If you’re trying to figure out what to bring camping in a tent, you’ll probably be thinking about food, and you might be considering buying a portable wood stove.
A portable wood stove is a great choice if you don’t want to carry around gas canisters, or if you’d rather avoid camping with an electric hook-up point. But with so many styles out there, how can you find the best, most reliable stove?
The bottom line up front: We like the Fltom Campt Tent Portable Wood Burning Stove. It’s a good all-rounder, and the flat cooking top and shelves make it a handy little stove to have around.
We also like:
- Spitfire Rocket Stove – a compact stove that is great for maximizing fuel efficiency
- Unigear Wood Burning Camp Stove – great value and very portable
We’ll be looking at:
- What a portable wood stove is
- The key things you should look for
- Our top choices, including their key features, pros, and cons
- Some frequently asked questions
- Our favorites and why we like them so much
Table of Contents
- 5 Best Portable Wood Stoves Compared
- What is a Portable Wood Stove?
- What to Look for in a Portable Wood Stove
- Top 5 Portable Wood Stoves
- Frequently Asked Questions
- To Sum Up … Which is the Best Portable Wood Stove?
Let’s start by seeing how they compare to each other.
5 Best Portable Wood Stoves Compared
What is a Portable Wood Stove?
A portable wood stove is a small, usually collapsible, stove. It uses wood as a fuel source, although some models allow you to use other items, like leaves and branches you can find while camping, as well as charcoal and alcohol.
A portable wood stove can look like a small oven with a duct for smoke, allowing hot air to be vented from the top of your tent or caravan. You can also find smaller stoves, which don’t have a flue, so are more suitable for using outdoors.
Portable wood stoves can be very lightweight, making them a good choice for backpackers.
What to Look for in a Portable Wood Stove
Before we go into our top portable wood stoves, here are a few key features to look out for.
Cooking Style
Some wood-burning stoves allow you to cook in two areas – directly on the open flames, and on a flat surface on top. Looking for a stove that allows for both will give you more options.
These do tend to be a little bigger and bulkier, so if you’re backpacking, you may want to go for a simpler model that just allows you to cook over an open flame. If you’re in a small tent, like a truck bed tent or a rooftop tent, you’ll need to cook outdoors anyway, which eliminates the need for a flue.
Fuel Type
Some wood-burning stoves allow you to use different types of fuel as well. So, if you’re out of wood but you have access to charcoal, you can use that instead. Always check the manufacturers’ instructions to make sure you can use a different type of fuel.
The good thing about a wood-burning stove is that it allows you to stay ‘off the grid’, as opposed to an electric stove. You can forage for materials, and you won’t have to worry about being near an electric hook-up point.
Heat Control
More sophisticated burners will have some way of regulating heat output. That usually involves vents, which you can open at close as it heats up.
It’s also important to look at ventilation. Some types of wood stove have a chimney flue, which you can feed through the top of your tent, allowing smoke to escape safely. Not all wood stoves have this, in which case, it’s worth examining your tent to see how good the ventilation is – it’s important to have good ventilation if you use a stove inside the tent.
Size and Weight
If you’re backpacking, or you’re just tight on space, it’s worth looking for a wood-burning stove that is both lightweight and small, so you can easily fit it into your backpack.
If you’re wondering how to cook while backpacking, check out the REI Co-op’s guide to Meal Planning for Backpackers.
Ease of Use
While it’s great that wood-burning stoves are collapsible, it’s only worth it if they’re easy to put together and collapse down again. Look for a stove that is simple to assemble to save you frustration on your next trip.
Extra Features
Some wood stoves come with extra features, including:
- A glass door – this will allow you to see what’s happening even with the door closed
- Racks or shelves – perfect for balancing cooking utensils or placing items to dry
- Gloves – you can bring your own oven gloves from home, but some wood-burning stoves come with gloves included
- Travel cookware – some also come with small pots and pans, ideal if you don’t want to bring your full-sized cookware from home
Top 5 Portable Wood Stoves
Here are our top 5 portable wood stoves, including their main features, pros, and cons. We’ve covered a variety of styles, so hopefully, you can find the best one for you!
