Cooking on a Woodstove (Plus 3 Delicious Recipes!)

When we switched our heating method from electric to wood, I immediately started researching cooking on a woodstove. There wasn’t much information available, but I eventually figured out that it is really quite easy! If you are already heating your home with wood, it’s hardly more trouble to use the stove for cooking as well!

Cooking on a woodstove saves electricity. It also means that you can still cook even when the power goes out. Now I cook on my woodstove almost every day.

Some of my favorite meals to cook on a wood stove include steaks, slow-cooked crock pot type meals such as chicken and rice or roast with potatoes, bone broths, and soup. It’s also really handy for warming up leftovers or melting butter.

 

How to Cook on a Wood Stove

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If you’ve seen any 1800’s era movies, you may have noticed the beautiful old wood cook stoves most people had in their kitchens. These wood powered stoves typically had burners, an oven next to the fire box, and a warmer above the stove. Some had tanks to heat water as well.

These old fashioned cook stoves can still be purchased today although most need repairs to be usable (there are a few companies that still make new ones!). I actually had one at one point, but unfortunately didn’t have a place to set it up so never got the opportunity to use it.

Using an actual wood cook stove has several advantages, including the oven and the fact that it doesn’t throw as much heat so can be used year round. But most of us don’t have access to one of these antique stoves. So this article is about all the things you can do using a regular wood burning heating stove.

Most wood burning stoves can be used for cooking; the main criteria is that it has a flat top or at least a large enough flat area to set a pot or pan on.

 

The Tools You Need

If you plan on cooking on a woodstove during an emergency (or any time), I’ve found the book, Woodstove Cookery, to have lots of great information. It’s actually meant for cooking in an old-fashioned wood cook stove (the kind that has burners and an oven). Most of the information also applies to cooking on a regular wood stove too. It goes into detail on how to maintain a consistent heat for cooking. It also covers the burning temperatures of different types of wood.

 

Cookware for Cooking on a Woodstove

For cooking on a woodstove, stainless or aluminum pots are perfectly fine to use in an emergency. They won’t hold up as well in the long term, though. I use stainless steel pots for quick jobs such as warming leftovers or melting butter. For any serious cooking job I get out the cast iron. The three cast iron pieces I use every day are a frying pan, a Dutch oven without legs and a griddle.

These can be used on a regular stove or oven as well. Mine get more use than any of my stainless pots and pans. I love how food doesn’t stick to cast iron, and it is so easy to clean! It doesn’t start flaking off into your food like a coated non-stick aluminum pan. It’s probably the most versatile kind of cookware you can own.

I also use a cast iron trivet for wood stove cooking, which allows me to cook at a lower heat than directly on the stove’s surface. It’s especially helpful for keeping food warm!

 

Building a Fire for Cooking

 

You can easily vary the temperature of your wood stove surface by the size of wood you are burning, regardless of the type of wood.

For high heat cooking such as frying, use mostly or all kindling to build a hot, fast burning fire.

A normal fire, with large logs that are completely dry will give you a medium heat cooking surface.

For low, slow cooking, you have a few options. You can just barely keep the fire going, waiting till it almost goes out to add another log. You can also shut the damper most of the way. A third option is to set your pot up on a cast iron trivet so it’s farther removed from the heat and cooks at a lower temperature.

Cooking on a woodstove isn’t hard, but it is a learning curve. I have to admit I’ve burned a couple things while learning how to cook on a wood stove!

 

Using a Wood Stove as a Crock Pot

I think my absolute favorite method of cooking on a woodstove is to use it like a crock pot. It’s an easy, hands-off method to slow cook a delicious meal! 

When using your wood stove for this type of cooking, you don’t even have to be there the whole time. I use a cast iron Dutch oven as my “crock pot”. Get a nice fire going and add enough wood to keep it burning for 2-3 hours. This is perfect for Sundays. By the time we get home from church, the fire is mostly out, but the food is cooked and still warm.

 

Chicken and Rice on the Wood Stove

For this recipe, you’ll need a cast iron pot (Dutch oven without legs) with a lid that is large enough to fit your chicken.

