Pinto Bean Soup, Trail Version
Dehydrated beans, potato flakes, and smoked paprika. Fifteen minutes from dry bag to bowl.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 124
- protein
- 22 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 14 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
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Dehydrated refried pinto beans | 3/4 cup | instant, from a bulk bin or a boxed mix |
|---|---|---|
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 1/4 cup | stands in for the diced potato |
| Dried diced carrots | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Tomato powder | 2 tbsp | or a crushed sun-dried tomato half |
| Vegetable bouillon | 1 cube or 2 tsp powder | |
| Smoked paprika | 1 tsp | |
| Cumin | 1 tsp | |
| Oregano | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Onion powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Salt | to taste |
Method
- Boil 600 ml of water. Stir in the carrots and minced onion first and let them sit off the flame for five minutes. They rehydrate slower than everything else.
- Return to a low simmer. Add the bouillon, tomato powder, and all the spices. Stir until no dry clumps remain.
- Dump in the bean flakes a third at a time, stirring between each. Adding it all at once gives you lumps you will not get out.
- Kill the heat. Sprinkle in the potato flakes to thicken, cover, and wait three minutes.
- Pour the oil over the top, stir, and salt it. Add hot water by the splash if it goes past thick into paste.
The home version simmers diced potato and carrot in broth for twenty minutes and then blends half the pot to thicken it. On trail you have neither the fuel nor the blender, so both jobs move to dry ingredients. Bean flakes are already the blended half. Potato flakes do the thickening the moment the heat is off, which is also where the peeled potato went.
Tomato powder replaces the can, and it is the ingredient worth sourcing. Smoked paprika and cumin carry most of what this soup tastes like, so measure them at home rather than shaking jars in the dark. The oil is not optional at these calories — without it this is a thin 400-calorie bowl after a long day.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one quart freezer bag. Oil rides in its own bottle inside a second bag. You can cook the whole thing in the freezer bag inside a cozy if you would rather not scrub a pot.
Variations
- Add 1/2 cup of instant rice and another 250 ml of water for a heavier dinner.
- A crushed chipotle pepper or a squeeze of hot sauce covers for the fire-roasted tomatoes.
- Bouillon made from chicken drops the vegan and vegetarian claims but tastes closer to the original.
https://mealswithmaria.site/easy-pinto-bean-soup