Camp Fry Skillet Potatoes
Dehydrated potato slices, a chili-paprika spice mix, and cheese that melts into the pan.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 138
- protein
- 16 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- 350 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
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dehydrated sliced or diced potatoes | 2 cups | hash brown dices rehydrate fastest |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Chili powder | 1 tbsp | |
| Paprika | 1/2 tsp | smoked if you have it |
| Garlic powder | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Cracked black pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Cornstarch | 1 tbsp | |
| Worcestershire powder | 1 tsp | or a few drops of soy sauce from a dropper bottle |
| Freeze-dried shredded cheddar | 1/2 cup | |
| Freeze-dried chives | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Pour 350 ml of boiling water over the dried potatoes in the pot. Lid on, ten minutes off the heat, until they bend without snapping.
- Drain off anything still standing. Wet potatoes will steam instead of browning.
- Add the oil and set the pot back over a low flame. Stir in the spice and cornstarch premix and keep the potatoes moving.
- Cook five minutes or so, pressing them flat between stirs. The cornstarch sets into a crust where they touch the metal.
- Kill the heat, scatter the cheese and chives over the top, and put the lid back on for a minute to melt it.
Oven fries do not exist on the trail, so this trades crisp edges for a crust. Cornstarch is why it works at all: dusted onto rehydrated potatoes, it dries the surface and browns hard against the pot in a way plain potato will not. The trick is draining thoroughly first, then leaving the potatoes alone between stirs.
The fresh parts of the original are all swapped out. Whole potatoes become dehydrated dices, shredded cheddar becomes freeze-dried cheese that melts fine with residual heat, and the Worcestershire is a powder or a few drops of soy sauce. Skip the oil and you lose both the calories and the browning.
Packing
Spices, cornstarch, and Worcestershire powder go in one small bag at home. Potatoes in another, cheese and chives in a third. Oil rides in a dropper bottle inside a ziplock.
Variations
- Dehydrated sweet potato takes the same spice mix and needs a couple more minutes of soak.
- A foil packet of bacon crumbles or a scoop of dried refried beans turns this into a full dinner.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/loaded-baked-potato-fries