These tasty vegetarian enchiladas are the perfect campfire recipe to warm you up on a chilly fall camping trip.

We went up to Frisco, CO to camp this past weekend to camp with friends visiting. Even though it’s June, there was still a lot of snow on the ground! We were on a forest service road right outside of town. After about 3 miles up the road, we had to stop and setup camp. There was a snow bank that our car just couldn’t make it over.

Luckily among all the snow melt, we still found a dry spot to setup camp.

At night once it got chilly, the campfire enchiladas were perfect. I add green chiles to give it the perfect amount of spice. This the perfect camping recipe for fall or if you are camping at 9,500 foot elevation like us!

I love enchiladas. It’s my go-to whenever I go out to eat for Mexican food. But, it’s also one of the recipes I make all the time at home! These cheesy veggie enchiladas are a common one in our house. When at home, I’ll make my own sauce, but out in the wild, a canned enchilada sauce does the trick!

Once at the campground, it only takes about 15 minutes to assemble these. I meal prep this recipe at home, so all I have to do is wrap up the enchiladas and put them in the dutch oven once we’re camping. It saves so much clean-up to have the fillings ready to go at the campground!

What to Meal Prep At Home

I cook all the onions and peppers at home. You can do this in a skillet over the campfire or a camp stove too, but I found it easier to do meal prep at home whenever I can. At the very least, I recommend slicing all of the veggies at home and storing in a container.

As much as I love cooking over a campfire, clean-up on a campground isn’t easy! I try to avoid as much mess as I can by prepping at home.

I also premix all of the seasoning and put into a small container, so I don’t have to bring half of my spice cabinet with me.

How to Cook the Enchiladas Over a Campfire

To cook these over the campfire, you only need a cast iron dutch oven. We use this one on all of our camping trips! I love that it’s multi-purpose, so its less cookware to bring camping. We use the lid in the morning for making eggs and bacon.

We were a little impatient this trip and cooked the enchiladas with a bit of a flame still going. Typically I build a fire and wait for it to burn down to embers.

You then place the dutch oven directly over the embers. Using tongs, I place a few of the hot coals on the lid for more even cooking.

The trick to these enchiladas is to make sure you also spread some enchilada sauce at the bottom of the dutch oven. This helps prevent scorching the bottom of the tortillas. Cooking over a campfire can be unpredictable though since you can’t control the heat!

Since all the ingredients in here are already cooked, you just need to cook it long enough to get the cheese to melt and the enchilada sauce to bubble. I open the lid to check the enchiladas after about 12 minutes.

Print Recipe

Dutch Oven Enchiladas

Ingredients

8 flour tortillas
1 white onion
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1/2 can green chiles
1 can green enchilada sauce
1 can black beans
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp chili powder
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
jalapenos optional, for topping
sour cream optional, for topping
fresh cilantro optional, for topping

Instructions

At Home

Slice green pepper, red pepper and onion.
Sauté green pepper, red pepper and onion until the peppers are soft and onion is translucent. Add green chiles, cumin, garlic powder, and chili powder. Store in an airtight container.

At the Campsite

Wrap the sautéed peppers and onions, tablespoon of black beans, and cheese in each tortilla.
Spread a small portion of the enchilada sauce at the bottom of the dutch oven.
Place the filled tortillas in the dutch oven. Cover the tortillas with the remaining enchilada sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Set the cast iron dutch oven over campfire embers for 10-12 minutes. Check the enchiladas after 10 minutes. They are done once the sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted.

These enchiladas just might be my favorite dutch oven recipes for camping! We have a lot of friends who are vegetarians, so having an easy go-to vegetarian meal when camping is great for feeding a crowd. For those of you who love chicken enchiladas, the recipe can easily be adapted, but I promise you won’t miss the meat.

I hope you enjoy. And happy camping!