Chicken Parm in a Pot
Freeze-dried chicken, crushed crackers, and tomato powder. Everything a chicken parm has except the oven.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 600 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
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried chicken | 2 oz | the diced kind rehydrates faster than strips |
|---|---|---|
| Angel hair pasta | 3 oz | broken in half so it fits the pot |
| Tomato powder | 3 tbsp | or a squeeze tube of tomato paste |
| Grated hard parmesan | 1/4 cup | the dry shelf-stable kind, not fresh |
| Panko or plain bread crumbs | 3 tbsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Dried basil or parsley | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper and salt | to taste | |
| Sugar | 1/2 tsp | cuts the acid in the tomato powder |
Method
- Cover the freeze-dried chicken with 150 ml of hot water in your mug or a spare bag. Leave it while the pasta cooks.
- Boil 450 ml of water. Add the pasta and cook it hard for four minutes, stirring so it does not weld to the bottom.
- Do not drain. Kill the heat and stir in the tomato powder, garlic, herbs, sugar, salt, and pepper. The starchy water is the sauce.
- Drain the chicken and fold it in with the parmesan. Lid on, two minutes off the stove.
- Toast the bread crumbs dry in a lid or pan for a minute if you have the fuel, then scatter them over the top. Eat straight from the pot.
Chicken parm is a breading problem, and breading does not survive a backpack. So the crumbs come off the chicken and go on top, dry and toasted, where they still give the crunch without needing egg wash or a hot oven. The chicken rehydrates on the side rather than in the sauce, because pasta water pulls it apart into threads.
Cooking the pasta in just enough water and never pouring it off is what makes this one pot instead of two. Angel hair is the right shape: it cooks in four minutes and releases enough starch to thicken the tomato powder into something that clings. Longer pasta shapes will leave you with soup and wasted fuel.
Packing
Pasta, tomato powder, spices, and sugar go in one bag. Crumbs and parmesan in a second small bag so the crumbs stay dry and crisp. Chicken stays sealed in its own pouch.
Variations
- A foil pouch of chicken breast replaces the freeze-dried and skips step one, at the cost of a heavier pack.
- Swap the pasta for instant polenta or gluten-free rice noodles and adjust the water down.
- A pinch of red pepper flakes does more for this than more parmesan will.
https://mealswithmaria.site/baked-chicken-parm