Taco Potato Chowder
Instant potatoes, freeze-dried corn, and taco spice. A slow cooker soup rebuilt for one pot and one boil.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 144
- protein
- 18 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 12 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
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 3/4 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried corn | 1/3 cup | |
| Dried diced potatoes | 1/4 cup | the hash-brown kind, they hold their shape |
| Chicken bouillon powder | 2 tsp | |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried celery flakes | 1 tsp | |
| Taco seasoning | 1 tbsp | |
| Ground cumin | 1/2 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Cayenne | a pinch | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste | |
| Bacon crumbles | 1 oz | shelf-stable pouch, or leave out |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | stands in for the bacon grease |
Method
- Boil 600 ml of water. Stir in the diced potatoes, corn, onion, celery, and bouillon.
- Simmer five minutes with the lid on. The diced potatoes and corn need that time to rehydrate; the flakes do not.
- Cut the heat. Add the taco seasoning, cumin, garlic powder, and cayenne and stir.
- Rain in the potato flakes a spoonful at a time until it thickens to chowder. Stop before it turns into mashed potatoes.
- Pour in the oil, scatter the bacon over the top, and let it sit two minutes. Salt and pepper at the end.
The original is a slow cooker soup: raw potatoes, fresh corn, chicken stock, and a cauliflower puree for body, all left to sit for hours. None of that travels. The rebuild splits the potato into two jobs. Dried diced potatoes simmer and give you something to chew on; instant flakes go in off the heat and do what the cauliflower sauce did, thickening the pot without any dairy.
Order matters more than technique here. Spices added at the boil go flat, and flakes added at the boil clump, so both wait until the stove is off. The oil is not optional — it replaces the bacon grease and the cream at once, and without it the whole thing reads as thin and salty.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one freezer bag, spices included. Oil rides in a dropper bottle and the bacon in its own pouch so the grease stays out of the powder.
Variations
- A foil packet of chicken turns it into a heavier dinner for another 20 g of protein.
- Crushed corn chips on top give it the crunch the fresh version got from toppings.
- Swap the bouillon for vegetable and drop the bacon to make it vegan.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/recipe-slow-cooker-mexican-corn-and-potato-chowder