Sausage Creole Rice
Spanish rice mix, cured sausage, and canned tomatoes in one pot over coals.
- calories
- 690
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 63
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 30 min
- total time
- 40 min
- water
- 475 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
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Smoked sausage or kielbasa | 2 lbs | fully cooked and shelf-stable until opened |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish rice mix | 2 packages, about 7 oz each | seasoning included |
| Canned diced or stewed tomatoes | 2 cans | undrained, the liquid counts as water |
| Olive oil | 4 tbsp | |
| Red bell pepper | 1 | or 1/2 cup dried bell pepper flakes |
| Onion | 1/2 cup chopped | or 3 tbsp dried minced onion |
| Celery | 2/3 cup chopped | skip it if you are not carrying a cooler |
| Sliced green olives | 1/2 cup | drained, from a jar or a pouch |
| Cayenne pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Water | 2 cups |
Method
- Burn a fire down to coals, or light about 20 briquettes and let them ash over.
- Cut the sausage into half-inch coins and dice the pepper, onion, and celery.
- Set the 12-inch dutch oven over a full bed of coals with nothing on the lid. Add the oil and cook the pepper, onion, and celery until they soften, about five minutes.
- Add the sausage, both cans of tomatoes with their juice, the rice mixes, olives, cayenne, and 2 cups of water. Stir and bring it to a boil.
- Pull most of the coals out from under the oven, leaving about four, and put eight on the lid.
- Simmer roughly 25 minutes, stirring every five or so, until the rice is soft and the liquid is gone. Scrape the bottom when you stir or the rice welds itself down.
This is a boxed-rice dinner doing more work than it was designed for. The two seasoning packets handle all the salt and spice, the tomato juice replaces part of the water, and the sausage renders enough fat to carry the whole pot. Nothing here needs a second pan.
Coal placement is the only real technique. Full heat underneath to reach a boil, then four briquettes below and eight above so the rice steams instead of scorching. If you are cooler-free, the dried pepper and onion swap in the variations gets you the same dish with nothing that can spoil.
Packing
Rice mixes, cayenne, and dried vegetables ride in one bag. Sausage and cans go in the food box; once the sausage is opened it needs to be eaten that night. A 10-inch oven takes about three-quarters of everything at the same heat and time.
Variations
- Swap the fresh vegetables for dried pepper and onion flakes and this becomes a no-cooler meal. Add them with the water, not the oil.
- Shelf-stable summer sausage or a pouch of chicken works if you cannot keep kielbasa cold.
- A can of red beans, drained, stretches it to eight people.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/sausage_creole-1799.asp