Easy Dutch Oven Cobbler (2024)

by Annalise Sandbergon Jul 31, 2017 (updated Jun 14, 2023)

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5 from 5 reviews

The easiest 4-ingredient summer fruit cobbler baked in a camp dutch oven.

Boxed cake mix? Whipped cream in a can? These are things that I almost never use, almost never buy, and almost never even think about. But there is a time and a place for everything. And this is hands down one of the easiest desserts you will ever throw together.

This cobbler requires justfour ingredients— vanilla cake mix, lemon-lime soda, butter, and course, fruit! I’ve made this cobbler a hundred different ways with all kinds of fruit and you can’t go wrong. Blueberries, raspberries, peaches, cherries, strawberries, etc. Pick your favorite, what’s in season, or whatever you happen to have on hand!

This cobbler recipe will of course work just fine in any standard baking dish in your oven, but since I’ve only made this shortcut recipe in a cast iron dutch oven when we’ve been camping, that’s what I’m going to show you today.

Here in Utah we’re pretty serious about our dutch oven cooking. It’s all over the place, from camp grounds to carnivals. It’s even the “state cooking pot” of Utah (thank youWikipedia), probably because of our rich pioneer heritage. If you don’t have a camp dutch oven or aren’t very familiar with them, I encourage you to look into getting one. They’re a lot of fun and you can cook just about anything with it.

So how does a dutch oven work? Well, let me give a brief explanation for those that need it. After prepping your dish, you cover the pot with a heavy cast iron lid. It’s then placed on top of hot coals to heat from below and more coals are placed on the lid to heat from above. Andvoila, you have an oven!

So let’s get back to this specific recipe, shall we?

Like I said, it’s super easy. The fruit goes down in the bottom of the pot and the topping is made with cake mix and lemon-lime soda. As if a cake from a box isn’t simple enough, this is even lazier. But it works! And if you’re baking this away from home it’s nice to need even fewer ingredients.

After spooning the dough over the fruit, a few dabs of butter and sprinkling of sugar help create a nice golden brown cobbler topping. And then it’s ready to bake!It needs only about twenty minutes in the dutch oven and when you can start smelling the fragrance of baked fruit, you know you’re about there.

This is my go-to dessert while we’re camping, though feel free to make it anytime! You can’t beat an easy summer dessert like this, especially when it doesn’t require turning on the oven in your kitchen!

5 from 5 reviews

Easy Dutch Oven Cobbler

Servings: 6 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes mins

Cook Time: 20 minutes mins

Total Time: 25 minutes mins

The easiest summer fruit cobbler baked in a traditional camp dutch oven over coals. A perfect dessert to enjoy while camping!

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Ingredients

▢ 4 cups fruit such as berries , peaches, apples, etc.
▢ 1/2 box vanilla cake mix
▢ 1 cup lemon lime soda , such as Sprite or 7up
▢ 2 tablespoons unsalted butter , cold and cut into bits
▢ 2 tablespoons granulated or coarse sugar , optional
▢ Whipped cream , for serving

Instructions

Preheat 45 charcoal briquettes until white and glowing. Lightly grease the bottom of a cast iron camp dutch oven with cooking spray (see Notes).
In a medium bowl combine the cake mix and lemon lime soda. You want a batter that is thick, but moist (it does not have to be precise, I’ve had varying consistencies from stiffer batters to thinner cake-like batters).
Place fruit in the cast iron dutch oven and spoon batter over top. Top with bits of butter. Sprinkle with the sugar, if using. Cover the dutch oven with its lid.
See Also
The Wellness Mama Cookbook by Katie Wells: 9780451496911 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books Chicken & Hummus Plate Lunch Meal Prep Polenta crémeuse, ratatouille et œuf - Rachel Cuisine No-bake PB&J Thumbprint Cookies (vegan with paleo / nut-free options) - Texanerin Baking
Place 15 hot charcoal briquettes together and set dutch oven over them. Using tongs, place the remaining 30 briquettes on the dutch oven lid. (This exact number and placement is required to achieve 350 degrees inside the dutch oven.) After about 10 minutes, rotate the dutch oven over the coals clockwise and the lid over the dutch oven counter clockwise to promote even cooking. Check after 20 minutes, cobbler is done with the topping is golden brown and the fruit juices are bubbling.
Remove dutch oven from coals. Serve the cobbler with whipped cream.

