Chipotle Chicken Burrito, Trail Version
Foil-packet chicken, instant rice, and a chipotle-adobo bomb rolled into a tortilla.
- calories
- 780
- weight
- 8 oz
- cal / oz
- 98
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 300 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
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Bikepacking
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Foil-packet chicken | 5 oz | replaces the raw breast; no cooler needed |
|---|---|---|
| Instant rice | 3/4 cup dry | the 5-minute kind, not parboiled |
| Chipotle in adobo | 1 tbsp | carried in a small screw-top jar, or use chipotle powder plus a spoon of tomato powder |
| Bouillon | 1 cube or 1 tsp | stands in for chicken stock |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | 1/4 tsp each | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Lime | 1 wedge or 1/2 tsp crystallized lime | |
| Hard cheese | 1.5 oz | dry jack or aged cheddar; skip the fresh monterey jack |
| Burrito-size flour tortillas | 2 | |
| Dried onion flakes and dried cilantro | 1 tbsp total |
Method
- Mix the rice, bouillon, garlic powder, onion flakes, salt, and pepper in the pot.
- Pour in 300 ml of boiling water, cover, and pull it off the heat. Wait 5 minutes.
- Fluff the rice. Stir in the chicken, the chipotle and its adobo, the oil, and the lime. The residual heat is enough to warm the chicken through.
- Grate or shave the cheese over the top and stir once so it melts into the rice.
- Spoon half the pot down the center of each tortilla, scatter the dried cilantro, fold the ends in, and roll it tight.
- Optional: lay the rolled burrito seam-down in the empty pot over a low flame for a minute a side. It seals shut and toasts.
The original bakes assembled burritos under a broiler until the cheese browns. There is no broiler out here, so the heat moves to the inside: hot rice does the melting, and an optional minute in a dry pot does what the oven was doing to the outside. Raw chicken and a marinade become a foil packet and a spoon of adobo, which carries the same smoke and acid without a cooler.
The adobo is the whole reason this works. A tablespoon of it seasons the rice, the chicken, and the fat all at once, so nothing needs a separate sauce step. Dry-aged cheese is deliberate; fresh monterey jack sweats and goes greasy in a pack, while a hard cheese survives a warm day and still melts into hot rice.
Packing
Rice, bouillon, and all the dry seasoning go in one bag mixed together. Chipotle rides in a 1 oz screw-top jar inside a ziplock, because adobo leaks. Tortillas go flat against your back panel or they arrive as chips.
Variations
- Swap the chicken for a packet of refried bean flakes and it goes vegetarian at half the cost.
- A spoon of instant refried beans thickens the filling if the rice came out wet.
- Chipotle powder plus a pinch of smoked paprika replaces the wet adobo entirely and saves the jar.
https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/baked-chipotle-chicken-burritos