Campfire Meat Pies (easy weeknight supper!) with Brady

I had my first meat pie during my brief stint in the SCA, a group of very fun people who completely re-enact medieval times (I loved sewing my own garb!). People would make them ahead of time, wrap in foil and refrigerate, and then we’d heat them by the fire whenever someone got hungry. They were awfully handy and awfully good.

So when Brady goes on camping trips this is the first recipe I go to for convenient food to take with him. The options are endless and I hope you’ll use this one as a springboard and get creative to suit your personal tastes. I’d LOVE to hear about your combination ideas in the comments section! These also make a fun supper for those rushed evenings when you have to head out the door as soon as everyone gets home. They’d work for family movie night or just a lazy evening meal as well.

Campfire Meat Pies

Ready to get cooking? This is another great recipe to make with your kids or just let your kids make all on their own. Brady is going to help me with this one. He’s quite the cook!

Today I’m using deli roast beef, deli chicken, mozzarella cheese, and cheddar cheese. You’ll need some crescent roll dough to seal it all up in and as you can see I grab whatever I get to first.

I’m also using Ro-Tel in mine. I really love the flavor of chicken, cheddar, and a bit of Rotel. This is where I’d like for you to come in in the comments section and give us all some more ideas for fillings in these pies. Here are a few of mine:

  • Chicken and BBQ Sauce
  • Leftover pulled pork and BBQ Sauce
  • Ground beef, mozzarella, and a bit of spaghetti sauce
  • Sloppy Joe Meat Pies
  • Deli roast beef, peppers and onions, and mozzarella
  • Chicken nugget (a single frozen one) and cheese

What else can you think up? Lets brainstorm together in the comments!

I pull out a few slices of deli meat and give them a good dicing up .

Like this

Now open your crescent rolls and separate them all out like this.

This is best if your dough is really cold. If you let it sit at room temperature it gets very sticky and stretchy and harder to work with.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray

Place a bit of meat in the center of each crescent roll as my chief assistant is doing here.

Sprinkle a bit of cheese over the top.

Look at that little face? He’s gotten so tall this year. Yesterday he was in the kitchen with me (we kinda live there) and said

“Ma, I can’t believe how fast this year has gone by, can you believe I’m almost in fifth grade?”

I told him “I know Baby, and the thing is, the older you get the faster it goes.”

He thought about this a moment in his very serious way and nodded saying “Yeah, I’m gonna be all grown before you know it.”

~sighs~

If you are going to use Ro-Tel, make sure you drain it well and then add that, too.

Ooh, chopped green chiles would be good in this!

Here is that a little closer up…

Meat and cheese

Then fold the edges over however you can to get it all sealed up.

These are Brady’s, didn’t he do a great job?

mine usually end up looking like little round packets.

Bake them at 350 for ten to fifteen minutes (mine take about thirteen), until browned.

Allow to cool completely. Im’ using a cooling rack but you don’t have to.

If you’re having these for supper, you can just eat them right now!

Once completely cool wrap each one in foil and write the filling on the package so folks know which one they’re about to eat.

To be honest with ya (I really hate that phrase but I’ll get to why in a minute*) I have no idea what is in this packet because I made them all at once and didn’t keep up. I just wrote “beef” on it as a little visual example. Whoever bites into this one has a 50/50 chance of getting beef and I figure those odds are better than most!  So you might want to cook them separately, make all of one variety first and then move on so you know what is what.

*I really dislike that phrase because anytime someone says “To be honest with you” they are basically saying “up until this point I haven’t been…”

So now I gotta go repent for saying it myself.

Place in a zipper seal bag and put in the fridge. Before heading out, place this bag in an ice filled cooler. At the campfire, simply place at fire’s edge  or over hot coals until heated through.

If you are having these at home, just eat ’em! You can refrigerate them and reheat in the microwave as well, don’t fret with the foil, I toss them all in a zipper bag unwrapped for the fridge.

