Are you looking for some RV-friendly recipes to prepare on your next adventure? At Zuni Village RV park in Kingman, AZ, we know that RVers want to feel like they’re home no matter where in the world they are. Having a home on wheels means seeing some of the world’s best attractions by day and always going home to your own bed and kitchen at night.
But RV cooking comes with a few logistical challenges: your kitchen, for example, may lack a few appliances and tools that a home kitchen would. But fear not! There are plenty of delicious, nutritious meals you can make from the comfort of your own RV home. Whether you have an oven, a stovetop burner, a slow cooker, or a grill outside, here are some great recipes to try.
Cowboy Caviar
Start simple! This recipe requires no cooking at all and can be put on the table in under 15 minutes. Cowboy Caviar is a tongue-in-cheek way of elevating simple foods into something fancier. The best part? All the ingredients you need are probably already stocked in your pantry or are readily available at your local market or grocery store.
This salsa-style dip is made of canned beans (black eyed peas and black beans), canned or frozen vegetables (like corn and tomatoes), and fresh produce like red onions, bell peppers, and cilantro or parsley. Rinse the beans, chop the veggies, combine in a large bowl, and douse with your favorite vinaigrette, either homemade or from a bottle.
Cowboy Caviar is vegetarian and vegan friendly. You can eat it with chips as a snack, put it over lettuce to make a salad, or serve it as a side dish with your favorite meal. It’s packed with the protein, fiber, and vitamins you’ll need to fuel you while exploring Grand Canyon National Park, just 176 miles away.
Foil Packet Fish Filets
Foil packet cooking is a great way to prepare a number of RV-friendly recipes with minimal mess in a small space. Ingredients are placed on a piece of tin foil, then folded up like a little package. You can use this method to cook many kinds of proteins (think beef, pork, or fish) alongside a variety of veggies (like broccoli, zucchini, and bell peppers) with any kind of seasoning you have on hand.
This salmon dish is delicious enough to have come from a fancy French restaurant, but instead, it’s coming from your very own RV kitchen. Place an individual-sized salmon filet in a pouch with broccoli, minced garlic, butter, and lemon juice. Top with a lemon wheel and season with salt, pepper, and herbs— dill and thyme, fresh or dried, are great choices. Make as many portions as you need.
You can even assemble these packets in advance, so after a long day of seeing the sights along Route 66, dinner can be ready to go. Cook them in an oven, on a grill, or even on a campfire— but make sure to check local fire restrictions first. Arizona counties prohibit campfires and open flames during some parts of the year.
Once they’re cooked, open the foil packets with caution: they’ll be hot and steamy! Each packet becomes its own plate, making cleanup quick and easy. No lingering fish smells in the RV and more time sitting under the stars. A win-win!
Omelettes and Scrambles and Frittatas: Oh My!
They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but maybe that’s because it’s the most versatile. Who doesn’t love a surprise breakfast-for-dinner spread? One of the best morning ingredients to adapt into an all-day meal is eggs. Scramble them up with a splash of milk and a dash each of salt and pepper, and you’ve got yourself the basis for a great omelette, scramble, or frittata. You can add anything leftover in your fridge or waiting in your pantry such as last night’s baked potatoes, ham from unmade sandwiches, veggies that are nearing the end of their freshness, and, of course, your favorite cheese.
An omelette is the fussiest of the three preparations, but with some practice it can be a crowd-pleaser. It makes individual portions and can be “dressed” to each person’s liking. Frittatas are baked, like a quiche with no crust. The egg mixture can be combined with any assortment of proteins, vegetables, spices, and cheese you like. Scrambles are the easiest preparation: throw everything in a pan and push it around with a spatula until the eggs are all cooked.
All of these egg dishes can be made in a cast-iron skillet, an RV essential since it can go from stovetop to oven. Any kitchen tools that can pull double-duty, saving you precious storage space in your miniature kitchen, are an egg-cellent choice!
OChili For Chilly Nights
Even the warmest of days can give way to cool nights. The weather in Kingman is often 10-15 degrees cooler than the surrounding areas because of its higher elevation at the foot of the Hualapai Mountains. One cure for chilly nights is, well, chili!
This one-pot meal can be made vegetarian or for meat lovers, spicy or mild. It’s commonly made with ground beef, tomato sauce, kidney beans, pinto beans, spices and herbs, but you could add tofu for a vegetarian version or change up your spices for something different. Top it with cheddar, sour cream, or chopped onions and eat it with tortilla chips. Chili is true comfort food that can be the perfect meal in your “home away from home.”
Rather than spending all day slaving over a simmering hot stove (and using up your valuable propane), a slow cooker is a great addition to any RV setup. You can assemble the ingredients in the morning, set it on low, take a day trip to Hoover Dam or Lake Mead, and come home to a ready-to-eat dinner.
Grilled Cheese, Please!
When all else fails (or you’ve spent all your money in Las Vegas, which is less than a two hour drive from Zuni Village RV Park), a budget-friendly comfort food is the classic grilled cheese. Three ingredients are all you need to prepare this childhood treat: butter, bread, and cheese. Sure, you can get fancy and add tomatoes, bacon, or different kinds of cheese to spice up your sandwich, but you don’t have to. A can of tomato soup completes this meal by giving you a dose of vegetables that are both shelf-stable and affordable.
Next Stop: Dinnertime
No matter what brings you to Zuni Village RV Park, be it the majesty of the Grand Canyon, the glitz and glam of Vegas, or the history of Route 66, you’ll find a community that’s well-maintained, centrally located, and offers fabulous customer service. Make Kingman, AZ the next stop in your RV home and see how many of these RV-friendly recipes you can whip up in your very own kitchen.