One-Pot Vegetarian Chili Mac
Beans, pasta, and tomato powder in one pot. A meatless dinner that still lands like a dinner.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- 600 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
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Bikepacking
- Vegetarian
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Small pasta | 1 cup dry | elbows or small shells, nothing thicker |
|---|---|---|
| Instant refried bean flakes | 1/3 cup | dried, not canned |
| Tomato powder | 2 tbsp | or 2 tbsp of a dried tomato soup mix |
| Chili powder and cumin | 2 tsp total | |
| Dried onion and garlic flakes | 1 tbsp | |
| Bouillon | 1 cube or 1 tsp | |
| Hard cheese | 1 oz | parmesan or aged cheddar |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt | to taste |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil with the bouillon, onion, and garlic flakes.
- Add the pasta and boil it hard for 7 or 8 minutes. Stir often so nothing welds to the pot.
- Cut the heat when the pasta is nearly soft. Do not drain. That water is the sauce.
- Stir in the bean flakes, tomato powder, chili powder, and cumin. It will thicken fast.
- Lid on, five minutes off heat. Then grate in the cheese, pour the oil over, stir, salt to taste.
This started as a weeknight vegetarian dinner, the kind that leans on canned beans and a block of cheese from the fridge. Neither travels. Instant refried bean flakes do the same job at a fraction of the weight, and they thicken the pot instead of sitting in it. Tomato powder replaces the can of sauce.
The beans are the whole structure here. Pasta and water alone give you a thin, sad bowl; the bean flakes bind the cooking water into something that coats. Cook the pasta in the minimum water you can get away with and skip the drain, so the starch stays in. The oil and cheese go in off heat because that is where the calories are, and boiling them just makes a greasy film.
Packing
Pasta in one bag, everything else dry premixed in a second bag. Cheese and oil ride separate. Keeping the pasta apart matters because it goes in first and the powders go in last.
Variations
- A handful of dehydrated corn or bell pepper, added with the pasta, rehydrates in the same boil.
- Swap the cheese for nutritional yeast and it is vegan.
- Crushed corn chips on top add fat and something crunchy.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/vegetarian-dinner-meal-plan