Spicy Mac and Rotel
Boxed mac and cheese with a drained can of tomatoes and chiles stirred through.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 104
- protein
- 22 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 14 min
- water
- 900 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
- Canoe / raft
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Boxed macaroni and cheese | 1 box | buy the kind with a liquid cheese pouch, not the powder |
|---|---|---|
| Canned diced tomatoes with green chiles | 1 can (10 oz) | drain it hard or the pot turns to soup |
| Canned chicken | 1 can (10 oz) | or a pouch of chicken; drained |
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | stands in for the butter the box asks for |
Method
- Boil about 900 ml of water. Add the macaroni and the dried onion and cook until the pasta gives, roughly 8 minutes.
- Drain off the water. Downhill, away from camp and away from water sources.
- Stir in the cheese pouch and the oil off the heat.
- Add the drained tomatoes and the drained chicken. Put the pot back over low heat for a minute or two, just long enough to warm through.
- Stir and eat out of the pot.
Boxed mac is engineered to be foolproof, which is exactly what you want at the end of a driving day. The tomatoes and chiles are doing the work: acid and heat cut through cheese sauce that otherwise sits flat after the first few bites.
Two details matter. Buy the box with the liquid cheese pouch, because the powdered kind needs milk and butter you do not have. And drain the can properly, since the packing liquid is mostly water and it will thin the sauce into something you drink instead of eat.
Packing
Box, oil, and dried onion in one bag. The two cans are the weight, so this is a meal for a vehicle or a boat, not a pack.
Variations
- Swap the chicken for a foil pouch of tuna or a browned tube of ground beef if you have a cooler.
- Leave the meat out entirely and it becomes a side dish for four.
- A packet of taco seasoning pushes the heat further if the chiles are mild.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/spicy-mac-cheese