Ritz Chicken Skillet
Freeze-dried chicken, cracker crumbs, and a powdered cream gravy. A casserole rebuilt without a fridge or a slow cooker.
- calories
- 700
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 127
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- 500 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
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried shredded chicken | 3 oz | canned chunk chicken works if you are car-camping and weight is free |
|---|---|---|
| Cream of mushroom or chicken soup mix | 1 packet | the dry condensed-style mix, not the canned soup |
| Sour cream powder | 1/4 cup | |
| Ranch seasoning | 1/2 packet | |
| Ritz crackers | 1 sleeve | crushed at home, in a bag with the air pressed out |
| Butter powder | 2 tbsp | or 2 tbsp real butter if it is cold out |
| Instant rice | 1 cup | cooked separately or served alongside |
Method
- Boil 500 ml of water. Pour about 250 ml over the freeze-dried chicken in the pot and let it sit five minutes with the lid on.
- Whisk the soup mix, sour cream powder, butter powder, and ranch seasoning into the remaining hot water in a mug or bag until there are no dry lumps.
- Pour the gravy into the pot with the chicken. Set it back on a low flame and stir until it thickens, two or three minutes. Do not let it catch on the bottom.
- Kill the heat. Stir in half the cracker crumbs to thicken it further, then dump the rest over the top so they stay crisp.
- Eat straight from the pot, or spoon it over instant rice made in a bag.
The original is a slow cooker dish: raw chicken breasts under a sour cream and condensed soup blanket, buttered Ritz on top, four hours on low. None of that survives a trailhead. Refrigerated sour cream, a can of soup, and a four-hour cook are all non-starters, so the whole thing is rebuilt as a fifteen-minute pot dish. Freeze-dried chicken replaces the breasts, powdered sour cream and dry soup mix replace the wet dairy, and butter powder carries the fat.
The crackers are doing two jobs, which is why they go in twice. Half get stirred in and dissolve, which is what actually thickens the gravy into something that clings instead of running. The other half go on last and stay crunchy for about as long as it takes to eat. Ranch seasoning is most of the flavor here, so measure it rather than eyeballing it.
Packing
Soup mix, sour cream powder, butter powder, and ranch go in one bag as a single gravy premix. Crackers ride in their own bag or they turn to dust and lose the point. Chicken stays separate so it can rehydrate on its own.
Variations
- Canned chicken and real butter make this better and heavier. Fine for car camping.
- A handful of dried mushrooms in with the chicken adds back what the soup packet only gestures at.
- Skip the crackers and stir in instant potato flakes instead for a gluten-lighter, denser version.
https://mealswithmaria.site/slow-cooker-ritz-chicken-recipe