Chicken Parm Skillet Melt
Shelf-stable chicken and marinara over toasted buns, cheese melted under a lid.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 69
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Canned or pouched chicken | 20 oz total | drain the cans before packing out the liquid |
|---|---|---|
| Shelf-stable tomato pasta sauce | 1 1/2 cups | a pouch weighs less than a jar and does not break |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Onion powder | 1 tsp | |
| Paprika | 1 tsp | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste | |
| Buns | 4 | ciabatta or a firm roll; soft buns turn to paste |
| Grated parmesan | 6 tbsp | the shelf-stable green-can kind |
| Provolone slices | 4 | vacuum-sealed, good for a couple of days out of the fridge |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Split the buns and toast the cut faces in a dry pan over low heat. Set them aside.
- Add the oil, then the drained chicken. Break it up with a spoon and stir in the garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. Two minutes is enough to wake the spices up.
- Pour in the sauce and let it come to a bare simmer. Stir until the chicken is coated and most of the loose liquid is gone.
- Push the chicken to one side. Lay the bottom buns in the pan, spoon chicken over each, then parmesan, then a slice of provolone.
- Cover the pan and pull it off high heat. Two or three minutes on low melts the cheese without burning the bread.
- Cap with the top buns and eat standing up.
The original is a slow cooker recipe: frozen tenders, four hours on low, then a broiler for the cheese. Neither of those exists at camp. Canned chicken is already cooked and already shredded, so the whole first half of the method disappears, and a lid over low heat does what the broiler did.
Toasting the buns first is not optional. Sauce hits bread hard, and an untoasted bun collapses before you finish it. Provolone is the pick over mozzarella because it comes sliced and vacuum-sealed, which means it survives a day or two out of a cooler; the parmesan is shelf-stable indefinitely and carries most of the salt.
Packing
Premix the four spices in a film canister. Chicken pouches, sauce pouch, and parmesan travel in the food bag; buns go on top of the pack so they arrive as bread and not as crumbs. Provolone stays sealed until you use it.
Variations
- Skip the buns and stir in cooked pasta or instant polenta for a gluten-free bowl.
- No cheese slices? Double the parmesan and add a spoon of olive oil for the fat you lost.
- A pinch of dried oregano and chili flakes gets it closer to a red-sauce joint.
https://mealswithmaria.site/slow-cooker-chicken-parmesan-sandwiches