Cold Soak Southwest Bean Salad
Black beans, corn, and salsa built from dried parts and rehydrated in a jar while you walk.
- calories
- 640
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 128
- protein
- 22 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 3 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 3 min
- water
- 350 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
- Dinner
- Cold soak
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Day hike
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Dehydrated black bean flakes | 3/4 cup | the instant refried kind, not whole dried beans |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried corn | 1/2 cup | |
| Tomato powder | 2 tbsp | this is the salsa base |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Chili powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Cumin | 1/4 tsp | |
| Powdered lime or citric acid | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
Method
- Two hours before you want to eat, pour 350 ml of cold water into the jar with the dry mix.
- Seal it and shake. Shake again five minutes later, once the bean flakes have stopped clumping.
- Let it ride in your pack. The corn needs the full two hours to stop being crunchy; the beans are done in twenty minutes.
- Stir in the oil and eat straight from the jar.
The original is a can of beans, a can of corn, and a jar of salsa dumped in a bowl. That is three pounds of water you would be carrying. Every wet ingredient here has a dried counterpart that costs almost nothing in weight: bean flakes for canned beans, freeze-dried kernels for canned corn, tomato powder plus onion, chili, and lime for the salsa.
The acid matters more than it looks. Beans rehydrated in plain water are flat and pasty, and powdered lime is what makes the whole thing read as a salad instead of cold refried beans. The oil goes in at the end because fat coats the flakes and slows how fast they take up water.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one bag or straight into the soak jar at home. Oil rides separately. A wide-mouth peanut butter jar with a good gasket is the whole kit.
Variations
- Corn tortilla chips crushed in at the last second, if you are carrying them anyway.
- A foil packet of tuna turns it into a heavier dinner and adds about 20 g of protein.
- More chili powder and a pinch of chipotle if the mix reads flat.
https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/orangeco/2025/07/23/no-cook-recipes-for-power-outages-hurricane-preparedness