As soon as the weather starts to get cool, my family gets excited for fire pit potatoes. We first made them out of necessity, nearly fifteen years ago, while cleaning up a fallen tree at our family’s cabin in Pennsylvania.
It was November and the cabin was closed for the winter, so we had nowhere to cook. Knowing we’d start a camp fire to get rid of the wood from the fallen tree, we brought along a bag of baking potatoes, wrapped them in aluminum foil, and threw them into the blaze.
We were so busy taking care of the tree and yard, we forgot all about the potatoes. Several hours later, we used a rake to dig them out of the hot cinders, finding only about half the number we started with.
To our dismay, the potatoes were rock hard from the prolonged baking. Desperate for something to eat, we broke them open and found a few spoonfuls of soft potato inside each one.
It was the best baked potato any of us had ever tasted.
Wondering if sheer hunger and cold had caused our appreciation, we made the fire pit potatoes again the next fall. This time, we remembered to pull them out before they turned into rocks. They still tasted great.
The fire gave them a smoky flavor we just couldn’t get from an oven and the foil kept them moist. It’s become a family tradition to make them at least once a year. We laugh every time we eat them, remembering our memorable first try and our cremated spuds.You will find the recipe below.
What you need:
- A camp fire pit or one of those metal patio fire pits
- Wood to burn
- A bag of baking potatoes
- Aluminum foil
- Butter
- A fork
- Your favorite baked potato toppings
- Metal rake or long pair of tongs
Directions: tart the bonfire.
Allow it to burn down so that there are a few inches of hot cinders at the bottom of the fire pit. With a fork, poke a few holes in each potato so they don’t explode in the fire.
Wrap each potato, with a bit of butter, in aluminum foil. Count the potatoes so you don’t have to guess if you’ve found them all later. Place potatoes in the hot ashes, toward the edges of the pit. Stoke the fire by adding more wood.
Allow the potatoes to cook for about an hour. Squeeze one with a pair of tongs or oven mitt. It should feel soft and squishy when done. Remove the potatoes from the ashes using a metal rake or long pair of tongs.
Hopefully, you’ll remember how many you made and can find them all. Carefully remove the foil, allow potatoes to cool for a few minutes, then serve with your favorite baked potato toppings. Enjoy!
