Hawaiian Chicken Rice Bowl
Teriyaki chicken, pineapple, and peppers over rice, rebuilt from shelf-stable parts.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 450 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
- Liquid fuel
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Car camping
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant rice | 1 cup dry | parboiled, not minute-adjacent imitations |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried or canned chicken | 3 oz | pouched chicken needs no water and hits harder |
| Dried pineapple | 1/3 cup | chopped small so it rehydrates |
| Dried red and green bell pepper | 1/4 cup | |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Soy sauce powder | 2 tbsp | or 2 tbsp liquid soy in a leakproof bottle |
| Brown sugar | 1 tbsp | |
| Rice vinegar powder | 1 tsp | a packet of vinegar from a takeout drawer also works |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Ground ginger | 1/2 tsp | |
| Red pepper flakes | 1/4 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Cornstarch | 1 tsp | gives the sauce something to cling with |
Method
- Boil 450 ml of water. Dump in the pineapple, peppers, onion, and chicken. Two minutes off a low flame so the fruit softens.
- Stir in the rice and all the sauce powders. Cover, kill the heat, and wait five minutes.
- Stir hard. The cornstarch will thicken as it cools and pull the sauce onto the rice.
- Pour the oil over the top and eat straight from the pot.
The original is a freezer meal: raw thighs, fresh peppers, and pineapple that go in a bag and come out of a slow cooker. None of that travels. What survives the swap is the sauce, which is really just soy, sugar, vinegar, garlic, and ginger, and all five of those exist as powders that weigh nothing.
Dried pineapple does more work than it looks like. It rehydrates into the acid and sweetness the dish is built on, and the water it gives back becomes the sauce. The cornstarch is the only addition to the source list, and it is there because instant rice releases very little starch of its own. Without it the sauce sits at the bottom of the pot.
Packing
Rice, dried produce, and sauce powders go in one bag at home. Chicken and oil ride separately. If you carry a pouch of chicken instead of freeze-dried, cut the water to 350 ml.
Variations
- Half an avocado, carried on day one, chopped in at the end.
- A second rice pouch and double sauce feeds two out of one pot.
- Swap the chicken for a foil packet of salmon if you want fat with the protein.
https://homeandkind.com/blogs/food-recipes/the-perfect-freezer-meal-to-gift-or-keep-for-your-own-family