Pumpkin Chili
Chili powder, cocoa, and pumpkin pie spice over dried pumpkin and instant beans. One pot, one boil.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 38 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
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried ground beef | 2 oz | or a foil pouch of cooked beef crumbles |
|---|---|---|
| Instant refried or flaked red beans | 1/2 cup | instant, not canned; canned beans weigh four times as much |
| Pumpkin powder | 1/4 cup | dehydrated pumpkin puree, ground fine |
| Tomato powder | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried onion and dried bell pepper flakes | 3 tbsp total | |
| Chili powder | 1 tbsp | |
| Cocoa powder | 1 tsp | unsweetened |
| Pumpkin pie spice | 1/2 tsp | |
| Cayenne pepper | 1/8 tsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | 1/2 tsp salt, a few grinds pepper | |
| Apple cider drink powder | 2 tbsp | the instant spiced cider packet from the grocery store |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Hot sauce | to taste | a small bottle, or a few dried chile flakes instead |
Method
- Boil 600 ml of water. Kill the heat and dump in the whole premix bag.
- Stir well, cover, and let it sit ten minutes. The onion, pepper, and beef need the full time to come back.
- Stir again. If it is still thin, wait two more minutes; the pumpkin and bean powders keep thickening as they cool.
- Pour the oil over the top and add hot sauce. Eat from the pot.
The original is a pressure-cooker chili built on a can of pumpkin, a can of beans, a can of tomatoes, and a cup of apple cider. That is roughly four pounds of water carried up a hill. Every wet component here is the powdered version of itself, and the water goes in at camp instead.
The pumpkin is not a gimmick. Its starch is what thickens the pot, which matters more on trail than at home because there is no simmering-down step to lose liquid. Cocoa and pumpkin pie spice sound odd together in a chili and are the reason it tastes like something other than dumped-out powder. The cider packet replaces the cup of cider: sugar and apple, no volume.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one quart freezer bag at home, beef included. Oil rides in a dropper bottle and the hot sauce in a mini bottle, both outside the food bag.
Variations
- Skip the beef and add another 1/4 cup of instant beans for a vegan version.
- Corn chips crushed in at the end give it texture and another 150 calories.
- No pumpkin powder: a 1/4 cup of dehydrated sweet potato flakes gets you most of the way there.
https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/instant-pot-pumpkin-chili