Orange Chicken, Backcountry Version
Freeze-dried chicken, drink-mix orange, and a cornstarch sauce that thickens in one pot.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 38 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
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Bikepacking
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried chicken | 1.5 oz | diced, not shredded |
|---|---|---|
| Instant rice | 3/4 cup | cooks in the same pot |
| Powdered orange drink mix | 2 tbsp | unsweetened or lightly sweetened, not diet |
| Dried orange peel | 1 tsp | stands in for fresh zest |
| Brown sugar | 2 tbsp | |
| Cornstarch | 1 tbsp | this is what makes it a sauce |
| Soy sauce powder | 1 tbsp | or 1 tbsp liquid soy in a leakproof bottle |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Ground ginger | 1/2 tsp | |
| Chili flakes | 1/4 tsp | |
| Sesame oil | 2 tsp | dropper bottle |
| Sesame seeds | 1 tsp | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Pour 350 ml of water into the pot, bring it to a boil, and stir in the chicken. Cover and hold it off the heat for eight minutes so the meat rehydrates.
- Add 250 ml more water and the rice. Bring back to a boil, then cover and pull it off the flame for the time the rice package says.
- While that sits, shake the sauce bag with 60 ml of cold water in a bottle or mug until no lumps remain. Cornstarch clumps forever if it meets hot water dry.
- Return the pot to low heat and pour the slurry in, stirring the whole time. It goes from cloudy to glossy in about a minute. Take it off as soon as it coats the spoon.
- Add the sesame oil and seeds, taste, and add salt and pepper.
The restaurant version is fried chicken tossed in a reduced sauce. Neither half survives a trail kitchen: deep frying costs a liter of oil, and fresh juice and zest are heavy and perishable. What actually matters is the sauce, and a sauce is just sugar, acid, salt, aromatics, and a thickener. Drink mix supplies the orange and the acid, dried peel puts the bitter oil back, and cornstarch does the same job it does at home.
The slurry step is the only place this can fail. Cornstarch dumped dry into hot liquid seizes into pellets that never dissolve, so mix it cold in a separate container first. Rehydrating the chicken before the rice goes in matters too — freeze-dried meat needs several minutes of standing time, and rice cooked alongside it will be gluey by then.
Packing
Two bags: chicken and rice in one, everything else dry in a second labeled sauce. Sesame oil in a dropper bottle, packed upright.
Variations
- Swap the rice for instant noodles and cut the second water to 200 ml.
- Freeze-dried peas or broccoli, added with the rice, break up the sweetness.
- Double the chili flakes if the sugar is too loud for you.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/web-stories/the-best-panda-express-orange-chicken-copycat-recipe