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 ½ cups rice
• 4 cups water
• 1 ½ cups chopped veggies such as onions, garlic, carrots, celery, peas or dark leafy greens (or ½ cup dehydrated vegetables plus ½ cup more water)
• Salt and pepper

Put everything in the cast iron pot, making sure that the rice is submerged in the water. You can add a dash of lemon juice, or herbs such as rosemary and thyme. 

Start over a hot fire to get it going, then let the fire slowly burn until the meat reaches 165 degrees F. 

 

Roast and Potatoes Over a Wood Stove

You can use any type of roast for this recipe – beef, lamb or pork all work well. You’ll need a cast iron pot (Dutch oven without legs) with a lid that is large enough to fit your roast.

• Roast
• Olive oil and red wine or red wine vinegar
• Potatoes and root veggies such as onions, beets, carrots and turnips (you can use as many as you have room for in your pot!)
• Salt and pepper

Place the roast in your pot. Surround it with potatoes and vegetables. Drizzle wine or wine vinegar and olive oil over the whole thing. Top with salt and pepper. I sometimes add some garlic and rosemary as well.

Start over a hot fire to get it going, then let the fire slowly burn until the meat is fully cooked and the potatoes can easily be pierced with a fork.

 

Slow Cooked Soup Over a Wood Stove

This nutritious soup is easy to throw together and versatile. It’s a great way to use leftovers such as a whole chicken carcass or the remains of a bone-in roast!

You’ll need a cast iron pot with a lid that is big enough to fit all your ingredients.

• Leftover bone-in meat (you can also use fresh soup bones or a whole chicken, just allow extra cooking time if you are starting with raw meat)
• Water to cover the meat
• Vegetables of choice
• Potatoes or rice (optional)
• Salt and pepper

Place your bone-in meat in the cast iron pot. If you are using dehydrated vegetables or rice, add them now. Fresh vegetables and potatoes can be added halfway through the cooking process.

Add water to barely cover the other ingredients, along with a little salt and pepper.

Start cooking over a hot fire to get it going, then let the fire burn at a medium temperature to keep it simmering until the water turns into darker colored broth and the meat is falling off the bone.

Remove the meat and let it cool until it can be handled enough to remove the meat from the bones. If the vegetables are still crunchy when pierced with a fork, you can leave them on the stove to cook a bit more while the meat is cooling. Take the meat off the bones and add it back into the soup before serving.

Cooking on a woodstove is easy!

 

Baking on a Wood Stove

 

Since a regular wood stove doesn’t have an oven, it’s pretty hard to bake on one. You can still bake certain items, though!

I’ve had good luck with baking bread in a cast iron pot with a lid. To “bake”, you’ll need a pot that has a lid. You’ll also want to keep the temperature of the stove on the lower end. When baking a loaf of bread on the stove, I flip it over halfway through the cooking process so that the top can cook too.

One thing to be aware of when baking is that cast iron retains the flavors of everything you have cooked in it. While this imparts wonderfully complex flavors to meat and savory dishes, you might not want your sweeter items to have hints of onion flavor. You can get around this by either using separate cast iron pots for sweet items, or just by using stainless steel for this type of cooking.

Cleaning Cast Iron

Cast iron is meant to have a coat of oil or grease on it at all times. This is called “seasoning”. It keeps the iron from rusting and helps your food not to stick.

When cleaning, you want to avoid stripping all the oils off the surface. 

Most of the time, wiping the pan out with a dry cloth or paper towel is sufficient to remove any food residue. For messier jobs, you can use a small amount of milder eco-friendly soap from the natural cleaner section (or try our homemade cleaning soap recipe). I use a regular kitchen scrubber to get rid of any stubborn bits of food. Avoid using dish detergents such as Dawn, which will strip the oils.

It is fine to soak cast iron for up to a few hours if needed, but too much soaking will cause it to rust. Never put your cast iron in the dishwasher!

You can find more tips on caring for cast iron here!