Go Gas-less, Best Wood Burning Backpacking Stoves of 2019

If you haven’t ever tried a wood burning stove before you may be a bit skeptical about leaving the gas at home. We were too the first time we set out on the trail without the comfort of a gas burning stove to heat our meals at night. But after trying several different wood burning stoves and actually using them to cook meals on a backpacking trip, we are convinced that they are they way to go, and we think you will be too.

Reasons to Use a Wood Burning Backpacking Stove

Before we get into our list of the best wood burning stoves for backpacking, we thought we would give a run down of some of the benefits of a wood burning stove.

1. Less waste. Wood burning stoves reduce the amount of waste simply because you don’t need a gas canister.
2. Less weight. Though some wood burning stoves can actually weigh a fair amount depending on size and material, in general you will shave some weight off your backpacking pack when you leave the gas can at home.
3. Surprisingly easy to use. We predominantly used the wood burning stove to heat water for freeze dried meals, and at first we were worried that the water would take forever to boil but that fear was completely unfounded. Most of the stoves are easy to setup and boil water remarkably fast provided proper fuel. If you already have a camp fire burning, you can easily transfer a few hot coals/sticks to the backpacking stove and heat your food in no time.
4. Never run out of fuel. Unlike a gas stove as long as you have some twigs, pine cones, or other small wood bits you will never run out of fuel. Pretty nice huh??

Reasons Not to Use a Wood Burning Camp Stove

Although we love wood burning backpacking stoves there are some cases where they may not be appropriate or difficult to use.

1. Burn bans. In some areas wood backpacking stoves are banned due to fire restrictions. These can be seasonal restrictions, altitude restrictions, or general restrictions. Always check beforehand to see if you are allowed to use a wood burning camp stove in the area you plan on backpacking.
2. In the rain. We did use some of these wood burning camp stoves in the rain, but it did cause some complications and increase cook time. If you are planning on backpacking in an area with high rainfall a gas stove may be the way to go.

Best Wood Burning Backpacking Stoves Ranked

Now that we have covered a few of the use cases of wood burning backpacking stoves, it’s time to get onto our list of the best wood burning camp stoves of 2019. As there are many companies that sell similar designs of wood burning stoves we tried to rate the design itself and not the company. We have included links to the stoves that we bought with more information.

#1 Backpacking Stove – Best Overall Cooking Experience

Overall we had the best experience with this camp stove than with any of the others we tried. This design strikes a nice balance between size and weight. It isn’t so small that you barely have any flame, but it is light enough that it won’t weigh down your pack.

The top cylinder also has a nice opening for adding fuel while cooking. Though that opening does allow some heat to escape we thought the added convenience was worth it. We could usually boil water with this backpacking stove in less than 10 minutes. If we already had a fire started and did not need to boil a lot of water, boil time sometimes dropped to below 5 minutes.

The height of this design is nice as well, though with a pot or pan on top it was top heavy and did tip over on us once. We chalked it up to user error and made sure to find more level ground the next time we used it. The cross bar section on top also fell off a few times and we found it a bit cumbersome to fix in place. In the end we usually just left it off and put the pan straight onto the metal cylinder.

#2 Wood Burning Stove – Slimmest Design

This wood burning backpacking stove is great for it’s size. The foldable design means it is super easy to setup and put away. It also packs down to a very small size, it would probably even fit in your pocket.

This design is smaller than the first one, and due to the smaller fuel area won’t heat up as much either. With smaller pots and pans you can still cook and boil water though it will take longer. You also have to feed this stove fuel more often simply because there isn’t space for any sticks bigger than a twig.

Despite these slight drawbacks this stove is a great choice considering it’s weight, easy setup and cost.

#3 Largest Cooking Area

Where this camp stove really shines is in its compactability. Setup is quick, and it’s packed size is tiny. Only about a half inch thick when packed away in its carry case. That is pretty incredible when you consider that unpacked it is 7” tall and it’s top is 4.25” wide. That is plenty of space for cooking and for creating a hot cook fire.

This design also features a wide opening making it easy to build your fire and keep it lit. The wide bottom and narrower top also funnels heat towards the top heating your meals faster. There are also lots of holes in the bottom panel allowing ashes to drop to the ground providing space for new fuel. There is also ample air flow in this design.

Our main regret about this design is the weight. At just over a pound it weighs considerably more than the other designs we looked at up to this point. But, if you want a larger fire and a more stable cooking area than this design is right for you.

#4 Most Innovative Design

While this design is heavier than the first circular design we tested, we think it earns its weight. The inner compartment features a unique design allowing for better air flow, while keeping the stove mostly closed off trapping heat inside. This design means that the backpacking stove burns more cleanly and at higher temperatures.

This design is also easy to setup and in some tests could even boil a liter of water in about 5 minutes. The wide bottom section means it is unlikely to tip over even with a full pot of water on top.

One drawback is the small opening at the top. This is the only way to add sticks or other fuel to the stove and it is a bit cumbersome. We found that you often had to remove the pot while cooking to add more fuel. This can be mitigated by building a larger fire before cooking, negating the need to add more fuel while there is a pot or pan on top.