Sweet Potato Chili for Cold Camps
One pot, two cans of beans, and enough chili to make you sweat in winter.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 15 oz
- cal / oz
- 35
- protein
- 15 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total time
- 50 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
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Sweet potato | 1.5 lb | peeled and cubed at home |
|---|---|---|
| Onion | 1 large | |
| Garlic | 2 cloves | |
| Red chilies | 2 | halve this if you want to taste anything else |
| Oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Ground cumin | 1.5 tsp | |
| Crushed tomatoes | 1 can (14 oz) | |
| Kidney beans | 2 cans (15 oz) | drained and rinsed at home, carried in a bag |
| Dried oregano | 3/4 tsp | |
| Smoked paprika | 3/4 tsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | |
| White bread | 1-2 slices per person |
Method
- Heat the oil in the pot. Add the onion, garlic, and cumin and cook until the onion goes soft and translucent.
- Add the tomatoes, the chopped chilies, and the sweet potato. Pour in water until the cubes are just covered, roughly 400 ml.
- Simmer about 20 minutes, stirring now and then so nothing catches on the bottom. Add a splash of water if it goes dry.
- Stir in the beans, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper. Cook another 10 minutes, until the sweet potato is soft all the way through and the beans are hot.
- Serve with bread for wiping the pot.
This is a simmer, not a boil-and-wait, so it belongs on a fire or a stove you can hold at low heat for half an hour. Sweet potato is the reason: it needs real time to go soft, and the size of your cubes sets the clock. Small cubes cook faster and there is no other trick to it.
Draining the beans at home is worth doing. Canned liquid is dead weight, it makes the pot watery, and rinsing in camp costs water you may not want to spend. The chili heat is doing structural work here too, in cold weather a bland pot of beans reads as filler and a hot one reads as dinner.
Packing
Cube the sweet potato, chop the onion and garlic, and drain and rinse the beans at home. Cut vegetables ride fine in a pack for a day or two in cold weather. Measure the cumin, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper into one small bag so camp cooking is two additions, not five.
Variations
- Halve the chilies and carry the rest whole, sliced in at the bowl by whoever wants them.
- A spoonful of oat-based sour cream substitute cools it down without a cooler.
- Split three ways instead of four if you are burning a winter day's worth of calories.
https://vegeretki.fi/2019/03/28/talviretkeilijan-bataattichili