Potato Corn Chowder
Two cans of corn, dried potatoes, and milk powder. A thick pot of chowder without a cooler.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 87
- protein
- 15 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 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
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dehydrated potato dices | 1 cup | or 1/2 cup instant potato flakes, see body |
|---|---|---|
| Canned kernel corn | 1 can (15 oz) | drained, keep the liquid |
| Canned cream-style corn | 1 can (15 oz) | |
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Whole milk powder | 1/2 cup | |
| Butter | 1 tbsp | ghee or olive oil if it is warm out |
| Flour | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil. Add the potato dices, dried onion, salt, and pepper.
- Simmer until the potatoes take a fork without falling apart, about 12 minutes. Add water if the pot goes dry.
- Stir in both cans of corn, including the cream corn and any reserved liquid.
- Whisk the milk powder and flour into 100 ml of cool water in your cup until no lumps remain, then pour it into the pot while stirring.
- Bring it back to a simmer for five minutes so the flour loses its raw taste and the chowder thickens.
- Drop in the butter, stir until it melts, and pull the pot off the heat.
The original wanted fresh potatoes and two cups of hot milk, neither of which travels. Dehydrated potato dices rehydrate in the same water you were going to boil anyway, and whole milk powder mixed into cool water gives you the fat and body that skim or shelf milk cannot. The cans stay because cream-style corn is doing structural work here, not just adding sweetness.
The flour slurry is the part people skip and then wonder why the pot is corn floating in cloudy water. Mix it with the milk powder in cold water first. Dumped dry into a hot pot it seizes into lumps you will be chasing with a spoon for the rest of dinner. If you are counting ounces, potato flakes replace the dices and cut ten minutes of simmering, at the cost of a smoother texture.
Packing
Potato dices, onion, salt, and pepper go in one bag. Milk powder and flour go in a second bag so you can mix the slurry separately. Cans ride at the bottom of the pack and come home as trash.
Variations
- A handful of shredded hard cheese stirred in at the end thickens it further.
- Crumbled bacon bits or a foil packet of clams turns it into a fuller dinner.
- Swap the potato dices for flakes and skip step two entirely.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/potato-corn-chowder