The Best Pulled Pork in the Camp Oven
If you thought cooking pulled pork while camping was too difficult then you will be pleasantly surprised. With a camp oven, pulled pork is not only easy but also delicious. Camp oven cooking is hard to beat, with pulled pork in the camp oven being one of our favourite camping meals. In this recipe post we show you how easy it is to cook pulled pork in the camp oven and what sides we recommend, finishing off a fantastic camping meal.
The Gear We Use
The below gear is what we used to cook this pulled pork in the camp oven.
- 12-inch cast iron Camp Chef camp oven.
- Camp Chef heat resistant gloves.
- Zebra stainless steel chef knife with an Australian made Drifta leather cover.
- Chopping board.
- Bowl for mixing herbs and spices.
- Hot coals from a fire or charcoal.
- Shovel.
Camp Oven Pulled Pork Ingredients
One good thing with pulled pork in the camp oven, is the flexibility with ingredients. We have listed our recommended ingredients, but feel free to chop and change these to your liking. There are a few camp oven pulled pork recipes out there that recommend using BBQ sauce, however we have found tomato sauce to be a better option. Serving with a good smokey BBQ sauce is a great option, but not during cooking.
The below ingredients are good for 6-8 people, so increase the ingredients for more. If less people, we recommend using the same portions below as you will have a good amount of leftovers that make a fantastic pulled pork wrap for lunch the following day or two.
- 2kg x pork collar cut into 2-4 pieces.
- 2-3 x brown onions chopped.
- 1-2 x teaspoons chilli powder.
- 2 x tablespoons paprika.
- 2 x tablespoons ground cumin powder.
- 2 x tablespoons garlic powder.
- 2-3 x squeezes of tomato paste.
- 2-3 x squeezes of tomato sauce.
- Approximately 500mls of apple juice.
- Approximately 500mls of vegetable stock.
- Water.
How to Cook Pulled Pork in the Camp Oven
- Cook time of approximately 3-4 hours.
Throw Everything into the Camp Oven
The first step with cooking pulled pork in the camp oven is to cut the pork collar into a few pieces. We usually cut the pork into approximately 3 pieces depending on the size of the pork collar. Once the pork has been cut, throw these into the camp oven.
Then chop the brown onions and throw these into the camp oven. In a bowl, place the chilli, paprika, cumin and garlic powders. One to two teaspoons of chilli powder will only give the pulled pork in the camp oven a small amount of spice that will be fine for kids. If you like it a little spicier, then add a little more chilli powder. Mix all the spices together with a spoon and then sprinkle over the pork in the camp oven.
Now add the tomato paste and tomato sauce. We usually just add a few squeezes of both the tomato paste and sauce, more or less will not make a big difference. Then pour in the apple juice and vegetable stock. You want the liquid to be sitting a minimum of three quarters of the way up the meat. Top up with water, apple juice or vegetable stock if more liquid is needed. Finally mix all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon. Then place the lid on the camp oven and get ready to place on hot coals.
Cooking the Pulled Pork in the Camp Oven
Place the camp oven on top of some good hot coals and then using a shovel add coals to the camp oven lid. We recommend a 50:50 coal ratio between the top and bottom. Being a liquid dish, it does not matter if you have more coals and heat on the bottom. But a 50:50 ratio works well.
After 15-30 minutes there should be a good amount of steam coming from the camp oven. Check the camp oven after an hour as you will likely need to add more water. You want the liquid to be sitting approximately halfway up the meat. Stir with a wooden spoon and then return the camp oven lid. After another hour (total of 2 hours), check the camp oven once again. Stir the liquid and if it has reduced significantly, add more water to approximately one quarter to one third of the meat. The liquid should be starting to thicken, and the pork might start to breakaway if you prod it with the wooden spoon.
Return the camp oven lid and cook for another hour (total of 3 hours). After the third hour, check the camp oven once again. The liquid should have reduced and be nice and thick. The pork will start to fall apart easily when prodding with the wooden spoon. You might need to cook for another 30 minutes to an hour if the liquid needs to reduce more and the pork is not pulling apart easily. If there is liquid in the camp oven, you can continue to cook longer as it is difficult to overcook pulled pork. Our usual cook time is between 3 to 4 hours depending on the heat from the coals.
Depending on the heat from the coals, you will likely need to continue to add coals to the bottom and top of the camp oven. You want to ensure the liquid is simmering the whole time, so ensure there are enough hot coals for this to occur. The more heat the more water you will need to add each hour. Ensure you stir the camp oven each hour, so nothing sticks to the bottom.
Cornbread is Best with Pulled Pork in the Camp Oven
Once cooked, the pork will fall apart easily when prodding with a wooden spoon. The sauce will be nice and thick. Our recommendation is to serve with Smokey BBQ sauce (we use Sweet Baby Rays), freshly made cornbread in the camp oven, and coleslaw with Nandos Perinaise (peri peri mayonnaise). Another easier option is to serve in a wrap with BBQ sauce and coleslaw.
We highly recommend cornbread with camp oven pulled pork. Cornbread is extremely easy to cook in a cast iron skillet or another cast iron camp oven. To see how easy cornbread in the camp oven is, see our recipe post here.
Thanks for reading our pulled pork in the camp oven recipe. If you have any alternative recommendations for pulled pork in the camp oven, please let us know in the comments below. It is always great to hear how others cook the same the meal.
We are Camp Chef ambassadors and used the Camp Chef 12-inch and 10-inch cast iron camp ovens to cook this pulled pork and cornbread recipe. For more information on the Camp Chef cast iron range, you can find them here on their website.
To read our other camp cooking recipes you can find them all here. To keep up to date on our future stories, join the 4WD Adventurer Community here. For more regular updates follow us on Instagram.
Recipe & method by Peter.