Notes

NOTES:

If using strawberries or stone fruit such as peaches, slice into wedges or chunks.
You can also bake this cobbler in the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a standard baking dish with cooking spray. Bake the cobbler until golden brown and the fruit is bubbly around the edges, 20-25 minutes.
New to dutch oven cooking? It’s easy to find a lot of info about it online, this website is particularly friendly and helpful.

Calories: 282kcal, Carbohydrates: 57g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 10mg, Sodium: 304mg, Potassium: 103mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 36g, Vitamin A: 170IU, Vitamin C: 10mg, Calcium: 100mg, Iron: 1mg

Cuisine: American

Course: Dessert

Author: Annalise Sandberg

Have you tried this recipe?I’d love to hear about it! Leave a rating and review below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram @completelydelicious with #completelydelicious.

This recipe was first published July 2011. Photos have been updated.

Camping Summer

originally published on Jul 31, 2017 (last updated Jun 14, 2023)

33 comments Leave a comment »

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33 comments on “Easy Dutch Oven Cobbler”

Jessica Foreman — July 17, 2011 @ 1:14 am Reply
This looks great! Growing up, my dad used to make something similar to this while we were camping. He called it "dump cake" because you essentially just dumped everything in the dutch oven and put the lid on it! He always did it with canned pie filling and never even bothered to mix the cake mix… he just literally put the pie filling on the bottom, sprinkled the cake mix on top, and poured the sprite all over the whole thing. Somehow it always turned out delicious! But this looks just as good, especially with fresh berries. 🙂
kelley {mountain mama cooks} — July 17, 2011 @ 1:54 pm Reply
I don't really like cobbler but I love that you used a cake mix here. The cobbler part looks so light. How fun to cook outside too!
Kalyn — July 17, 2011 @ 2:04 pm Reply
That looks so delicious. When our family goes camping my brother makes dutch oven peach cobbler (with canned peaches) and it's a huge family favorite.
Taylor — July 17, 2011 @ 4:06 pm Reply
This looks so good! It would be a perfect dessert for camping….easy and delicious!
Bonnie — July 18, 2011 @ 3:40 am Reply
See Also
Lasagnes vegan et autres petit* plats sympas
Oh my goodness! What a great idea! I can't wait to try this when we camp this summer!! I think the kids will be thoroughly impressed.
Jenifer — July 18, 2011 @ 9:17 pm Reply
i can't wait to try this. i've recently become very acquainted with the dutch oven because i've been doing a lot of campfire cooking for our group at the Renn Faire. Thanks for a wonderful site!
cookies and cups — July 20, 2011 @ 12:31 pm Reply
This is so fun!! I can't wait to try this 🙂
Erin @ Cooking on Whim — July 26, 2011 @ 10:27 am Reply
I am going to have to try this when camping sometime. You can't have enough campfire go-tos….
Love your blog!!
Scot — February 8, 2014 @ 12:51 pm Reply
I have done dutch oven cobblers many ways as I’ve been around Boy Scouts for many years, including using dry cake mix and more butter to make more of a “crumble” than a cobbler. It’s pretty hard to do this wrong, as long as you don’t use too much cake mix/batter – don’t want to overwhelm the fruit!
Having said that, your recipe is a good one. I also like your official Boy Scout dutch oven in the picture!
mark Browning — March 31, 2014 @ 10:59 am Reply
I have done this several times and it has been a huge hit. Always demolished by kids and adults alike. No need to tweak this one. It is really good as is. I have doubled it and it works well then too.
Thanks for sharing!
