Camp Meatloaf Hash
Meatloaf logic in a skillet: beef, oats, and onion browned instead of baked.
- calories
- 540
- weight
- 7.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 72
- protein
- 32 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 30 min
- water
- 120 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
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Ground beef | 1 lb | 80/20; keep it cold until it hits the pan |
|---|---|---|
| Quick oats | 3/4 cup | they hydrate faster than rolled |
| Powdered whole milk | 3 tbsp | replaces the fresh milk in the original |
| Dried minced onion | 3 tbsp | |
| Powdered egg | 2 tbsp | optional, only if you want patties that hold |
| Gluten-free soy sauce or liquid aminos | 1 tbsp | |
| Kosher salt | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | |
| Ketchup or barbecue sauce | 1/4 cup | single-serve packets travel well |
Method
- Stir the oats, milk powder, dried onion, powdered egg, salt, and pepper together in the pot with 120 ml of hot water. Let it sit five minutes until the oats swell and the onion softens.
- Add the soy sauce and the beef. Mix with a spoon or your hands until the oat paste is evenly through the meat.
- Set the pot over medium heat with a little oil. Press the mixture in as one flat slab and leave it alone for six or seven minutes so the bottom crusts.
- Break it into rough chunks, turn them, and cook another eight minutes until no pink is left and the edges are dark.
- Kill the heat, squeeze the ketchup over the top, and stir once.
Meatloaf is a panade problem. Oats soaked in liquid trap fat and water inside the beef, which is why a loaf stays moist where a plain patty does not. That mechanism does not care whether the heat comes from an oven or a skillet, so the oven step is the part that gets cut for camp.
The milk is powdered and the egg comes from a jar, so the only cooler item is the beef itself. Rehydrating the oat mix before the meat goes in matters: dry oats added straight to ground beef pull moisture out of it during cooking and leave you with gravel. Oats also mean no breadcrumbs, so this stays gluten-free as long as the soy sauce does.
Packing
Combine oats, milk powder, onion, egg powder, salt, and pepper in one bag at home. Beef rides frozen at the bottom of the cooler and thaws by dinner on day one or two. Sauce packets in the lid pocket.
Variations
- Form the mix into eight small patties and cook them in batches if you want the loaf shape.
- Ground turkey works, but add another tablespoon of oil or it goes dry.
- Serve over instant mashed potatoes made in the same pot afterward.
https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/mini-meatloaves