The best camping stoves and cookers to buy in 2025

Single burner gas stove

Simple, compact and relatively lightweight, single-burner camping cookers are inexpensive and can be found in all camping shops and many supermarkets. They come in their own carry case and run on gas cartridges, which easily clip into place and can be replaced in seconds. They are suitable for one-pot cooking and hot drinks, and are ideal for solo campers or those who need minimal cooking capacity.

f buying one of these gas cookers online, make sure the brand is reliable and from a trustworthy source, as there have been examples of cheap, sub-standard models bought from overseas that have exploded, causing serious injuries.

Pros:

• Relatively cheap
• Easy to use
• Compact

Cons:

• Very basic cooking controls
• Gas can run out quickly
• Limited cooking capacity

Electric camping stoves

Electric camping cookers are a safe alternative for cooking inside your tent, but they require access to an electric hook-up at the campsite. They are less common than gas stoves but offer a practical solution for campers with specific needs or preferences.

Remember that induction hobs require pans that contain iron to work so make sure your cook set is compatible.

Many family campers these days are using even more elaborate electrical appliances to cook on their camping holidays, including air fryers and slow cookers.

Pros:

• Safer for inside cooking
• No gas bottles required
• Child friendly

Cons:

• Require electric hook-up access
• Induction hobs need specialist pans
• Cooking slower than gas

Lightweight camping stoves

Designed for backpackers and lightweight campers, these compact folding camping stoves are easy to carry and connect directly to the gas bottle.

They can be quite unstable in rugged ground but are ideal for lightweight camping. Cooking systems such as Jetboil and MSR’s Reactor, where the pot is integrated with the cooker, have become popular in recent years although Trangia led the way decades ago. The Biolite stove lets you use twigs and other natural fuel sources and, at the same time, generates enough energy to recharge your mobile phone.

Pros:

• Easy to carry
• Practical for backpackers
• Simple to use

Cons:

• Limited cooking capacity
• Can be unstable
• Struggle in low temperatures

#1 Campingaz Camping Kitchen 2 Grill & Go

Price: Around £150
Weight: 3kg
Burner output: 3.5kW
Website: www.campingaz.co.uk

Our review

From boiling an egg to creating a gourmet camping meal, this new stove from Campingaz is versatile enough to cover all your campsite cooking needs and has the quality that the brand is known for. The two-burner unit comes with a plancha and a searing grid, which sit on top of the burners. You can use both at the same time, use one grill with a pan or simply use both of the 2,000W burners for cooking with pans.

The plancha and grid are designed so fat will flow away from your food, for healthier cooking. The enamelled steel grills are simple to clean and the stainless-steel cooking top can be wiped down easily. It has piezo ignition, so no matches needed, and it all packs away safely in its own carry bag.

#3 Outdoor Revolution Twin Burner Stove & Grill

Price: £109.99
Weight: 3.87kg
Burner output: 2 x 1.4kW (grill 0.6kW)
Website: www.outdoor-revolution.com

Our review

With twin burners and a grill, this piece of kit lets you tackle pretty much any meal that you can cook at home. But where I’ve found it really comes into its own is at breakfast time. Cooking a full English (or Scottish, in my case) on the campsite can be tricky, and usually involves trying to keep several elements warm as you go along. But the powerful double burner means you can have bacon, sausages, black pudding and fried eggs all on the go at one time. If you do need to keep anything warm, you can stick it under the grill for a few minutes until everything else is ready.

The grill also means you don’t need to fry everything and, perhaps more importantly, makes toast so much easier than relying on those hopeless burner-top camp toasters! Unusually for a double burner and grill, this runs off a 450g screw-fitting butane/propane canister rather than a heavy, refillable cylinder, cutting down on space and weight when you’re on the move.

This is a great option for weekend trips with the family, and it comes in at a decent price, too.

#5 Vango Combi IR Grill Compact

Price: £76
Weight: 3.87kg
Burner output: 2 x 1.4kW (grill 0.6kW)
Website: www.vango.co.uk

Our review

The Combi IR Grill Compact is a traditional two-burner stove with the addition of something called an infrared grill. This infrared technology has been around for a few years now and it has been hailed as the microwave of outdoor cooking.

There’s lots of baffling science behind it, involving the likes of electromagnetic spectrums and heatwaves. But in simple terms, the main benefit is that it provides very high heat output and cooks evenly but remains low on fuel consumption and emissions.

In fact, Vango says it saves 10% on fuel and delivers a 90% reduction on emissions. The Compact is a smaller and lighter (and cheaper) version of the original double-burner cooker, and has all the features you’d expect, including piezo ignition, a drip tray, anti-slip feet, windshields and a vibrant green, lockable protective lid.

Overall I found the cooker was extremely easy to set up with the gas bottle and it was very straightforward to use. The IR Grill certainly performed as well as promised, creating a good, even heat across the food – although I haven’t used it long enough to really vouch for the longer-term fuel efficiency claims.