Cold Soak Rice and Beans
Rice, beans, and taco seasoning in a jar. Assembled at the last water source, eaten three miles later.
- calories
- 480
- weight
- 4 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 14 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 2 min
- water
- 475 ml cold
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Lunch
- Cold soak
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Basmati rice, cooked and dehydrated | 1 1/4 cups | measured after drying |
|---|---|---|
| Canned beans, rinsed and dehydrated | generous 1/2 cup | black or pinto |
| Taco seasoning | 1 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp |
Method
- At home: cook the rice as the bag says, spread it thin on dehydrator trays, and run it at 135°F until the grains are hard, about five hours. Break up the clumps twice along the way.
- Rinse the beans well and dry them at the same temperature until they rattle, eight hours or more.
- Combine rice, beans, seasoning, and salt in a bag. Seal loosely if you are storing it for weeks.
- On trail: dump the bag into your jar, add 2 cups of cold water, and screw the lid down hard.
- Ride it in a side pocket for two to three hours. Stir and eat straight from the jar.
Store-bought rice sides cold-soak fine for about three weeks, then the preservative flavor starts registering on every bite and lunch becomes a chore. Drying your own rice and beans fixes that for roughly a dollar a serving. The tradeoff is thirteen hours of dehydrator time at home for something you assemble in twenty seconds on trail.
The beans have to be dried hard, not leathery, or they will still be gritty after three hours in the jar. Canned beans are already cooked through, which is the whole point — you are only removing water, so cold water puts it back. Rice does the same thing, but it needs the clumps broken up during drying or the center of each lump stays wet and never really rehydrates. Salt goes in the bag rather than at camp because it dissolves along with everything else.
Packing
Bag each serving separately. Do not pull a full vacuum on the bag; dried rice has sharp edges and will find the seam. A slack bag also packs flatter in a resupply box.
Variations
- Roll it into a tortilla with hot sauce if you carried one.
- Instant rice skips the dehydrator entirely. It soaks faster and tastes like less.
- Add a handful of dried greens or corn to the bag before it goes out.
https://thruhikers.co/cold-soaked-rice-and-beans