Turkey and Black Bean Chili, Dried
Cocoa in the spice mix, freeze-dried turkey in the bag. Rehydrates into a real chili at 9,000 feet.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 14 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
- Liquid fuel
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Winter / snow
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried ground turkey | 2 oz | or dehydrate 1 lb cooked lean turkey at home, which yields about four servings |
|---|---|---|
| Instant black bean flakes | 1/3 cup | whole dried beans will not soften in a camp pot |
| Tomato powder | 3 tbsp | |
| Dried zucchini and bell pepper | 1/3 cup | sliced thin before drying or they stay leathery |
| Freeze-dried corn | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Chili powder | 2 tsp | |
| Cumin | 1 tsp | |
| Smoked paprika | 1/2 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Cocoa powder | 1 tsp | unsweetened |
| Cayenne | a pinch | leave it out if you are feeding a crowd |
| Bouillon | 1 tsp | chicken or beef |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil. Dump in everything from the bag except the oil.
- Stir well, cover, and hold at a bare simmer for five minutes. Stir every minute so the bean flakes do not weld to the bottom.
- Kill the heat and let it sit covered for another five. The vegetables need the soak more than they need the boil.
- Stir in the oil, taste, and add salt. Thin with a splash of hot water if it went past thick into paste.
The original is a four-hour stovetop chili, which is a stove-fuel problem rather than a recipe. Everything wet got dried and everything slow got swapped: bean flakes instead of canned beans, tomato powder instead of crushed tomatoes, bouillon instead of broth. The vegetables were the real weight — zucchini, peppers, and corn are almost entirely water — so they go on the dehydrator tray at home and come back in the pot.
The cocoa is worth keeping. A teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa gives the sauce a darker, rounder edge and some body, which matters more here than it does at home, since a rehydrated chili tends to taste thin. The oil goes in off the heat at the end: it is a third of the calories and does nothing useful while boiling. Fresh toppings are gone, so the salt and the cayenne have to do that work instead.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one quart freezer bag. Oil rides in a dropper bottle. If you are carrying multiple nights, label the bags, because they all look the same by day three.
Variations
- Swap freeze-dried beef or chicken for the turkey with no other changes.
- A crushed corn tortilla or a handful of Fritos stirred in at the end adds fat and structure. That drops the gluten-free claim if the chips are not corn-only.
- Instant refried beans in place of the black bean flakes thicken it faster.
https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/crockpot-turkey-and-vegetable-chili