White Bean Chicken Chili
Freeze-dried chicken, instant beans, and tomato powder rehydrated into a thick chili in one pot.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 124
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 14 min
- water
- 550 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
- Winter / snow
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried cooked chicken | 1.5 oz | canned chunk chicken also works if you accept the weight |
|---|---|---|
| Instant white bean flakes | 1/2 cup | dehydrated cannellini or navy; refried-style flakes rehydrate fastest |
| Tomato powder | 2 tbsp | or 1/4 cup crushed sun-dried tomatoes |
| Chili powder | 1 1/2 tsp | |
| Ground cumin | 1/2 tsp | |
| Smoked paprika | 1/4 tsp | stands in for the fire-roasting |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Chicken bouillon | 1 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Boil 550 ml of water. Stir in the chicken, onion, and bouillon and let it sit off heat for five minutes so the meat softens before anything thickens around it.
- Return to a low flame. Add the bean flakes and tomato powder in stages, stirring, until it stops sloshing.
- Add the spice mix. Simmer two or three minutes, stirring so the bottom does not scorch.
- Kill the heat, pour in the oil, and cover for two minutes. Salt and pepper at the end, since the bouillon is already doing most of the work.
The original is a stovetop simmer built on canned beans, canned tomatoes, and a cup of broth. On trail all three of those are water you would be carrying, so they come out: bean flakes for the cans, tomato powder for the tomatoes, bouillon for the broth. The result rehydrates in one pot with a single boil and lands somewhere near the same place.
Order matters more than technique. Freeze-dried chicken needs open water and a few quiet minutes to come back; once the bean flakes go in, the pot is thick enough that nothing else absorbs properly. Smoked paprika covers for the fire-roasted tomatoes, and the oil at the end is where most of the calories live, since dried beans and lean chicken are almost none.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one bag except the chicken, which is bulkier and should ride in its own. Oil in a leakproof dropper bottle.
Variations
- A squeeze of lime powder or a packet of hot sauce cuts through the starch.
- Swap the chicken for a second scoop of bean flakes and vegetable bouillon for a meatless version.
- Crushed corn chips stirred in at the end add fat and something to chew.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/healthy-chicken-white-bean-chili