camp meals

Camp Burger Sauce

Shelf-stable copycat of the orange sauce, mixed in the packet it came in.

calories
190
weight
1.2 oz
cal / oz
158
protein
0 g
serves
4, scales
prep
5 min
cook
0 min
total time
5 min
water
none
cost
$

Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.

  • Snack
  • Dinner
  • No cook
  • Car camping
  • Backpacking
  • Bikepacking
  • Basecamp
  • Canoe / raft
  • Vegetarian
  • Gluten free
  • Nut free
  • Eat in the bag
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Dump and stir

Ingredients

Mayonnaise packets 1/2 cup total shelf-stable single-serve packets, no cooler needed
Sweet pickle relish 2 tbsp drain the liquid off before packing
Yellow mustard 1 tsp packets work
BBQ sauce 1 tsp packets work
Apple cider vinegar 1 tsp
Garlic powder 1/2 tsp
Onion powder 1/2 tsp
Paprika 1/4 tsp
Salt 1/4 tsp

Method

  1. At home, mix the garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and salt into one small bag or a spice tube.
  2. In camp, squeeze the mayo packets into a quart freezer bag. Add the relish, mustard, BBQ sauce, and vinegar.
  3. Add the spice mix. Press the air out, seal, and work it with your hands until the color is even orange.
  4. Let it sit thirty minutes if you can. The onion and garlic powder need time to hydrate or they taste like dust.
  5. Snip a corner of the bag and squeeze it onto whatever you are eating.

This is a condiment, not a meal, and it exists because camp food is usually short on fat and sharp flavor at the same time. Mayonnaise fixes both. Single-serve mayo packets are shelf-stable and small enough that you can carry sauce without carrying a cooler, which is the whole reason this version works on trail.

The home kitchen version sits in the fridge for an hour so the flavors settle. You do not have a fridge, so the rest gets shortened to whatever you can stand while dinner heats. Drain the relish before packing it: the brine is most of its weight and it thins the sauce into something that runs off a tortilla. Mixed sauce keeps a couple of days in cool weather, less in heat, so mix what you will finish.

Packing

Mayo packets, relish in a small screw-top jar or a doubled bag, and the premixed spice bag all ride in one gallon bag. Mixing happens in the freezer bag, so there is no bowl and no spoon to wash.

Variations

  • Skip the mayo packets and carry powdered egg-free mayo mix, hydrating it with cold water first. Lighter, but the texture is thinner.
  • Ketchup instead of BBQ sauce gets you closer to the drive-thru original.
  • Double the paprika and add cayenne if you want it to read as a hot sauce.

https://domesticsuperhero.com/web-stories/the-best-copycat-big-mac-sauce-recipe