Canned Chicken, Bean, and Rice Booster
Three cans and a bag of rice. Heavy, cheap, and it refuels a hard day.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 56
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- 1200 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
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Canned chicken breast or tuna | 1 can (5 oz) | packed in water or oil, either works |
|---|---|---|
| Canned pinto or kidney beans | 1 can (15 oz) | |
| Canned sliced mushrooms | 1 can (4 oz) | |
| Boil-in-bag brown rice | 1 bag | about 2 servings |
| Seasoned salt | 1 tsp | |
| Chili powder | 1 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | optional, adds calories |
Method
- Bring about 1.2 L of water to a boil and drop in the rice bag. Simmer 10 minutes, or until the grains give when you pinch the bag.
- While it cooks, open the cans and drain every one of them. Pour the liquid well away from camp.
- Pull the rice bag out, dump the water, and cut the bag open into the empty pot.
- Add the chicken, beans, and mushrooms. Break the meat up with the spoon.
- Stir in the seasoned salt, chili powder, and oil. Heat two or three minutes, just until it steams through.
This is car-camping food, and the cans are the reason. Three of them plus a rice bag runs close to eleven ounces per person before you add a drop of water, which is fine when the cooler is twenty feet away and pointless if you are ten miles in. The payoff is that nothing needs rehydrating and nothing spoils.
Draining matters more than it sounds. Canned beans and mushrooms both carry a lot of packing liquid, and if it goes into the pot you end up with soup that will not thicken. Dump it, then let the rice absorb what steam is left. The chili powder and seasoned salt are doing the heavy lifting on flavor; canned protein is bland on its own and will stay that way if you skip them.
Packing
Cans are dead weight, so this is a short-carry meal. Keep the rice bag and the spice packet together on top; the cans go at the bottom of the pack against your back.
Variations
- Swap the boil-in-bag rice for instant rice and you cut ten minutes and most of the water.
- Dehydrated refried beans and a foil chicken pouch drop the packed weight from eleven ounces to about five, if you are walking far.
- A squeeze of lime or a spoon of salsa cuts through the canned flavor.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/chicken-or-tuna-energy-booster