camp meals

Powdered Egg Breakfast Burritos

Dried eggs, dried peppers, hard cheese, tortillas. A car camp classic rebuilt without a cooler.

calories
620
weight
5.5 oz
cal / oz
113
protein
26 g
serves
2, scales
prep
5 min
cook
8 min
total time
13 min
water
300 ml cold
cost
$$

Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.

  • Breakfast
  • Canister stove
  • Campfire coals
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • Backpacking
  • Vegetarian
  • Nut free
  • One pot
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Basic

Ingredients

Whole egg powder 3/4 cup rehydrates to about 8 eggs
Powdered whole milk 2 tbsp stands in for the heavy cream
Butter or ghee 2 tbsp ghee keeps for weeks unrefrigerated
Dried bell pepper 1/4 cup
Dried chives or freeze-dried scallion 2 tbsp
Aged jack or sharp cheddar 4 oz grate at home, or slice thin in camp
Ground black pepper 1/2 tsp
Salsa 1 cup shelf-stable jar, or salsa powder rehydrated
Flour tortillas 12 six-inch

Method

  1. Cover the dried pepper and chives with 100 ml of cold water and leave them ten minutes while you set up the stove.
  2. Whisk the egg powder, milk powder, and black pepper into 200 ml of cold water until there are no dry lumps. Lumps do not cook out.
  3. Melt the butter in the pot over medium heat. Add the drained vegetables and stir a minute to drive off surface water.
  4. Pour in the egg mixture. Stir constantly. Powdered eggs set faster than fresh, so pull the pot off the heat while they still look slightly wet.
  5. Stir in the cheese off the heat and cover for a minute.
  6. Warm the tortillas one at a time on the empty side of the pot lid or directly over low flame. Fill, spoon salsa over, roll.

The original called for farm eggs, cream, and grated cheese out of a fridge. None of that travels. Egg powder plus powdered milk hits close to the same texture, and it is the reason this works at all: the milk fat keeps the eggs from going rubbery when they overcook, which they will.

The dried pepper needs its ten minutes soaking or it stays crunchy in a way that reads as raw. Drain it before it hits the butter. Water in the pan means steamed eggs instead of scrambled. Hard aged cheese is the one dairy that keeps for days without a cooler, so use jack or cheddar and not anything soft.

Packing

Egg powder, milk powder, pepper, and the dried vegetables go in one bag as a single premix. Tortillas stay flat in the pack against your back panel. Cheese and butter ride in a hard container.

Variations

  • A handful of freeze-dried sausage crumbles or a foil packet of chicken adds real protein.
  • Salsa powder saves the weight of a jar if you are walking in.

https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/breakfast-burritos