Chili Mac from a Dehydrator
Home-cooked bean chili dried to gravel, then rebuilt in the pot with macaroni.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 116
- protein
- 19 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- 700 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
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Macaroni | 1 1/4 cups | 7-minute cook time or less, check the box |
|---|---|---|
| Dehydrated chili | 1 1/4 cups | from the batch below |
| Water | 3 cups | carried, or from a source at camp |
| Onion, carrots, celery, bell pepper | 1 onion, 2 carrots, 2 stalks, 2 peppers | chili batch, at home |
| Jalapeno | 1, minced | chili batch |
| Garlic | 5 cloves | chili batch |
| Chili powder, oregano, cumin | 1 1/2 tbsp, 1 tbsp, 2 tsp | chili batch |
| Tomato sauce and chopped tomatoes | 1 cup sauce, two 14.5 oz cans | chili batch |
| Vegetable bouillon | 4-8 tsp | chili batch, matched to 8 cups water |
| Cracked wheat or bulgur | 1 cup | chili batch, this is the texture |
| Kidney beans and black beans | 2 cups each, cooked | chili batch |
| Limes and soy sauce | 2 limes, 1/2 cup low-sodium | chili batch, stirred in at the end |
| Canola oil | a splash | chili batch, keep it minimal |
Method
- At home: soften the onion, carrots, celery, peppers, and jalapeno in a little oil, then add the garlic for a minute.
- Stir in the chili powder, oregano, and cumin until the vegetables are coated. Add tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, 8 cups water, bouillon, both beans, and the cracked wheat. Bulgur goes in for only the last 15-20 minutes.
- Cover and simmer 50 minutes, stirring now and then so the grain does not weld to the bottom. Off the heat, add lime juice and soy sauce.
- Spread the chili on dehydrator trays at 135F for about 8 hours, flipping once. It is done when it is brittle, not leathery.
- At camp: put the macaroni, dried chili, and 700 ml water in the pot. Lid on, soak 5 minutes cold.
- Bring to a boil, hold it there 2 minutes, then kill the stove and let it sit covered 10 minutes. Stir before the first bite.
The chili is cooked entirely at home, which is the only way to get 50 minutes of simmering and two kinds of beans into a backcountry dinner. Cracked wheat is doing the work that ground beef usually does: it swells, holds sauce, and gives the spoon something to push against. Lime and soy sauce go in after the heat is off, so the acid and salt survive into the dried version.
At camp the sequence matters more than the heat. Five minutes of cold soak starts the pasta and the dried chili drinking before you spend fuel, two minutes of boil finishes the macaroni, and the ten-minute covered rest does the rest of the rehydration for free. Boiling the whole 20 minutes would burn three times the gas and scorch the bottom of the pot.
Packing
Macaroni and dried chili share one bag, 1 1/4 cups each. Vacuum seal it loosely or not at all. Fully compressed, the dried chili shards will spike a hole in the bag, and a rigid brick fits nothing.
Variations
- A handful of Fritos crushed on top adds fat and salt, which the chili is short on.
- Skip the macaroni and rehydrate the chili on its own with 2 cups water.
- Olive oil in a dropper bottle brings this up to a real dinner-sized calorie count.
https://thruhikers.co/chili-mac