Homemade Chili

I wanted to share my recipe for a backpacking staple: Dehydrated Homemade Chili.  With the fall temperatures approaching, there is nothing more appealing than a warm bowl of chili during a frozen sunset.

Although the commercial backpacking meals have improved in quality and variety over the years, I’ve prefer preparing my own meals.  They are fresh, compact and are exactly the quantity I desire.  With my own packaging, I have very little garbage as well.

So let’s discuss Chili.  It’s pretty darn simple.  The meal is prepared in 3 sections: pasta, hamburger, & chili beans.  The following makes 2.5 servings.   With my note at the end, you could stretch it into 3 servings.

Pasta:

• Take 1/4 box (1/4 lb) of your favorite pasta. I like rotini. Boil, drain & dehydrate.  Once I attempted to “cook” the pasta while I re-hydrated on the trail.   That was a mistake.  You simply don’t have enough heat and water to cook the pasta.  Make sure you boil and dehydrate beforehand. In any case, this step is pretty darn easy.
• 1/4 box of rotini takes up 1/2 of my 14X14” dehydration tray.
• 1/4 lb (115 g) of rotini makes 108g of pasta

Ground Beef:

• For dehydration you need to get rid as much of the fat possible. I purchase 93% lean beef because a lot of the work is done beforehand.
• Take 1 lb ground beef and gently brown on low heat in a large frying pan. In practice, I simply throw the beef brick into the pan and break it apart with a wooden spoon. As it breaks apart and browns, the fat liquefies.  Drain the fat off – typically into one of the kidney bean cans. Some sort of funnel helps. Note, you are not really attempting to cook the beef. Yes, you are browning it, but don’t forget you are going to put it into the dehydrator for 12+ hours where it will have ample opportunity to cook some more. Therefore, don’t overcook. If your beef blackens, you’ve over cooked it.
• After you have drained the fat off, pour a slight amount of water over the beef and reheat.  Mix it a bit to “wash” the beef.  During the second fry the water mixes with the liquefied fat. After a few minutes I pour this off. If I plan to be hiking in the next month, that is sufficient amount of fat reduction for dehydrating. However, if it is early in the season and I’ll be using this beef throughout the hiking season, I’ll do this cycle a third time to eliminate the remaining fat.
• I dehydrate 1 lb of beef over two 14” x 14” trays.
• 1 lb of ground beef, makes 109 grams of dehydrated beef.

Chili Beans:

• 1/2 green pepper, 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 cup of frozen corn,  1 cup of carrots chopped
• 1 tablespoon(tbsp) jalapeño chopped
• 1 can (16 oz) each of Mexican style tomatoes, tomato sauce, kidney beans, black beans.
• 2 tbsp each of cumin, chili-powder
• 1 tbsp each salt, & pepper
• 1/4 tsp each of cayenne pepper & paprika (don’t over due it!)
• Mix, cook for 1 hr+
• Try not to each too much.
• Dehydrate

Assemble in a zip-lock bag

• 45g cooked dehydrated hamburger
• 45g cooked dehydrated pasta
• 90g cooked dehydrated chili

• 180g dehydrated meal per serving.   Lately I’ve been cutting down my portions to 150 grams. I  keep the same 1/1/2 proportions.