Dutch Oven Cooking Charcoal Briquette Temperature Chart and Guide
Are you looking for an easy way to see how much charcoal to use for that dutch oven baking recipe? Here is a simple dutch oven charcoal chart that you can use to determine the right number of briquettes to use. Just match the size of your dutch oven to the desired temperature.
If you don’t have the chart handy there’s also a simple formula you can use. Take the diameter of the dutch oven, double, and that is the number of briquettes to use for 350° F (about 180° C.) with roughly two thirds of the briquettes on top and one third on bottom. For 8-inch dutch ovens a change of one briquette in either direction moves it 25 degrees. For 10-inch and larger dutch ovens a change of 2 briquettes alters the temperature by 25 degrees in that direction.
Dutch Oven Charcoal Chart
Temperature/#
briquettes |
||||||
325°F | 350°F | 375°F | 400°F | 425°F | 450°F | |
Oven size | 160°C | 180°C | 190°C | 200°C | 220°C | 230°C |
8″
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
TOP
|
10
|
11
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
BOTTOM
|
5
|
5
|
6
|
6
|
6
|
6
|
10″
|
19
|
21
|
23
|
25
|
27
|
29
|
TOP
|
13
|
14
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
BOTTOM
|
6
|
7
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
12″
|
23
|
25
|
27
|
29
|
31
|
33
|
TOP
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
21
|
22
|
BOTTOM
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
10
|
11
|
14″
|
30
|
32
|
34
|
36
|
38
|
40
|
TOP
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
BOTTOM
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
Looking for some dutch oven recipes? Check out my page here.
Via your temperature chart guide, how long, as a rule, would it maintain that temperature?
Depending on the quality charcoal you should get 60 minutes or more of consistent temperature. If I’m cooking longer than an hour I normally add a few unlit ones to the top every 15-20 minutes or so and they are going as the others die off.