Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner with Your Fire Pit

Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away! Have you started planning your menu? Before you get everything set in stone, have you considered cooking some food outside of the kitchen? There are several different Thanksgiving dishes that you can cook over your fire pit that the whole family will love! Not only does it create a bit more space in your kitchen, but it helps to move the cooking process along. Not to mention, there is a taste you get from only cooking it over a fire. If you are trying to add something special to your Thanksgiving dinner, try out some of these recipes!

Sweet Potatoes

There is nothing like sweet potatoes to add a perfect taste to your Thanksgiving plate! You can make sweet potatoes in several different ways over the fire. This way allows you to choose your spices and flavors individually.

Here is what you need:

- Large sweet potatoes or yams. 1 Per Person

- Aluminum foil

- Butter

- Thyme or sage leaves (optional)

- Nutmeg or Cinnamon (optional)

- Maple Syrup (optional)

Once you have all of the ingredients, here is what you need to do!

Take your sweet potatoes and clean them. Let them dry on a paper towel. Do not remove the skins of the potato.

Slice the potato, longways. Slice about 3/4 of the way down and then flavor.

Here you can add sage, cinnamon, thyme, or whatever other flavors you want.

Wrap the potatoes in foil. (Each by itself)

At this point, you can use different items for cooking them. A Dutch oven, a skillet, or placing in a pot and flipping them often.

Bake the potatoes for 30-40 minutes and turn them often.

You can then take your butter and syrup at the end and add it as you are mixing up the sweet potatoes!

Voila! The perfect side dish to your Thanksgiving Dinner. These things, either savory or sweet, will be a big hit this year!

Smoked Turkey

What is Thanksgiving without a big, juicy turkey? Instead of using your oven all morning to cook a turkey, why don't you head out to the fire pit?

Here is what you will need:

- 10-13lb turkey

- Olive oil

- Salt and pepper

- thyme, sage, garlic, onion, and all other turkey spices that you prefer.

- A Large Dutch Oven

- Wire rack for the Dutch oven. This will help you keep the turkey elevated above the floor of the oven.

- Cooking thermometer

You can almost smell it from reading the ingredients! This Turkey brings a smokey and delicious taste to your favorite fall meal. Here are the steps to take!

1. Thaw the turkey out completely. Once thawed, you can oil and season up the turkey. Make sure to put the oil on first, then spread the seasons around the entire bird.

2. At this point, you are going to need a large Dutch oven. This will be helpful to ensure that the turkey can cook all the way around.

3. Place the turkey inside the Dutch oven. Cover it!

4. If you are using a fire pit with coals, you can cover the Dutch oven with them. This will take 2-4 hours, depending on the size of the turkey. Make sure to let it rest once taken out.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie

What is Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie? It is a staple in our yearly meal, and we crave it up until this perfect day! Although you may have made 1,000 pumpkin pies in your life, have you ever made one over a fire?

Ingredients you will need:

Save yourself some time and grab some pre-made dough for your pumpkin pie!

Filling:

- 1 cup butter (cold)

- 2 cups pureed pumpkin

- 1 cup packed brown sugar

- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

- 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1 1/2 cups light cream or evaporated milk

- 3 large eggs

If you bought pre-made dough, it is time to knead until it is ready. If you bought a pie crust, then you can skip this part!

1. Roll out two sheets with a rolling pin for the base and top of your pie crusts.

2. Put one sheet down. This will be the base of your pie.

3. Now, it is time to mix up that filling! After you mix it up, pour it over the bottom layer of the pie crust.

4. Cover the top of the pie with the other sheet of the dough.

5. Place into your Dutch over and cover tight.

6. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

There you have it! The perfect Thanksgiving meal. This is a great way to put a tasty spin on your traditional meal. This is also a fun way to get the whole family involved! You can get some extra space in the kitchen by having people help you cook from outside.

We hope you get to try some of these amazing dishes this year at your Thanksgiving dinner!