Campfire s'mores are delicious, but they can also be a hassle because of the fire, the mess, and the time it takes to make them. Making s'mores in your kitchen is more convenient, safer, and less scary for little ones. With a little creativity, you can make s'mores that are even tastier than the old-fashioned way.
“This may seem obvious, but open flames are really hard to control!” says Margaret Preston, Senior Editor for the Kitchen Team. “Flames are uneven and inconsistent, plus you want your food to be cooked by the heat of the flame, not the flame itself.” The radiant heat of a toaster oven or the more controlled gas flames from a stove, range, or burner (yes, more on this later) “are a gentler, more even way of cooking, and you can cook more reliably.”
If you're interested in making s'mores in your kitchen out of curiosity, convenience, safety or necessity, here are some tried-and-true techniques that Wirecutter staffers use to make fun s'mores at home.
Reliable gas burner
When Senior Editor Harry Sawyers makes s'mores indoors with his three sons, the usual method is using a stove and chopsticks: “It never made sense to me to mix up the stickiest, most unpredictable, volatile, burn-inducing, dripping, gooey treat I've ever eaten,” he says. [a marshmallow] The campfire was dark, dirty and lacked cleaning supplies.”
The roasting fork is perfect for hot dogs and marshmallows, and the Rolla Roaster is telescoping for easy portability while still being long enough to stay safe.
He skewers the marshmallows on reusable bamboo chopsticks (a roasting fork works well, too), then places them just above a gas flame, “just until they're a little bit set and starting to bubble,” he explained.
Harry also said his homemade method is better than any old stick: “The sturdiness of chopsticks provides a good amount of resistance when crushing the goo between two graham crackers.”
Another use for the torch
“For me, s'mores aren't just about the melt,” says senior staff writer Lauren Dragan. “It's also about the fire.” Lauren camped a lot as a kid, and while trying to keep her son entertained during the pandemic lockdown, she came up with a different way to make s'mores indoors. She skewered a marshmallow on the end of a regular fork and used a kitchen burner (the kind you put brûlée on top of a crème brûlée) to give it a nice char. The end result, she says, tastes closer to a traditional campfire s'more.
Our guide to the best sous vide cookers and equipment recommends the Bernzomatic TS8000 torch, but Marguerite thinks the torch is probably too hot for something as simple as roasting marshmallows. Instead, Marilyn Ong, a supervising editor on our Kitchen team, recommends the Iwatani Professional Culinary Torch CB-TC-PRO2, which costs about $40 and is made by the same brand that makes the butane burners in our wok guide.
Skip to S'mores-style Desserts
“One of the perennial problems with s'mores is that chocolate almost never melts enough to go with the marshmallows,” says Marilyn. To avoid the combination of gooey marshmallows and undercooked chocolate, she suggests skipping the traditional s'mores-making method altogether.
Instead, fill an ice cream cone with small marshmallows, top with chocolate chips, M&Ms, or any other candy of your choice, wrap the whole thing in foil, and bake in the oven or toaster at 350 degrees for about 8 to 12 minutes. This allows the chocolate and marshmallows to cook evenly and ensures the cone nicely encases the ingredients.
This method has encouraged Marilyn's kids to try other small candies, like gummy bears, as s'mores ingredients, which, while admittedly unusual, Marilyn claims “the kids love it.”
This compact toaster oven is one of the best we tested for evenly toasting bread, baking cookies, and bringing frozen foods to life, and it performs just as well or better than much more expensive competitors.
That's why associate editor Annemarie Conte opts for the graham cracker and chocolate omission: “Toasted marshmallows sandwiched between two thick, chewy chocolate chip cookies creates the perfect s'mores dessert,” she says.
But with an entire kitchen at your disposal, you don't have to stick to the typical sandwich-style s'more. Lauren says her favorite thing about making s'mores indoors is putting a new twist on the old-fashioned s'more with ideas like s'mores sundaes. There are plenty of recipes for such treats online, but if you want to make something truly unconventional, check out these recipes from our NYT Cooking colleagues for s'mores pie, s'mores pot de crème, and s'mores blonde.
Don't underestimate the microwave
Campfire s'mores are more of an event than a food, and most of the indoor ways to do it—toasting marshmallows on the stove, breaking out the blowtorches, or toasting an ice cream cone full of the gooey goodness—keep the festive vibe going, but if you're just looking for a no-fuss snack, a quick pop in the microwave will do the trick (10 seconds should be all you need).
This article was edited by Mark Smirniotis and Annemarie Conte.
