Split Pea and Bacon Soup
Pre-cooked split peas rehydrate in a bag. Shelf-stable bacon does the rest.
- calories
- 480
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 137
- protein
- 24 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 5 min
- total time
- 7 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
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Winter / snow
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Cooked and dehydrated split peas | 1/3 cup | cook them soft at home, then dry them; raw peas will never soften in a bag |
|---|---|---|
| Dry milk powder | 2 tbsp | |
| Shelf-stable bacon or bacon bits | 2 tbsp | about two cooked slices |
| Diced dried carrots | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried hash brown shreds | 1 tbsp | |
| Lower sodium chicken bouillon | 2 tsp | |
| Diced dried onion | 1 tsp | |
| Dried celery flakes | 1 tsp | |
| Dried parsley | 1 tsp | |
| Carrot powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried garlic | 1/4 tsp | |
| Ground black pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Dried chives | 1/4 tsp |
Method
- Boil 475 ml of water.
- Pour it into the freezer bag over the dry mix. Stir until nothing is stuck to the bottom corners.
- Seal the bag, put it in a cozy, and walk away for 15 minutes. Thirty is better.
- Stir again before eating. Any grit on the spoon means it needs more sit time, not more heat.
- One-pot version: boil the water, add the mix, return to a boil, cover, kill the stove, and let it sit 15 minutes.
The work here happens at home. Split peas take 45 minutes of simmering to break down, which no one is doing on a canister at 7 p.m. Cook them soft, dry them, and they rehydrate in the same fifteen minutes as everything else in the bag. Skip that step and you will chew gravel.
Dry milk and the hash brown shreds are what make it a soup instead of broth with peas in it. The potato starch thickens as it sits, so the cozy time is doing real work, not just keeping it warm. Bacon is shelf-stable off the shelf, no cooler needed, and it carries most of the fat.
Packing
Everything goes into one quart freezer bag at home. Write "2 cups water" on the outside; you will not remember at dusk.
Variations
- Above 7,000 ft, add ten minutes of sit time. Above 11,000 ft, simmer it 5 to 10 minutes instead of soaking.
- Swap the chicken bouillon for vegetable and drop the bacon for a meatless version.
- A spoon of olive oil pushes it past 600 calories without adding bulk.
https://trailcooking.com/soups/split-pea-bacon-soup