Trail BBQ Chicken and Rice
Freeze-dried chicken and a pantry BBQ sauce, rebuilt to work in one pot.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 17 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
- Bikepacking
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried cooked chicken | 2 oz | replaces the bone-in thighs; rehydrates in about ten minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Instant rice | 3/4 cup | the parboiled kind that finishes off-heat |
| Tomato powder | 2 tbsp | stands in for ketchup |
| Brown sugar | 1 tbsp | honey works if you already carry it |
| Soy sauce powder | 2 tsp | or 1 tbsp coconut aminos in a dropper bottle |
| Mustard powder | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Onion powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried thyme | 1/4 tsp | |
| Dried parsley | 1 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt | to taste | the powdered soy is already salty, so taste first |
Method
- Boil 600 ml of water. Drop in the chicken and pull the pot off the heat.
- Wait five minutes. The chicken needs a head start or it stays rubbery in the middle.
- Bring it back to a boil, stir in the rice, and cover. Off heat, ten minutes.
- Uncover and stir in the sauce powders. They thicken as the last of the water goes.
- Pour the oil over and stir. If it looks dry, another splash of hot water fixes it.
The original is a slow cooker dish: bone-in thighs sitting for hours in ketchup, soy sauce, honey, and mustard until the sauce reduces around them. None of that survives a trail kitchen. Long braises need fuel you are not carrying, and the sauce ingredients are wet weight. So the meat becomes freeze-dried chicken and the sauce becomes its powdered parts, added at the end where they still taste like something.
Order matters more than technique here. Chicken rehydrates slowly and rice rehydrates fast, so the chicken goes in first and gets its own five minutes before the rice ever touches water. The sauce powders go in last because tomato and sugar scorch on a hot pot bottom, and because stirring them into an already-thick pot is how you avoid a lumpy paste. The oil is not optional — it carries the spice flavor and puts the calorie count where a dinner needs it.
Packing
Sauce powders and spices go in one small bag, mixed at home. Rice and chicken in a second. Oil rides in a dropper bottle, upright, in a side pocket.
Variations
- A foil pouch of chicken instead of freeze-dried skips the soak, but adds water weight and a wrapper to pack out.
- Instant refried beans in place of half the rice add fiber and thicken it faster.
- A pinch of smoked paprika or chipotle gets it closer to real barbecue.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/slow-cooker-chicken-thighs