- Annalise — March 31, 2014 @ 2:15 pm Reply
  So glad to hear you like the recipe, thanks for the comment!
Jon — April 17, 2014 @ 3:55 pm Reply
What size dutch oven did you use? Thanks.
Sues — August 1, 2017 @ 6:36 am Reply
Wow, this looks awesome! I never use boxed cake mix or whipped cream in a can either, but seeing how easy and delicious this looks makes me want to!
Jill — August 1, 2017 @ 2:20 pm Reply
Can you make this in a Dutch oven in the oven rather than a baking dish?
- Noreen — August 1, 2017 @ 9:35 pm Reply
  I did tonight but it doesn’t really brown with the lid on or off.
Noreen — August 1, 2017 @ 9:16 pm Reply
This was awesome!! So easy! I haven’t used a cake mix in years but trader joes has a delicious vanilla mix. Used that and their frozen organic mixed berries (put in frozen). Will definitely make again. Thank you!
- Annalise — August 2, 2017 @ 8:33 pm Reply
  Wonderful! Thanks so much for the feedback Noreen! 🙂
Patricia Williford — May 23, 2018 @ 6:01 pm Reply
I’m excited to try this. I have a question. How can people say “a box of cake mix” in a recipe when some cake mixes contain more ingredients than others? Like aren’t there some that already contain levelers? Don’t some need an egg and some already have things in that make it not require an egg?
- Annalise — May 24, 2018 @ 10:57 am Reply
  Hi Patricia! All cake mixes I am aware of call for an egg, liquid and fat like oil or butter. I haven’t found a cake mix that this recipe won’t work with! Hope this helps.
  - Nina — April 25, 2019 @ 9:55 am
    Do you have to add the eggs etc to the cake mix? Or just the lemon lime soda?
  - Annalise — April 29, 2019 @ 10:39 pm
    No eggs in this recipe! Just the soda.
  - Pat — September 3, 2019 @ 4:24 pm
    The cake mixes with pudding don’t work as well
Robert Evers — November 14, 2018 @ 7:52 pm Reply
I have a Dutch oven desert u might try …. Same concept just take pineapple roo put in bottom of D/O then put rings on top of it then take apricot halves put them in the Rings then take maraschino cherries and said inside the apricots you mix your batter took consistency to wear your your fruit starts to float your peaches in your cherries will start to float until you hit him with the batter and then they stop right there in the cake and then you bake it in the Dutch oven and it’s a screaming pineapple upside down cake thank you.
Teetine — August 22, 2020 @ 2:31 am Reply
this is the first time I known it. It look so delicious. I want to make it. But I don’t have oven. Maybe I will buy a oven.
Lesslie — September 6, 2020 @ 6:55 am Reply
These cookies are SO DELICIOUS. I love this recipe! It’s my twice time making them and I swear they get better each time!
Angelica — September 17, 2020 @ 8:21 pm Reply
Worked great at our Cub Scout camping trip! I’ve also heard this called a “dump cake” recipe.
Lisa — September 29, 2020 @ 3:40 am Reply
We made this recipe the other night and loved it! We’re wondering if we can use this same recipe only use boysenberries instead?
John Whitacre — October 31, 2020 @ 12:44 pm Reply
I was wondering what size Dutch oven, how many servings, and what size cake box are you mentioning.
Sue Wells — May 9, 2021 @ 5:09 pm Reply
Can I use fresh rhubarb? How much?
Thank you!
- Annalise — May 10, 2021 @ 10:57 am Reply
  Sure! You can use 4 cups of any fruit, including fresh rhubarb.
gvf6216 — July 8, 2022 @ 8:49 am Reply
Try heating the butter an the fruit before you put the cake mix on top an cook for 40 minutes.
Shanna — May 22, 2023 @ 12:52 pm Reply
This looks great! What size dutch oven did you use? If I were to double the recipe, would it still fit in my 14 inch diameter dutch oven?
Lucas King — May 13, 2024 @ 10:24 am Reply
What size of dutch oven is used for this recipe?