Skillet Jambalaya, Trailhead Version
Andouille, dried shrimp, and rice in one pot. Built for the first night out.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 103
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 35 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
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Andouille sausage | 4 oz | shelf-stable dry-cured, sliced thin at home |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried shrimp | 1.5 oz | or dried bay shrimp from an Asian market |
| Instant white rice | 1 1/2 cups | parboiled, not raw long-grain |
| Tomato powder | 3 tbsp | |
| Cajun or Creole seasoning | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried onion, celery, and bell pepper flakes | 1/4 cup total | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Bouillon | 1 cube or 1 tsp powder | chicken |
| Bay leaf | 1 | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil with the bay leaf, bouillon, tomato powder, and the dried vegetable flakes. Let it sit at a low boil for five minutes so the vegetables rehydrate.
- Add the sausage and the shrimp. Simmer two minutes.
- Stir in the rice and the seasoning. Kill the heat, cover the pot, and leave it alone for ten minutes.
- Fish out the bay leaf. Stir in the oil and eat straight from the pot.
The original is an oven dish: browned chicken thighs, raw long-grain rice, canned tomato sauce, an hour at 350. None of that travels. The chicken becomes cured andouille, which needs no cold and no browning. The tomato sauce becomes tomato powder. The trinity becomes dried flakes. Raw rice becomes instant rice, because forty minutes of simmering rice is forty minutes of fuel you did not carry.
The order matters more than the timing. Vegetable flakes need real boiling water to soften, so they go first and alone. Rice goes in last and off the heat, where it steams instead of scorching to the bottom of the pot. The oil at the end replaces the rendered sausage fat you would have gotten from a skillet.
Packing
Rice, tomato powder, vegetable flakes, bouillon, garlic, and seasoning go in one bag. Sausage and shrimp in a second bag so the fat and salt stay off the dry mix. Oil in a dropper bottle.
Variations
- Freeze-dried chicken instead of shrimp if seafood on the trail makes you nervous.
- A packet of hot sauce at the end does what a fresh pepper would.
- Double the rice and stretch it to three people; add 200 ml more water.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/seafood-and-chicken-jambalaya