Lean Trail Chili Bowl
Freeze-dried chicken, instant beans, and a cup of hot water. Protein without the grease.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 116
- protein
- 48 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 12 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
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried chicken breast | 2 oz | shredded, not diced, so it rehydrates fast |
|---|---|---|
| Instant refried black beans | 1/2 cup | |
| Instant white rice | 1/3 cup | the kind that cooks in five minutes |
| Chili powder, cumin, garlic powder | 2 tsp total | |
| Dried onion flakes | 1 tbsp | |
| Tomato powder | 1 tbsp | or a crushed sun-dried tomato |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 2 tsp | optional, add it if you are cold or the day was long |
Method
- Boil 450 ml of water. Add the chicken and the rice first and let them sit at a low simmer for five minutes.
- Cut the heat. Dump in the beans, tomato powder, onion, and spices, stirring as you go so the bean powder does not clump.
- Lid on, ten minutes off the stove. The beans keep thickening the whole time.
- Stir once more. If it went stiff, add a splash of hot water. If it is soup, wait another two minutes.
- Add the oil now, at the end, if you want the calories.
This is built around a simple idea from the source: get the protein from lean meat, not from the fat riding along with it. Freeze-dried chicken breast is close to pure protein by weight, which is exactly what you want when every ounce is on your back. Two ounces dry is roughly 40 g of protein and almost no fat, so the calories you do carry can go into carbs that actually move you up a hill.
The beans and rice do the rest. Instant refried beans thicken on their own without a simmer, so the stove only runs long enough to rehydrate the chicken and cook the rice. Fat here is a dial, not a fixed ingredient — leave the oil out on a warm day and it is a lean 400-calorie dinner, add it on a cold one and it is a real meal. No dairy, no fridge, one pot.
Packing
Everything dry except the oil goes in one bag at home, chicken included. The oil rides in a dropper bottle. Freeze-dried chicken is the expensive part, so buy it in a large can and portion it yourself.
Variations
- Swap the chicken for a foil packet of tuna and drop it in after the boil.
- Textured vegetable protein instead of chicken makes it vegan and cuts the cost by most of the way.
- A packet of hot sauce carried from a gas station covers a lot of ground.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/how-to-eat-high-protein-and-low-fat-food