camp meals

Skillet Sausage and Pepper Hash

One skillet, dried peppers, and a shelf-stable sausage. A camp dinner that does not need a cooler.

calories
780
weight
7 oz
cal / oz
111
protein
30 g
serves
2, scales
prep
5 min
cook
20 min
total time
25 min
water
400 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
  • Campfire coals
  • Canister stove
  • Liquid fuel
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • Canoe / raft
  • Dairy free
  • Nut free
  • One pot
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Basic

Ingredients

Dried hash brown potatoes 2 cups the boxed shelf-stable kind, not frozen
Shelf-stable smoked sausage 12 oz summer sausage or a vacuum-sealed kielbasa
Dried bell peppers 1/2 cup
Dried onion flakes 3 tbsp
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Smoked paprika, garlic powder, black pepper 1 tsp each
Salt 1/2 tsp
Hot sauce packets 2

Method

  1. Put the potatoes, peppers, and onion in the skillet with 400 ml of boiling water. Let them sit off the heat for ten minutes until the water is gone and everything is soft.
  2. Slice the sausage into coins while that happens.
  3. Set the skillet over the fire or stove, add the oil, and stir in the sausage and spices.
  4. Cook about ten minutes, stirring only every minute or two. The stalling is what gets you brown edges instead of mush.
  5. Hit it with hot sauce and eat out of the pan.

Hash is usually a fridge recipe: raw potatoes, fresh peppers, a pound of breakfast sausage. All three have shelf-stable versions that behave nearly the same once water goes back into them, so the whole thing packs dry and rehydrates in the pan it cooks in.

The order matters more than the ingredients. Rehydrate first with the heat off, then fry. If you dump water onto hot oil and sausage you get a steamed pile that never browns. The dried vegetables also give up a little liquid as they cook, which is why the pan needs stretches of undisturbed time to drive it off.

Packing

Potatoes, peppers, onion, and spices go in one bag at home. Sausage stays sealed until camp. Oil rides in a leakproof bottle.

Variations

  • Add a foil pouch of eggs or a shelf-stable egg powder scramble and it becomes breakfast.
  • Swap the sausage for a can of chicken if you want it lighter and cheaper.

https://lunolife.com/en-ca/blogs/journal/camp-cuisine-11-meals-you-need-to-try-this-camping-season