Shredded Chicken and Pepper Sandwiches
Pouch chicken simmered with peppers and tomato, piled on buns with slaw.
- calories
- 430
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 61
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- 60 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.
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Avocado oil | 1 tbsp | any cooking oil works |
|---|---|---|
| Granulated chicken bouillon | 1 tsp | |
| Dried bell pepper strips | 1/2 cup | or 1 fresh pepper, sliced, on day one |
| Dried onion slices | 1/2 cup | or 1 small red onion |
| Tomato sauce | 1/2 cup | shelf-stable pouch or small can |
| Water | 1/4 cup | more if using dried vegetables |
| Foil-pouch chicken | 3 pouches, about 15 oz total | break it up with a fork |
| Shredded cabbage slaw mix | 2 cups | bagged, no dressing needed |
| Potato buns | 4 |
Method
- If you packed dried peppers and onion, cover them with 1/2 cup of hot water and let them sit ten minutes. Drain off whatever they did not take up.
- Heat the oil in the pot over a low flame. Add the bouillon, peppers, and onion and stir until the onion softens, five to seven minutes.
- Pour in the tomato sauce and 1/4 cup of water. Stir and let it come to a bare simmer.
- Fork the chicken into the pot and stir it through the sauce. Five more minutes, uncovered, until the liquid clings instead of pooling.
- Split the buns, spoon in the chicken, and top with a handful of dry slaw.
The original was a way to finish off a rotisserie chicken. On the trail there is no rotisserie and no leftovers, so the chicken comes from foil pouches, which are shelf-stable, already cooked, and shred with a fork. Dried peppers and onion stand in for fresh once you are past the first day out of the cooler.
The sauce does the real work. Bouillon plus tomato sauce reduced down to a glaze is what keeps a bun from going soggy and what makes pouch chicken taste like something other than pouch chicken. Cook it until the liquid clings to the meat. The slaw goes on dry and cold for crunch, so it can be the last bagged thing you have.
Packing
Dried vegetables, bouillon, and slaw mix each ride in their own bag. Buns go on top of the pack or they arrive as crumbs. Tomato sauce in a pouch, not a can, if you have the choice.
Variations
- Skip the buns and serve it over instant rice for a gluten-free one-pot dinner.
- A squeeze of sriracha or a spoon of chipotle powder gives it some heat.
- No slaw? Shredded carrot or crushed corn chips give you the same crunch.
https://morefood.org/one-chicken-several-meals-part-3