn the bottom slightly. Once the camp oven has been added to the coals, set a timer for 60 minutes. We like to check the camp oven approximately every hour. If you find the liquid has reduced too much you can top up with water. After an hour you want the liquid to be sitting approximately halfway up the meat. If it is lower, add some water. You would rather more liquid and cooking for longer than the alternative of burnt beef cheeks. Stir the camp oven ensuring nothing has stuck to the bottom. Then set a timer for another 60 minutes and follow the above process once again ensuring there is enough liquid in the camp oven.
Total cook time on the coals should be no less than 3 hours but closer to 4 hours. This will really depend on the amount of heat. You will know when the beef cheeks are cooked in the camp oven, when the beef cheeks fall apart if prodded with a wooden spoon. You also want the liquid to have reduced to a nice thick dark brown gravy. If the liquid has not reduced enough, cook for a little longer.
Once the beef cheeks have been cooked in the camp oven, do not pull the meat apart as you would with pulled pork. You want to serve the beef cheeks in nice big chunks. Separate a few of the bigger pieces to provide enough servings.
Simple Sides to Beef Cheeks in the Camp Oven
If you were having slow cooked braised beef cheeks at home, you would usually serve them with a side of mashed potatoes and roast or steamed veggies. We try to stay away from mashed potatoes when camping as it is a pain to make and clean up. Instead, we highly recommend a few whole washed potatoes wrapped in aluminium foil and thrown beside the fire to bake for an hour and a half. You can get away with one potato per two people When baked, cut in half, and serve beside the slow cooked braised beef cheeks from the camp oven.
For vegetables, you can do a few different things such as roasting a few in another camp oven if you have more than one. Or alternatively, you can grill vegetables over hot coals. An even easier option is heating up some canned green peas or carrots. Keep the vegetables simple and put all your effort into the beef cheeks.
We highly recommend slow cooked beef cheeks in the camp oven or dutch oven. Beef cheeks are an under rated cut of beef. If cooked slowly in a camp oven you will be surprised by how tender and tasty beef cheeks can be. Try this beef cheeks in the camp oven recipe on your next adventure, you will not regret it.
If you would like to read some of our other simple camping recipe posts, you can find them all here. For updates on our future stories, join the 4WD Adventurer Community here. If you want more regular updates, please follow us on Instagram.
Thanks for reading our beef cheeks in the camp oven recipe post.
We are ambassadors for Camp Chef. You can find out more about their great cast iron cooking gear here, as well as the Explore 14 gas burner that we use.
Recipe & method by Peter.
