Dehydrated Beef Chili, Rebuilt at Camp
Cook a chili at home, dry it flat, crumble it into a bag. Ten minutes of hot water puts it back together.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 124
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- 400 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
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Extra-lean ground beef | 1 lb | 90/10 or leaner; fat goes rancid in storage |
|---|---|---|
| Canned crushed tomatoes | 28 oz | |
| Canned kidney or pinto beans | two 15 oz cans | rinsed and drained |
| Onion and bell pepper | 1 each | diced small |
| Chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika | 3 tbsp total | |
| Garlic powder and salt | 1 tbsp total | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp per serving | carried separately in a dropper bottle |
| Corn chips or instant potato flakes | 1 oz per serving | optional, packed separately |
Method
- At home: brown the beef, drain every bit of fat, then simmer it with the vegetables, tomatoes, beans, and spices until thick. Thicker than you would serve it.
- Spread the chili on lined dehydrator trays, about a quarter inch deep. Run at 145 F for 8 to 10 hours, breaking up clumps once or twice, until nothing is tacky.
- Crumble the dried chili small and portion it into freezer bags, roughly 1.5 cups per person. Squeeze the air out.
- On the trail: bring 400 ml of water to a boil, dump in one bag, stir, and pull it off the heat.
- Cover the pot and let it sit 10 minutes. Stir once at the halfway mark to break up the dry pockets that hide in the middle.
- Stir in the oil at the end. Crush corn chips over the top or stir in potato flakes if it is thinner than you want.
Sauce-based food dries and comes back better than anything else. The tomato and bean puree traps the meat, so when the water goes back in, everything rehydrates at once instead of leaving you with soft sauce and gravel-hard beef. Thin, brothy dishes dry into flakes that lose their body permanently; this is why stews, pasta bakes, and casseroles are the standard candidates.
Fat is the constraint. It does not dehydrate, it just sits there and turns rancid over weeks in a pack, so the beef gets drained hard at home and the calories come back at camp as olive oil. Drying at a quarter inch deep matters too: thicker than that and the center stays damp, which is how a bag of dried chili spoils quietly between the freezer and the trailhead. Test a cooled piece by folding it. It should snap, not bend.
Packing
One meal per quart freezer bag, labeled with the water amount. Oil rides in a leakproof dropper bottle inside a spare bag. Chips go in a separate bag so they do not turn to dust.
Variations
- Swap the beef for lentils and a scoop of TVP to make it vegan.
- A packet of instant rice cooked alongside stretches one portion into two.
- Dry the chili in a cold-soak-friendly grind and it will rehydrate in two hours of cold water, though the texture stays grainy.
https://www.the-backpacking-site.com/backpacking-gear/diy-dehydrated-backpacking-meals