Camping Stromboli, also known as a Pizza Log

You may be asking yourself “What exactly is a camping Stromboli?”

In our family it is a way to get our child to eat some real food while we are out camping.

Our child is a picky eater. There. I said it. This is not fair to us parents who enjoy food so much we used to run a cooking blog. But we have been “blessed” with a picky eater who even insisted he didn’t like pizza. At least not until he started school and all his friends loved it. Luckily for us now, we can usually get our child to eat some of our more fun recipes by calling them pizza. Especially when we let him dip his crusty ends into honey. Like this camping Stromboli which we tell him is a pizza log.

Please note that this article contains affiliate links, and we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases made through links in this post. You can read our full disclosure on our disclosure page.

Who doesn’t love food cooked over a campfire? Actually, we know a lot of people who don’t and we just have to feel sorry for them. Because we love to cook over a campfire, especially in heavy duty foil. Cooking in foil is easy to do, easy to customize, and easy to cleanup. Since there are hundreds of recipes out there for things to cook inside a foil pack, you are sure to find something that will be extremely delicious when cooked over the campfire. If you like pizza, you should give our pizza logs a try.

What we love about Camping Stromboli:

• They are prepped ahead of time
• We can customize them to everyone’s tastes
• They can be cooked over wood, charcoal, or gas
• This recipe doesn’t require lots of fancy ingredients
• It’s pizza for goodness’ sake!

The Ingredients for three individual Pizza Logs:

• Readymade pizza crust (buy the tube, it is worth it)
• Pizza sauce (homemade or store bought is fine)
• Shredded cheese (you don’t have to limit yourself to mozzarella)
• Assorted toppings (pepperonis, black olives, pepper slices, etc.)
• Dried basil, oregano, pizza dust (optional)
• Extra sauce and/or honey (for dipping at the campsite)

The Process Part One:

1. Cut three pieces of foil and three squares of parchment paper. Place one piece of parchment paper on top of each piece of foil.
2. Open your tube of pizza crust and lay it out on a cutting board. Cut it into three even pieces.
3. Lay out one piece of crust on top of each piece of parchment paper.
4. Spread about one tablespoon of sauce on top of each crust, leaving a ½ inch border around the sides.
5. Sprinkle some cheese and toppings across the sauce. Don’t be too generous with your toppings.

1. Carefully roll your crust into a pizza log, keeping the toppings inside the roll. I find it easier to roll towards me, others find it easier to roll away, and still others like to roll to the side. Play around with it to find your preferred method.
2. Pinch the sides together to seal your Camping Stromboli.
3. (Optional) Sprinkle the top of your sealed pocket with dried herbs such as basil, oregano, or some sort of pizza mixture. We especially like Penzey’s Pizza Seasoning for topping ours.
4. Wrap the parchment paper and heavy-duty foil around the log.
5. Refrigerate up to three days or freeze until time to go camping.

The Process Part Two:

1. Start your campfire or heat up your grill so that your heat source is ready. If using wood or charcoal, let the flames die out prior to cooking your food.
2. Place your pizza logs over heat for 45 minutes, flipping and rotating every 15 minutes.
3. Carefully pull the packets off and let them cool for a minute or two.
4. Either open the seams and place the pizza log on a plate or unwrap and eat bite by bite.
5. Serve with extra pizza sauce and/or honey for dipping if you wish.

FAQ and How to Customize:

Q. What exactly is a stromboli?

A. Strombolis are an Italian American invention from suburban Philadelphia PA. They are not the same as calzone even though some people use the terms interchangeably. They do both use pizza dough and cheese to create a sealed, portable pizza. However, calzones are folded into a hand pocket while strombolis are rolled and sliced.

Q.  Can I make one big log instead of three individual strombolis?

A. You can try, but it will take a lot longer to cook through. Also, we have found the ends burn before the middle is done when we have tried. So, we advise against it.

Q.  Can I use different toppings?

A.  Yes please! One of the best things about a recipe such as this is getting to choose the toppings you want to eat. Just remember that denser ingredients will take longer to cook than more thinly sliced items such as bell peppers.

Q. We don’t like tomato-based sauces. Any other ideas?

A. We have used pesto sauce, white sauce, barbecue sauce, and even gone sauceless with seasoned olive oils. A personal favorite of mine is a sauce formed from roasted vegetables such as carrots, onions, and bell peppers. Just make sure the toppings you select work with your flavor profile.

Q.  Can I use a different type of dough such as crescent roll dough?

A.  While a thinner dough such as crescent roll dough will bake faster, it will also be more apt to leak. We recommend sticking with pizza crust or using a bread dough.

Q.  Can these be cooked these in the oven?

A. Of course they can! We recommend 350 degrees F on the middle rack for roughly 45 minutes, flipping and rotating every 15 minutes.

Equipment needed:

• Aluminum Foil: We use heavy duty aluminum foil for all of our foil packet recipes. It only takes one time for your foil to fall apart during the process of cooking to realize the importance of quality foil.
• Parchment Paper: Some people don’t like to cook over high heat with aluminum. Parchment paper is the way to go here. Line the inside of the foil with the paper and everything cooks the same, just without touching the foil. Bonus-the foil stays clean and can be recycled.      
• Heat resistant gloves: If you are going to be working around a fire, at some point you will probably get burned. These gloves can help prevent that.

More Pizza Recipes to Enjoy while Camping:

• Cast Iron Pizza
• French Bread Pizza Rolls
• Pie Iron Pizza Pockets

We can get our kid to eat these Strombolis while camping by calling them Pizza Logs!

And this is a wonderful thing as we love to introduce him to new flavors by trying them out as pizza toppings. Tag us on Instagram @campinganswer and show us what crazy toppings you’ve put in your pizzas!