Cacio e Pepe Chicken and Rice
Skillet rice with black pepper and pecorino, built on freeze-dried chicken instead of thighs.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 32 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 30 min
- total time
- 40 min
- water
- 600 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
- Campfire coals
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Arborio rice | 1 cup | the starch is the point, do not swap in minute rice |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried cooked chicken | 3 oz | rehydrates in the pot as the rice cooks |
| Grated pecorino | 1 cup | hard, dry, and fine to carry unrefrigerated for a few days |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Dried thyme | 2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1 tbsp | coarse ground, and yes that is the real amount |
| Kosher salt | 1 tsp | |
| Chicken bouillon | 2 cubes or 2 tsp powder | |
| Dried parsley | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Heat the oil in a wide pot or skillet over a moderate flame. Add the dried onion, garlic, and thyme and stir for a minute until they smell like something.
- Add the rice and stir to coat it in the oil. Another minute.
- Pour in 600 ml of water with the bouillon and salt. Add the chicken and the pepper. Bring it to a boil, then back the heat off hard.
- Simmer uncovered, stirring every couple of minutes, about 20 minutes. Add splashes of water if it goes dry before the rice is soft.
- Pull it off the heat and wait a minute. Stir in the cheese in two handfuls so it melts instead of seizing into strings.
- Scatter the parsley over the top and eat it out of the pot.
The original browns bone-in thighs and finishes the pan in an oven. Neither travels. Freeze-dried chicken and a bouillon-backed simmer get to the same place over one burner, and the thighs were mostly there for fat and salt anyway, which the oil and cheese cover.
Arborio is doing the structural work. It sheds starch as it cooks, and that starch is what lets a cup of dry cheese turn into sauce instead of a clumped mat. Two things protect it: stir often, and add the pecorino off the heat. Cheese dumped into a boiling pot separates and never comes back.
Packing
Rice, chicken, onion, garlic, thyme, pepper, salt, bouillon, and parsley go in one bag at home. Cheese travels in its own bag, and gets its own bag for a reason: it goes greasy in warm weather.
Variations
- Freeze-dried peas or mushrooms stirred in at the halfway point.
- A splash of dry vermouth from a flask before the water goes in, if you are car-camping and feeling formal.
- Swap the chicken for a foil pouch of tuna, stirred in at the end instead of the start.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/one-pan-cacio-e-pepe-chicken-and-rice