Cheesy Chicken and Rice One-Pot
Instant rice, freeze-dried chicken, and a powdered cream sauce. Casserole logic with no oven.
- calories
- 760
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 138
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 12 min
- water
- 475 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
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Bikepacking
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant rice | 3/4 cup | the parboiled kind that rehydrates in five minutes, not minute-brown |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried chicken | 1.5 oz | or a foil pouch of chicken, heavier but cheaper |
| Freeze-dried broccoli | 1/4 cup | |
| Powdered whole milk | 3 tbsp | |
| Cheddar cheese powder | 3 tbsp | |
| Chicken bouillon | 1 tsp | |
| Cornstarch | 1 tsp | this is what makes it a sauce instead of broth |
| Garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper | 1/2 tsp total | |
| Olive oil or ghee | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Bring 475 ml of water to a boil. Add the chicken, broccoli, and bouillon and let them sit off a low flame for three minutes to start rehydrating.
- Stir in the rice, cover, and pull the pot off the stove. Ten minutes, lid on, no peeking.
- Add the milk powder, cheese powder, cornstarch, and spices. Stir hard so the powders do not clump against the rice.
- Put it back on the lowest flame for one minute, stirring the whole time, until it thickens. Kill the heat and stir in the oil.
Casseroles are built on a cream-of-something can, an oven, and forty minutes. None of those are coming on a trip. The parts that actually matter are starch, protein, and a sauce thick enough to coat them, and all three have shelf-stable versions that weigh a few ounces.
The cornstarch is doing the work the canned soup used to do. Cheese powder and milk powder alone give you cloudy water; a teaspoon of starch and one minute of real heat pulls it into a sauce that clings. Add the powders at the end, not with the rice, or they scorch on the pot bottom before the rice is done.
Packing
Rice, chicken, and broccoli in one bag. The powders and cornstarch in a second small bag, because they go in at the end and dumping them early makes glue on the pot bottom.
Variations
- Swap the cheese powder for a squeeze packet of miso and skip the milk powder for a lighter, brothier version.
- Crumbled bacon bits and a shake of cayenne turns it toward the buffalo end of things.
- Freeze-dried peas and carrots instead of broccoli if you want it closer to pot pie.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/13-easy-real-food-casseroles