Aren’t they pretty?

These chicken, cheese, and Ro-Tel ones are my favorite.

Campfire Meat Pies

  • Canned Crescent Rolls
  • Deli Meat
  • Cheese
  • Sauce and other add ins of your choice*

For each little pie you’ll need about 1 heaping tablespoon of chopped meat, 1 tablespoon of shredded cheese, and 1 teaspoon to 1/2 tablespoon of sauce or other add ins. Make sure you leave plenty of room at the edge to seal packet.

Roll out chilled crescent roll dough and separate into triangles. Place meat, cheese, and other add ins in center of each triangle and fold dough over to seal. Bake on greased cookie sheets at 350 for ten to fifteen minutes, or until lightly browned. Serve warm if you like or allow to cool and wrap each individually in foil. Refrigerate foil wrapped sandwiches and place in zipper seal bag in cooler for transport to campfire. Heat at fire’s edge or on coals until heated through.

With a lot of folks planning camping trips this summer, I’d REALLY love to hear your ideas for add ins in these little sandwiches in the comments section on this post!

Nobody cares if you can’t dance well.

Just get up and dance!

Submitted by Ruth Lail. Brighten our day and submit your funny or uplifting quote here!

123 Comments

  1. When I was a Camp Fire Girl – oh, it’s been a year or two ago (1957-1968) my Aunt Louise was our leader. We were lucky enough to live within driving distance of Camp Val Verde, a Camp Fire Girls Camp. We would go out there on week-ends for camp outs. We cooked all kinds of camp fire food. One of the meals that I really liked was hobo pies. We would use canned biscuits (cause we didn’t have crescent rolls back in the olden days) and mush them out flat with our hands. Then we stuffed them with pre-cooked hamburger, cheese, etc and baked them in a reflector oven made of tin foil and a box! Those were the days, my friend. I have to admit I have not thought about them in a long time, but now, suddently, I am starving for one!!!

  2. In Brazil, this is a common street vendor item. They are called a pastel (singular). They make them with all sorts of meats.

  3. If you want to make these a little bigger and/ or make them beerocks (using ground beef, onion and cooked cabbage), use biscuit dough, kind of rolled out flat(er) fill with your filling bring the biscuit up and around and pinch to close. Yes, a little more work, but a more meal sized portion and totally yummy!!! To me, these would be alot of work with not a lot of return, because I’d have to make ALOT for them to be enough for one meal. (Yes, I have a large family.)

  4. I knew there was a reason I liked you — besides just having an awesome personality and a great cook! I’m a member of the SCA, and have been making these for years now. Don’t forget to make some SWEET ones, too… little fruit pies, or nuts and dates, or just plain ol’ cinnamon and sugar… so that you have a sweet resource when you need it at an event!

    1. Fruit pies with nuts and dates! Great idea, Angela. Thanks for the suggestion. Love this, Christy. Gonna make them with the kiddos this week. 🙂

  5. We put seasoned, cooked, ground chicken with sharp and monterey jack cheese inside and served chicken gravy (from a jar..wink!) for topping..oh wow how good! All it was missing was cranberry sauce according to my youngest daughter! We loved this meal. It also is a huge money saver. I used one package of ground chicken, that made tonights dinner for a family of four, and I have plenty of left over meat for another meal, that’s really helpful went we are trying to pinch pennies!

  6. just came across this recipe while looking for something to make for dinner. When were you in the SCA? I’ve been an on and off member for 20+ years. That could be why you look so familiar to me. Love the site and the book. I gave three for Christmas!

  7. What a great idea!! I think it’d be good as breakfast ones, with scrambled eggs and sausage gravy! or just eggs, bits of bacon and some cheddar cheese.

    Or shredded beef (leftover roast) with some potatoes and carrots with beef gravy

    Or dessert ones, with a cream cheese mixture and raspberry jam!
    I love cresants!! They would be good with anything wrapped inside! 🙂

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