Best Perfect Camping Stove
best camping stove
Camping Stove A camp stove doesn’t have to be complicated to be excellent. It should be quick to cook food and boil water, durable enough to carry around in the back of a car, and not use a lot of gasoline. After studying 26 camp stoves, putting 13 through their paces, and dissecting three of them, right down to the welded burner plates and soldered copper tubing, we found the Coleman Classic Propane Camping Stove to be a simple but excellent camping stove.
Coleman Classic Propane Camping Stove
This simple, durable, two-burner camp stove
cooks meals quickly and evenly. And it costs less than half the cost of other stoves we reviewed.
$50 from Walmart
$50 from Target
The Coleman Classic Propane Camping Stove’s reliability is its most important quality; even after being tossed in and out of our vehicles repeatedly, it continued to function flawlessly. Plus, we appreciated its adaptability because this Coleman model boils water faster than any other stove we tested and costs less than $150 while being soft enough to toast golden brown pancakes when lowered to the ground.
This stove has minimal parts, making it easy to maintain, and it can cook with both burners on high for about an hour on a single 16-ounce tank of propane. You’ll need to carry a lighter, because this Coleman model lacks a piezo igniter, the little red button seen on many stoves, including the Camp Chef Mountaineer, that ignites the gas. For us, that simply means there’ll be one less thing to break (and if you’re buying a stove for under $150, piezo igniters are almost guaranteed to fail).
Coleman Cascade 222 2-Burner Camping Stove
More Precision
The Cascade stove is comparable to the Classic stove, except it has a handle for easier carrying and more precise temperature control. But it also costs more.
$170 from REI
$170 from Coleman
The Coleman Cascade 222 2-Burner Camping Stove is the next step up from the Coleman Classic if our first choice isn't available or you want more control over your cooking (and perhaps more durability for more regular use). More control over the full range of cooking temperatures sets it apart from the Classic (and raises the price).
It offers a moderate flame that allows you to cook meals with more precision than the Classic while boiling water a little more quickly than the Classic (if you prefer gently scrambled eggs, for example). Plus, piezo ignition is included, which is acceptable as long as you don’t expect it to stay on indefinitely (no one does). The built-in handle on the Cascade case makes it easier to carry.
Camp Chef Mountaineer
The perfect camp stove for good cooking
This two-burner stove is heavier to carry than Coleman models due to its sturdy construction. However, the Mountaineer also has a more efficient output, so you can use it to cook just as you would on your own stove.
The thick-gauge, aluminum-only Camp Chef Mountaineer is built to last like the traditional, rugged camping gear that salty old-timers or vintage gear enthusiasts care about. The Mountaineer is more expensive than any of Coleman’s recommendations, but if the price difference doesn’t bother you, it’s a wise investment. It’s 4 pounds heavier than the Coleman Classic at just over 16 pounds. However, the Mountaineer allows you to do more high-heat cooking than our other picks thanks to its large, three-way windshield, connector for a large propane bottle (5 to 20 pounds), and 40,000 Btu output (double that of the Coleman Classic).
For example, you can cook more food in the same amount of time by grilling a steak or chili at a higher temperature than our other recommendations for darker charcoal. Plus, the controls offer some impressive nuance. However, controlling them takes some skill—with a stove this powerful, it’s easier to burn food than to keep the heat down. Most car enthusiasts and outdoor enthusiasts will love this stove, but for most campers, its price and durability are overkill.
Original FireDisc Portable Propane Cooker
Alternative to Using a Single Pan for Large Groups
If you frequently prepare large meals for gatherings, the FireDisc paella pan design is perfect. For people who don't want to carry around extra cookware, this stove is great.
The FireDisc Original Portable Propane Cooker breaks down into three easy-to-carry parts: two support brackets and a massive pot. Despite its overall weight of 55 pounds, it’s the heaviest stove we tested, so you probably won’t be hauling it very far from your car. It has the strength and simplicity of something you expect to last a lifetime (with proper care).
In other words, the FireDisc should last longer than its five-year limited warranty. You can ditch the typical pots, pans, and burner plates thanks to its single-plate design (similar to a wok or paella pan, though the FireDisc is more like a Mexican disc), which greatly simplifies your cooking station. Using a large cooking plate on the FireDisc is similar: You can make one large meal, like a soup or stir-fry, or you can create zones for different items, like when making fajitas. Either way, you’re bound to have to cook everything at once, and there are few options for adjusting the heat.
How we selected and tested
There are a few reliable (and less reliable) sites that offer camp stove reviews. GearLab , Camping Stove Cookout , HiConsumption , and BestProducts.com were our first stops. These reviews, along with our Amazon Best Sellers study, helped us narrow down our top 16 candidates, from which we chose the eight models to test. We expanded our 2021 cooking test selections by including two more of the most promising models. We put the Coleman Cascade line of stoves to the test in 2022.
Top 9 Portable Camping Stoves for Cooking an Outdoor Meal
Gone are the days of carefully balancing an old frying pan over a hot fire. Sure, cooking chili over an open flame produces a smoky flavor to die for, but sometimes the convenience of a camp stove wins out. A portable stove makes it possible to bring home-style cooking with you wherever you go, makes it easy to prepare meals whether you’re away for a few nights or for a large group, stores easily in your trunk, and can be quickly set up on a picnic table (or rock).