Poblano Chicken Skillet
Roasted chiles, freeze-dried chicken, and powdered cream cheese in one pan.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- 400 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
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried chicken | 4 oz | shredded or diced, not canned |
|---|---|---|
| Dried poblano chiles | 1/2 cup | roast, peel, seed, and dehydrate at home |
| Powdered cream cheese | 1/3 cup | sold as a baking ingredient |
| Whole milk powder | 3 tbsp | |
| Sour cream powder | 2 tbsp | stands in for crema |
| Dried sweet corn | 1/3 cup | |
| Dried onion flakes | 2 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Onion powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried cilantro | 1 tbsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | replaces the butter |
Method
- Bring 400 ml of water to a boil. Add the chicken, poblano, corn, and onion flakes.
- Simmer five minutes, then pull it off the heat and let it sit covered another five. The chiles need the full soak or they stay leathery.
- Off the heat, sprinkle in the cream cheese powder, milk powder, and sour cream powder a spoonful at a time, stirring between additions. Dumping it all at once makes lumps you will not get out.
- Stir in the oil, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, and cilantro. Put it back over a low flame for a minute if it needs to tighten up.
The original is a cast iron dish built on cream cheese, crema, milk, and butter, which is four refrigerated things in one pan. All four are available as powders, and rehydrated off the heat they behave close enough. Roasting and peeling the poblanos at home before drying them is the step that matters most; raw dried chile is bitter and never softens.
Rehydration order does the work here. Protein and vegetables go into boiling water, dairy goes in after the pot is off the flame. Reversed, the cream cheese powder scorches on the bottom and you spend the rest of the night scraping.
Packing
Two bags. Chicken, chiles, corn, and onion flakes in one; the three powders and the spices in the other. Keeping the dairy powders out of the boil bag is the whole trick.
Variations
- Crumbled queso fresco holds a day out of the cooler if you are car camping.
- A packet of instant rice or a few corn tortillas turns two servings into three.
- A squeeze of lime powder cuts the richness.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/chicken-poblano