Trail Huevos Rancheros Bake
Tortillas, dehydrated beans, and powdered eggs layered in a dutch oven over coals.
- calories
- 700
- weight
- 7.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 93
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 35 min
- water
- 700 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.
- Breakfast
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Small flour tortillas | 8, 6-inch | |
|---|---|---|
| Dehydrated refried black beans | 1 1/2 cups | |
| Whole egg powder | 3/4 cup | rehydrates to about 6 eggs |
| Hard cheese | 5 oz | monterey jack if you can keep it cool, aged cheddar if not |
| Tomato powder | 1/3 cup | |
| Dried onion flakes | 2 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Cumin | 2 tsp | |
| Ground thyme | 1 tsp | |
| Oregano | 1 tsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Red pepper flakes | 1/2 tsp | more if you want the serrano back |
| Cooking oil | 1 1/2 tbsp |
Method
- Burn a fire down to coals. You want roughly 8 under the oven and 16 on the lid.
- Stir the tomato powder, onion, garlic, cumin, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper flakes into 1 1/2 cups hot water. Let it sit while you do everything else. That is the sauce.
- Whisk the egg powder into 1 cup water until no lumps remain. Do the beans in a separate cup or bag with 1 1/2 cups boiling water.
- Oil the dutch oven. Lay 4 tortillas across the bottom, overlapping. Spread half the beans, half the sauce, and a third of the cheese.
- Repeat with the remaining tortillas, beans, sauce, and another third of the cheese. Pour the egg over the top and finish with the last of the cheese.
- Lid on, coals on top. Twenty to twenty-five minutes. It is done when the center is set and does not jiggle.
- Pull it off the heat and let it sit five minutes before cutting, or it comes out as soup.
The original is an oven casserole with fresh tomatoes, chiles, cilantro, and a blender. None of that survives a weekend in a pack, so the sauce here is tomato powder and dried aromatics rehydrated in hot water. Same cumin, thyme, and oregano doing the work, no blending and no produce to bruise.
The layers matter more than they look. Tortillas on the bottom soak up sauce and keep the beans off the iron, which is where things scorch. The egg goes on last and unbaked so it sets into a lid instead of scrambling into the beans. Cheese is the only thing here that will not last a long trip; on anything past two nights, use a hard aged cheese and accept that it will not melt the same way.
Packing
Combine tomato powder, onion, and all the spices in one small bag at home. Egg powder and beans get their own bags. Tortillas stay flat in the lid of a pot or they arrive as crumbs.
Variations
- A pouch of chorizo or a can of green chiles goes in with the beans.
- Sliced avocado and hot sauce on top if you are day one out of the car.
- No dutch oven: build it in a foil pan on a grill grate and tent the top with foil.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/huevos-rancheros-breakfast-casserole