Dutch Oven Hoppin' John
Black-eyed peas, rice, and kielbasa in one pot over coals. Soak the peas on the drive in.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 104
- protein
- 24 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total time
- 55 min
- water
- 1050 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
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried black-eyed peas | 10 oz | soaked in a water bottle for at least 6 hours |
|---|---|---|
| Long grain white rice | 1 1/2 cups | uncooked, not instant |
| Kielbasa | 1/2 lb | shelf-stable smoked sausage, unopened until camp |
| Cooking oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried minced onion | 1/4 cup | |
| Chicken bouillon | 2 cubes | replaces the can of broth |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Cayenne pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Dried chives | 1 tbsp | stirred in at the end |
Method
- Put the dried peas in a wide-mouth bottle with water to cover by two inches before you leave the trailhead. They ride and soften while you drive or hike in.
- Build a fire and let it burn down. You want a bed of coals, not flame.
- Set the dutch oven on coals and heat the oil. Slice the kielbasa into quarter-inch rounds and brown them with the dried onion for about five minutes.
- Drain the soaked peas. Add them with the rice, bouillon, salt, pepper, cayenne, and 1050 ml of water. Stir once.
- Bring it to a boil, then pull most of the coals out from under the oven and set the lid on. Keep a few coals on top.
- Simmer about 40 minutes, until the rice is tender and the liquid is gone. Check at 30. Add a splash of water if it dries before the peas soften.
- Take it off the heat, stir in the chives, and let it sit five minutes with the lid on.
Hoppin’ John is a one-pot dish by nature, which is most of why it belongs in camp. The original calls for frozen peas and a can of broth, and neither survives a car trunk in August. Dried peas soaked in a water bottle on the way in do the same job at a fraction of the weight, and bouillon cubes replace fifteen ounces of liquid you would otherwise carry.
The timing is the part that goes wrong. Rice needs about twenty minutes and soaked black-eyed peas need closer to forty, so the peas go in with a head start on nothing — they cook together, and the soak is what closes the gap. Skip the soak and you get crunchy peas in mushy rice. Coals underneath, only a few on the lid: too much bottom heat scorches the rice before the peas give up.
Packing
Peas go in their own bottle so they can soak in transit. Rice, onion, bouillon, and spices premix into one bag. Sausage stays sealed until it goes in the pot.
Variations
- A can of diced tomatoes with green chiles in place of 400 ml of the water.
- Skip the sausage and double the bouillon for a meatless pot. Add a handful of dried mushrooms for body.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/hoppin_john-2437.asp