Chicken Bacon Ranch Potatoes
Instant potatoes rebuilt as a loaded baked potato, with pouch chicken and bacon bits standing in for the oven.
- calories
- 780
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 130
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 5 min
- total time
- 7 min
- water
- 400 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
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 3/4 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried or pouched chicken | 3 oz | pouch is cheaper, freeze-dried is lighter |
| Powdered cheddar cheese | 3 tbsp | |
| Real bacon bits | 2 tbsp | the shelf-stable jarred kind, not fresh |
| Powdered ranch dressing mix | 1 tbsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder, onion powder, paprika | 1/2 tsp each | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Boil 400 ml of water. Kill the heat.
- If you are using freeze-dried chicken, drop it in first and let it sit two minutes to rehydrate. Pouch chicken goes in at the end instead.
- Stir in the potato flakes a little at a time until it thickens. Wait a minute before adding more, it keeps setting up after you stop stirring.
- Add the cheese powder, ranch mix, spices, and oil. Stir until there are no dry pockets.
- Fold in the bacon bits and the chicken. Eat it out of the pot.
The original is a russet baked in an oven for an hour, which is not a thing that happens on trail. Potato flakes get you to the same place in five minutes, and once you accept that, the rest of the toppings translate cleanly: cheese powder for shredded cheddar, jarred bacon bits for bacon, dry ranch mix for the bottled dressing. Nothing here needs a fridge.
Ranch powder is doing more work than it looks like. It is buttermilk solids, herbs, and a lot of salt, so it seasons the potatoes and adds tang that the cheese powder alone does not have. Add the oil at the end rather than the start — fat stirred into hot potato coats better than fat boiled in water.
Packing
Potato flakes, cheese powder, ranch mix, and spices go in one bag at home. Bacon bits ride in their own small bag so they stay crisp. Oil in a dropper bottle.
Variations
- Swap the chicken for a foil packet of tuna if you want it cheaper and lighter.
- A packet of instant gravy in place of the ranch mix makes it a different dinner entirely.
- Double the oil in cold weather. It disappears into the potatoes.
https://mealswithmaria.site/chicken-bacon-ranch-baked-potato