Camp Chicken Adobo
Soy, vinegar, garlic, and pepper reduced down over one burner. Shelf-stable chicken, no slow cooker.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 74
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 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
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Canned or pouched chicken | 2 packets, 5 oz each | drain the liquid into the pot, not the ground |
|---|---|---|
| Soy sauce | 1/3 cup | carried in a leakproof bottle |
| Apple cider vinegar | 1/4 cup | |
| Garlic | 5 cloves | crushed, or 1 tbsp granulated |
| Dried ginger | 1 tsp | ground, in place of a fresh knob |
| Black peppercorns | 1 tsp | cracked |
| Bay leaves | 2 | |
| Brown sugar | 2 tbsp | |
| Cornstarch | 1 tbsp | |
| Instant rice | 1 1/2 cups | |
| Dried green onion | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Boil 350 ml of water, stir in the instant rice, cover, and set it aside off the heat.
- In the pot, combine the soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, peppercorns, bay leaves, brown sugar, and 250 ml of water. Bring it to a simmer.
- Add the chicken and simmer 10 to 12 minutes uncovered. You want the liquid to drop by about half.
- Slurry the cornstarch with a splash of cold water and stir it in. Two more minutes and it turns glossy.
- Fish out the bay leaves. Spoon the chicken and sauce over the rice and scatter the green onion on top.
Adobo is a braise that survives the trip because it is mostly acid and salt. The original runs a cut-up bird for six hours in a slow cooker; here the chicken arrives already cooked in a pouch, so all that is left is reducing the sauce and letting it grab on. Twenty minutes on a burner does what an afternoon did at home.
The reduction is the whole point. Straight out of the pot the liquid is thin and aggressively salty, and it just pools under the rice. Cook it down by half and add the cornstarch and it coats instead. Fresh ginger becomes ground, and the sauce loses a little brightness for it, which the vinegar mostly covers.
Packing
Garlic, ginger, pepper, sugar, cornstarch, and green onion premix into one bag at home. Soy sauce and vinegar go in two small bottles, doubled in a ziplock, because both will find a way out.
Variations
- Swap the chicken for a pouch of pork or a can of Spam cut into cubes.
- Skip the cornstarch and simmer five minutes longer. Slower, but one less thing to carry.
- Instant mashed potatoes work under it if you would rather not wait on rice.
https://www.tasteandtellblog.com/cookbook-of-the-month-recipe-chicken-adobo