White Chicken Chili, Trail Version
Salsa verde, white beans, and chicken, rebuilt out of dried parts and one pot.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 45 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 25 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
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant refried white beans or dehydrated great northern beans | 3/4 cup | instant flakes rehydrate in minutes; whole dried beans will not |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried or canned-and-dehydrated chicken | 2 oz dry | |
| Dehydrated salsa verde | 3 tbsp | spread a jar thin on trays and dry it to a leather, then grind |
| Dried sweet corn | 1/4 cup | |
| Dried diced carrot, celery, and zucchini | 1/4 cup total | |
| Dried green chiles | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried minced onion and garlic | 1 tbsp | |
| Cumin and oregano | 1 tsp | |
| Powdered whole milk or coconut milk powder | 2 tbsp | stands in for the cream cheese |
| Chicken bouillon | 1 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt | to taste | |
| Lime | 1 wedge or 1/4 tsp citric acid | |
| Corn chips | 1 crushed handful | packed separately |
Method
- Boil 600 ml of water. Add everything except the bean flakes, the milk powder, the oil, and the chips.
- Simmer 8 minutes, lid on, stirring once. The corn and carrot are the slowest parts; they set the clock.
- Cut the heat. Stir in the bean flakes a spoonful at a time until it thickens.
- Stir in the milk powder and the oil, then the lime. Let it sit 3 minutes covered.
- Crush the chips over the top and eat out of the pot.
The original is a slow cooker recipe: eight hours, a block of cream cheese, a pile of fresh vegetables. None of that travels. What survives the move is the flavor structure, which is really just salsa verde, cumin, and white beans. Dry the salsa into a leather at home and it carries in three tablespoons instead of a jar.
Bean flakes replace both the whole beans and the cream cheese. They rehydrate off the heat in a minute and thicken the pot at the same time, which is the job the dairy was doing. Milk powder and oil put the fat back. Add the lime at the end, after the heat is off, or it flattens out.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one bag except the oil and the chips. Grind the salsa leather with the spices so it disperses instead of sitting in clumps.
Variations
- Swap the chicken for another 1/4 cup of bean flakes to make it vegetarian.
- A pinch of cayenne or a dried chile does what the fresh red peppers were doing.
- Cold-soak it in a jar for two hours if you are out of fuel. Thinner, but it works.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/slow-cooker-white-chicken-chili