Fltom Camp Tent Portable Wood Burning Stove – Good All-Rounder
Key Features
- Color: Black
- Dimensions: 11.4 x 7.95 x 8.66 inches (28.95 x 20.19 x 21.99 centimeters)
- Materials: Carbon Steel
- Weight: 24.2 Pounds (10.97 Kilograms)
- Collapsible: Yes
The Fltom Campt Tent Portable Wood Burning Stove is a good all-rounder. It’s fairly compact, and the flue can be adjusted to suit the space you’re in – it goes up to 4.69 feet (56.28 inches).
It’s easy to collapse – the legs can be removed, and the chimney pipe comes apart into 6 pieces, making it easy to store and carry around. Once the legs are clicked into place, it’s very stable, so you won’t have to worry about it wobbling over.
It reaches a high temperature quickly, with the flat top of the stove acting as a cooking surface as well as the oven. The downside is that as it gets very hot, it does burn through wood quite quickly.
It also has two shelves, one on either side, which is handy.
Pros
- Easy to collapse
- Stable when put together
- Includes cooking surface on top as well as oven space
- Has two built-in shelves
Cons
- Burns through wood quite quickly
Spitfire Rocket Stove – Best for Fuel Efficiency
Key Features
- Color: Silver
- Dimensions: 9.4 x 12.6 x 20 inches (23.87 x 32 x 50.8 centimeters)
- Materials: Stainless Steel
- Weight: 12.69 Pounds (5.75 Kilograms)
- Collapsible: Yes
The Spitfire Rocket Stove is a good choice if you want to maximize fuel efficiency. It’s very compact, with a slimline design.
It can be collapsed and assembled fairly easily, and it has a travel case, allowing you to store the pieces safely. The downside is it does come with several parts, so while it’s simple enough to assemble, it may take a bit longer than some other wood-burning stoves (for example, the Fltom Campt Tent Portable Wood Burning Stove is a bit faster to assemble.
The main draw of the Spitfire is the intelligent design. It burns fuel efficiently, requiring less fuel to generate heat, saving you a bit of money on wood.
The downside is that it doesn’t have many extra features. There are accessories available, like the Operating Handle and Warming Tray, but these come at an extra cost.
Pros
- Slim, compact design
- Fuel efficient
- Reaches a high temperature fairly quickly
Cons
- Any extras have to be bought separately
Goture Camping Stove – Most Versatile
Key Features
- Color: Black
- Dimensions: 16.4 x 9 x 7.3 inches (41.65 x 22.86 x 18.52 centimeters)
- Materials: Stainless Steel
- Weight: 24 Pounds (10.88 Kilograms)
- Collapsible: Yes
The Goture Camping Stove is a versatile stove. It’s slightly larger than some of the others on this list (like the Spitfire Rocket Stove), so you may need a bit more room to accommodate it.
It collapses down fairly easily, and you can store the parts inside the stove, which is handy. The stove allows you to have a lot of control over heat output, which is nice – you can control air intake volume by rotating the valve, allowing you to stoke the flames safely. It also has an air vent on the door, helping to prevent smoke leakage. It also has a glass door, allowing you to see when wood needs to be added.
The flat top can be used as a cooking surface, as well as the inside of the stove. It has two racks that can be used to dry items, and it comes with a pair of gloves to protect your hands, too.
Pros
- Easy to put together
- Offers some control over heat levels
- Comes with a flat cooking surface, two racks, and gloves
Cons
- Slightly larger design
Lovefish Collapsible Camping Stove – Best for Backpackers
Key Features
- Color: Silver
- Dimensions: 5.75 x 5.51 x 4.76 Inches (14.60 x 13.99 x 12.09 Centimeters)
- Materials: Stainless Steel
- Weight: 1.76 Pounds (0.79 Kilograms)
- Collapsible: Yes
The Lovefish Collapsible Camping Stove is a great choice if you’re a backpacker or if you’re tight on space. It’s compact and lightweight, so it’s easy to carry around with you.
