Red Lentil and Sausage Stew
Red lentils, dried vegetables, and cured sausage boiled into a hot bowl on a cold night.
- calories
- 455
- weight
- 7.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 61
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 13 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 300 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
- Thru-hike
- Winter / snow
- Bikepacking
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Red lentils | 70 g | about 1/3 cup; red only, brown ones take three times as long |
|---|---|---|
| Beef stock powder or bouillon cube | 1 tsp | |
| Dried Italian herbs | 1 tsp | |
| Dried vegetable mix | 2 tbsp | leek, carrot, celery, onion, parsley |
| Smoked paprika | 1 heaping tsp | |
| Dry cured sausage | 1 stick, about 4 oz | salami, landjaeger, or a smoked snack stick |
Method
- Put 300 ml of cold water in the pot, dump in the bag of lentils, stock powder, herbs, vegetables, and paprika, and stir once.
- Bring it to a boil with the lid on. On a small alcohol stove that takes about six minutes.
- Keep it at a low boil 5 to 8 minutes, stirring now and then so the lentils do not catch on the bottom.
- Cut the sausage into coins and drop them in for the last two minutes to warm through.
- If you are short on fuel, boil it, cut the heat, and let the covered pot sit 15 minutes in a cozy instead.
Red lentils are the only legume worth carrying for a one-pot dinner. They break down in under ten minutes without soaking, and as they break down they thicken the water into an actual stew rather than leaving you with beans in broth. Everything else in the bag is powder and dried vegetable, so the whole thing rehydrates in the same 300 ml.
The cured sausage is doing two jobs: fat, which lentils have none of, and salt, which you want after a long day. It goes in at the very end because it is already cooked and boiling it just leaches the fat out into the pot. Smoked paprika is what keeps this from tasting like plain lentil mush, so do not cut the amount.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one bag at home. Leave the sausage sealed in its own wrapper until you cut it, since an opened stick goes off fast in a warm pack.
Variations
- Swap in vegetable stock and skip the sausage for a meatless version; add olive oil back for the lost calories.
- A spoonful of tomato powder thickens it and rounds out the paprika.
- Instant potato flakes stirred in at the end turn it from stew into something closer to a mash.
https://www.hikeforpurpose.com/trail-meal-red-lentil-sausage-stew