Camp Fried Rice
Instant rice, dried vegetables, and enough oil to make it read as fried instead of steamed.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 21 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 12 min
- water
- 400 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
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Bikepacking
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant white rice | 1 cup dry | the parcooked kind that rehydrates in five minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried peas and corn | 1/2 cup | |
| Dried chopped onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Freeze-dried scrambled egg | 3 tbsp | |
| Shelf-stable bacon or pouched chicken | 2 oz | |
| Soy sauce powder | 2 tsp | liquid soy in a dropper bottle works if you would rather carry it |
| Oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Black pepper and garlic powder | 1/2 tsp each |
Method
- Boil 400 ml of water. Drop in the peas, corn, and dried onion and let them sit off the heat for three minutes.
- Stir in the rice and the egg powder, put the lid on, and pull the pot off the stove. Five minutes, no peeking.
- Uncover. If there is standing water, set the pot back over low heat and stir until it goes.
- Add the oil, the meat, the soy powder, and the pepper and garlic. Stir over low heat for two minutes so the bottom layer catches a little.
- Eat from the pot.
Real fried rice starts with cold leftover rice, which is the one thing you cannot have on trail. Instant rice is the workaround: it rehydrates fast and stays in separate grains instead of turning to porridge, as long as you keep the water tight. Four hundred milliliters is the ceiling. Anything more and you are eating soup.
The last two minutes over low heat are the part that matters. That is where the oil hits the pot and a bit of the rice browns, which is most of what separates this from steamed rice with things in it. Egg powder is doing double duty here, adding protein and binding the whole thing loosely together. The dish is dairy-free but not vegetarian; drop the meat and egg for the vegetable version.
Packing
Rice, vegetables, onion, egg powder, and seasonings premix into one bag at home. Oil rides in a leakproof bottle, meat in its own pouch.
Variations
- Skip the meat and egg and it becomes vegetable fried rice at about 450 calories.
- Swap the soy powder for cumin, chili powder, and paprika, and add a small pouch of green chilies for the Mexican version.
- A packet of sriracha or chili crisp does more for it than more salt would.
https://www.foodstoragemoms.com/fried-rice-recipes