Loaded Potato Soup, Trail Version
Potato flakes, bacon bits, and cheese powder. A baked potato you drink.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 160
- protein
- 22 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 5 min
- total time
- 7 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
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Winter / snow
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 3/4 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered chicken broth or bouillon | 1 tsp | |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Cheddar cheese powder | 3 tbsp | |
| Sour cream powder | 2 tbsp | buttermilk powder works if you cannot find it |
| Butter powder or ghee | 1 tbsp | |
| Real bacon bits | 1/4 cup | the shelf-stable kind in a jar, not imitation |
| Freeze-dried chives or green onion | 1 tsp | |
| Kosher salt and black pepper | to taste |
Method
- Boil 450 ml of water. Stir in the bouillon and dried onion and let it sit off the heat for a minute so the onion softens.
- Add the potato flakes in two or three passes, stirring between each. Stop when it is thick soup, not mashed potatoes.
- Off the heat, stir in the cheese powder, sour cream powder, and butter powder until no dry streaks remain.
- Scatter the bacon and chives on top. Taste, then salt and pepper.
- If it stiffens up, add hot water 50 ml at a time.
The original is a pressure-cooker soup built on whole potatoes, chicken broth, sour cream, and grated cheese. None of that travels. Potato flakes are already cooked and dried potato, so they do the same job in five minutes instead of thirty, and the powdered dairy carries the tang and fat without a cooler.
The ratio is the whole game. Too many flakes and you have mashed potatoes; add them slowly and stop early, because they keep thickening for a minute after you quit stirring. Sour cream powder is what keeps it from tasting like flat cheese sauce, and the bacon goes on at the end so it stays chewy instead of dissolving.
Packing
Everything dry except the bacon goes in one bag. Bacon gets its own small bag so the grease stays off the powders. Ghee travels in a screw-top jar inside a second bag.
Variations
- Swap the chicken bouillon for vegetable and drop the bacon for a vegetarian pot.
- A handful of dehydrated broccoli, rehydrated in the first boil, makes it broccoli-cheddar.
- Crushed fried onions on top instead of bacon if you want crunch without meat.
https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/instant-pot-potato-soup