Chili Cheese Dip, Camp Version
Canned chili, powdered cheese sauce, and salsa melted in one pot next to the fire ring.
- calories
- 320
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 64
- protein
- 12 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- 120 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.
- Snack
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Canned chili | 2 cups (one 15 oz can) | with or without beans, both work |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered cheese sauce mix | 1/2 cup | the kind sold for nachos, not a mac and cheese packet |
| Shelf-stable cream cheese | 3 oz | a foil-wrapped brick or a tube; keeps unopened without a cooler |
| Shelf-stable salsa | 1/2 cup | a small jar or a pouch |
| Cayenne or hot sauce | to taste | |
| Tortilla chips or crackers | 1 large bag | for dipping |
Method
- Whisk the cheese powder into 120 ml of hot water in the pot until there are no dry lumps. Do this first, off to the side of the heat, or it clumps and never recovers.
- Set the pot over low heat and add the chili and salsa. Stir.
- Drop in the cream cheese in small pieces. Keep stirring over low heat until it stops showing white streaks, about five minutes.
- Add cayenne or hot sauce. Pull it off the heat before the bottom scorches; this thickens fast and burns faster.
- Serve straight from the pot with chips.
The original is a party dip built on a fridge: cream cheese, shredded cheese, canned chili. Two of those three do not survive a weekend in a bear box. Powdered cheese sauce replaces the shredded cheese because it melts on demand and carries dry, and shelf-stable cream cheese in foil holds unopened at ambient temperature for weeks.
Order matters more than technique. Hydrate the cheese powder before anything else goes in the pot; once the chili is in there, the mixture is too thick to break up lumps. Low heat throughout. This is mostly starch and fat, and it will weld itself to the pot bottom the moment you walk away.
Packing
Cheese powder goes in a small bag with the cayenne. The chili can, salsa jar, and cream cheese are the heavy part, which is why this is a car-camping recipe. Chips ride on top of everything or they arrive as dust.
Variations
- A pouch of shelf-stable chili instead of the can drops most of the weight and makes this packable.
- No cream cheese: use 3 tbsp of full-fat milk powder and a tablespoon of oil. Thinner, but it still coats a chip.
- Spoon leftovers over instant rice for a second meal.
https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/homemade-chili-cheese-dip