It collapses easily, folding down to fit into a small bag. It’s sturdy when put together, and the wide opening allows you to easily add wood. It has a ventilation hole at the bottom to help with fuel combustion, as well as helping to reduce smoke. You can use other types of fuel too, including twigs, leaves, charcoal, and solidified alcohol.
The downside is that it doesn’t come with any extras, but if you’re backpacking, you may want to keep things as lightweight as possible. It’s pretty easy to throw into your backpack without taking up too much space.
Pros
- Easy to assemble
- Can use other fuel types
- Very lightweight
- Good value
Cons
- Doesn’t come with any extras
Unigear Wood Burning Camp Stove – Good Value
Key Features
- Color: Silver
- Dimensions: 5.75 x 5.51 x 4.76 Inches (14.60 x 13.99 x 12.09 Centimeters)
- Materials: Stainless Steel
- Weight: 1.76 Pounds (0.79 Kilograms)
- Collapsible: Yes
The Unigear Wood Burning Camp Stove is great value if you want to keep costs down. It has a classic ‘campfire’ design, with a wide opening for fuel.
It folds down like a book, making it another compact choice if you’re a backpacker. It’s great in terms of fuel efficiency, as it can use twigs, leaves, coal, gas, and solid fuel tablets as well as wood – so if you find that your wood stores run out, you have other options too. It’s a study stove that won’t wobble or fall over.
It doesn’t come with any extras, but if you want to keep things lightweight, this might be a bonus for you.
Pros
- Fuel efficient
- Easy to put together
- Lightweight
Cons
- Doesn’t have any extra features
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about portable wood stoves:
Are portable wood stoves efficient to use?
They are very efficient to use, especially in comparison to a traditional open campfire. You can use built-in vents to control the temperature, and you can even use foraged materials like twigs and leaves if you run low on wood stores.
You can find out more in Eureka’s guide on 5 Tips for Wood Fire Cooking.
How can I stay safe using a portable wood stove?
You can stay safe by following a few basic rules:
- Make sure you are fully ventilated. You’ll want to ensure that fumes and smoke are drawn away from your tent and that it has plenty of opportunities to escape – so keep your tent doors and windows open.
- Keep the flue clean if you have one. This will help to reduce smoke and will help with ventilation.
- Use well-seasoned wood that is fully dry – this helps to prevent build-up in the flue
- Take a Handheld Carbon Monoxide Alarm – these are pretty cheap and will give you peace of mind – you will still be at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning from a wood stove, so it’s worth investing in an alarm just to make sure
- Keep children away from the stove during use and as it cools down
Anevay Stoves has a guide on How to Stay Safe When Using a Stove in a Tent which is a useful read. You can also watch CanvasCamp’s video on Tent Stoves and Carbon Monoxide if you want to know more.
Can I use my portable wood stove outdoors?
Yes – if you’d prefer, you can cook outside, which means you won’t have to worry so much about ventilation in your tent. Just make sure that the stove is on a sturdy, flat surface.
What can I cook using my portable wood stove?
With a bit of creativity, you can cook all sorts of dishes on your portable wood stove!
One-pot dishes are your friend here – think hearty campfire casseroles. If you go for a stove with a flat cooking surface on top, that opens up your options a little. Check out Eureka’s 25 Easy Camping Recipes for more tips.
To make it easier, you can always pack your cooler with a meal before you go – that means on your first night you can just heat it without worrying about cooking.
To Sum Up … Which is the Best Portable Wood Stove?
Our top pick for today is the Fltom Campt Tent Portable Wood Burning Stove. The shelves are handy, it’s easy to control ventilation and temperature, and it has a flat cooking top, which is helpful.
If you’re looking for something a little more compact, you could try the Spitfire Rocket Stove. The smart design is fuel-efficient, and it won’t take up much room in your tent.
You can also try the Unigear Wood Burning Camp Stove. Like a traditional outdoor campfire, this is easy to use and transport, and is ideal if you want to cook outdoors.
We hope this has helped you find the perfect portable wood stove for you. Feel free to share it with other camping enthusiasts in your life, and if you have any tips on cooking in a tent, leave us a comment below!
