Camp Loaded Potato Salad
Instant potato pearls, bacon bits, and a powdered dressing that comes together in a cold pot.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 4 oz
- cal / oz
- 130
- protein
- 14 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- 300 ml cold
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Lunch
- Dinner
- No cook
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dehydrated potato dices | 1 1/2 cups | pearls or dices, not flakes, or you get mash |
|---|---|---|
| Shelf-stable bacon pieces | 1/3 cup | the precooked bulk kind, or bacon bar crumbled |
| Powdered cheddar cheese | 3 tbsp | |
| Powdered buttermilk or sour cream powder | 2 tbsp | |
| Mayonnaise packets | 3 packets | about 3 tbsp |
| Caesar dressing packets | 2 packets | ranch works the same way |
| Dried chives | 1 tbsp | stands in for green onion |
| Apple cider vinegar or olive oil | 1 tsp | for loosening it later |
| Black pepper | to taste |
Method
- Put the potato dices in the pot and cover with about 300 ml of cold water. Let them sit 45 minutes, stirring once. They should bend without snapping.
- Drain off any water that is still standing. Dices hold more water than you expect, so tip the pot and wait.
- Stir the cheese powder and sour cream powder into the damp potatoes first. They dissolve on the potato moisture and stop the dressing from going grainy.
- Squeeze in the mayo and Caesar packets and stir until everything is coated.
- Fold in the bacon and chives. Pepper on top.
- If it binds up while you eat, loosen it with the vinegar or a spoon of oil.
The original is boiled potatoes, sour cream, and shredded cheddar, all of which need a fridge and fifteen minutes of stove time. Dehydrated potato dices solve both. They rehydrate in cold water while you do something else, and they hold their shape, which is the whole point of a potato salad. Flakes would turn this into mash.
The two powders go in before the wet dressing on purpose. Cheese powder hitting straight mayo clumps and stays clumpy. Hitting damp potatoes, it dissolves into a coating. The bacon stays in its own bag until the last minute for the same reason it does at home: once it gets wet it is just salt.
Packing
Potato dices, cheese powder, sour cream powder, chives, and pepper go in one bag as a premix. Bacon rides in its own bag so it stays dry and crisp. Mayo and dressing packets go in a side pocket where nothing can sit on them.
Variations
- Skip the mayo packets and use a full tablespoon of olive oil instead. Lighter to carry, and it will not separate in heat.
- A spoon of dried onion flakes soaked with the potatoes gets you closer to the real thing.
- Cold-soak the potatoes overnight in a jar and this becomes a no-fuss lunch you build at the trailhead.
https://campfirefoodie.com/loaded-potato-salad-recipe