Bacon and Corn Chowder
Instant potatoes, freeze-dried corn, and shelf-stable bacon in one pot. Thick enough to stand a spoon in.
- calories
- 610
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 122
- protein
- 24 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 6 min
- total time
- 8 min
- water
- 950 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Winter / snow
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Plain instant mashed potato flakes | 1 cup | plain, not a flavored pouch |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried corn | 1 cup | |
| Powdered milk | 1/4 cup | |
| Grated parmesan | 1/4 cup | the shaker-can kind, it does not need cold |
| Dried parsley | 1 tbsp | |
| Granulated garlic | 1 tsp | |
| Old Bay or a garlic-herb blend | 1 tsp | |
| Dried dill | 1 tsp | |
| Broth concentrate | 4 packets | or 4 tsp low-sodium broth powder |
| Olive oil | 1 packet | |
| Shelf-stable bacon | 3 oz | sold in a bag, no refrigeration until opened |
Method
- Put 4 cups of water in the pot with the oil and broth concentrate. Bring it to a boil.
- Dump in the dry mix all at once and stir until there are no dry pockets.
- Lid on, stove off. Five minutes.
- Tear the bacon into pieces and stir it through. Let it sit another minute if the chowder is still thin.
Potato flakes are the body of this. They thicken instantly and hold a lot of fat, which is why the oil and the parmesan go in rather than getting skipped as luxuries. The freeze-dried corn rehydrates in the same five minutes and gives the chowder something to chew on, which matters more than it sounds when everything else is a smooth starch.
Shelf-stable bacon is the substitution that makes this work off a cooler. It is already cooked and dry-cured, so it needs no heat and no ice, and it goes in at the end so it does not turn to mush. Four cups of water is a lot to boil for two people, but under that the potato sets up like paste.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one bag at home. Broth, oil, and bacon ride separately so you can control the salt and the fat. If you would rather rehydrate in the bag than in the pot, use a gallon freezer bag, not a quart, or split the mix into two quart bags. A quart bag holds about two cups of water before it becomes a problem.
Variations
- Split the bacon and save half for eggs or a breakfast hash the next morning.
- Buy a couple of round sourdough rolls in town, hollow them out, and use them as bowls the first night.
- Leave out the bacon and use a vegetable broth concentrate for a corn chowder that still holds together.
https://trailcooking.com/soups/bacon-corn-chowder