Trail Beef Chili
Freeze-dried ground beef, instant refried beans, and tomato powder rebuilt into a chili that finishes in one pot.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 12 min
- water
- 500 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
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Car camping
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried ground beef | 2 oz | crumbles rehydrate faster than chunks |
|---|---|---|
| Instant refried red beans | 1/3 cup | flake form, not whole beans |
| Tomato powder | 3 tbsp | stands in for canned tomatoes and paste |
| Beef bouillon | 1 tsp | |
| Chili powder | 1 tbsp | |
| Ground cumin | 1 tsp | |
| Ground coriander | 1/2 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Corn chips | 1 oz | crushed on top at the end |
Method
- Boil 500 ml of water. Kill the heat and stir in the beef crumbles and dried onion. Cover and wait five minutes.
- Relight and bring it back to a simmer. Stir in the tomato powder, bouillon, and all the spices until no dry lumps are left.
- Add the bean flakes a spoonful at a time, stirring. Stop when it holds a spoon track.
- Off the heat, stir in the oil. Let it sit two minutes, then crush the chips over the top.
Home chili simmers thirty minutes because raw beef and canned tomatoes need that long to turn into one thing. On trail nothing here is raw, so the time collapses. The rehydration is the only real wait, and it happens off the stove with the lid on, which saves fuel.
Tomato powder does the work of both the canned tomatoes and the paste without carrying their water. Bean flakes replace the drained can and double as the thickener, so you can dial the texture by how much you add rather than by boiling liquid off. Sour cream and cheese don’t travel, so the chips carry the salt and fat instead.
Packing
Everything dry except the chips goes in one bag: beef, beans, tomato powder, bouillon, spices. Chips ride in their own bag or you carry dust.
Variations
- Freeze-dried corn added with the beef gives it sweetness and bulk.
- A tablespoon of powdered cheese stirred in at the end replaces the sour cream.
- Swap in freeze-dried ground turkey if you want it leaner.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/beef-chili-recipe