Occasionally I appreciate a blueberry pancake or a bowl of Captain Crunch. But my standard breakfast at home entails eggs, cheese, toast or a tortilla, with some hot sauce or salsa.
When I delegated the meal preparation this year to David, a local ultra runner who has worked at Boulder’s best restaurants (currently, at Flagstaff House), I tasked him with developing a recipe along these lines.
David came back with this Southwest Egg Burrito. Admittedly, it’s fussier than other backpacking recipes, but it’s still my personal favorite.
Meal stats
- 4.8 ounces
- 478 calories
- 100 calories per ounce
Ingredients
This breakfast could be made with as few as two ingredients: dehydrated eggs and a tortilla. But it’d be tasteless, and I’d encourage you to at least add cheese and salt. The other ingredients are optional, but they take this meal to another level and give it some geographical affiliation.
The 4.5-ounce serving size is field-tested and is appropriate for most backpacker appetites. But if you’d like to add calories (and flavor), consider crumbled bacon.
For those with a milk/lactose sensitivity, Augason Farms and other vendors offer whole dried eggs (sans milk).
Conveniently, the dried beans are the cornerstone of another recipe, my world famous Beans & Rice with Fritos & Cheese. Odds are that you already have some around, or should.
The powdered cheese is more user-friendly than fresh cheese, since it can be prepared beforehand and since it’s not temperature sensitive. However, fresh cheese is a perfectly acceptable substitute; I recommend sharp cheddar.
Our 10- and 12-person groups will easily use up a 4-ounce can of green chilies. But for smaller groups and soloists, dried green chilies or hot sauce may be a better option.
At-home preparation
Combine all of the dry ingredients for a single serving, and pack them in a plastic snack bag.
Do NOT combine dry ingredients for multiple meals, like on a multi-day trip or on a group trip. You will be unable to divide the ingredients precisely in the field, and this recipe calls for a very specific ratio of water to egg mix.
On group trips, we keep the green chilies and tortillas together, and distribute them in the field at meal time.
Field preparation
With most of my meals, the instructions are simple: boil water and add the ingredients (to paraphrase). This meal is an exception. Follow these instructions closely:
- Combine all dry ingredients and spices with exactly 4 ounces (a half cup, or 120 ml) of cold water.
- Bring to a simmer, scraping the eggs regularly to avoid scorching them to the bottom of your pot. At times, you may want to remove your pot from the flame.
- Once fully cooked, remove from heat. Add chilies and possibly cheese, and transfer to the tortilla.
I want to emphasize three points, because this meal can be easily ruined by glossing over the cooking instructions:
- 4 ounces of water. If you use too much, you’ll get egg soup.
- Cold water. If you add the dry ingredients to hot water, the eggs will harden into nuggets, leaving you with egg nugget soup.
- Scrape regularly. Act as if you’re cooking scrambled eggs at home without a non-stick pan or cooking spray. But don’t stir them so vigorously that they become whipped either.
Have questions or an experience with this meal? Leave a comment.
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Tags: Meal time: Backpacking breakfast & dinner recipes
Looks great. One of my staples is pretty much what you describe, inspired by your Frito beans, rice, and cheese, but using instant polenta rather than tortillas, sacrificing texture for simplicity, volume, and shelf (pack) stability. I’ve also taken to drying fresh salsa, spreading it on parchment paper in the sun like fruit leather, in place of taco seasoning.
Paul, that sounds good. I assume you’re cooking the corn meal right in with the rest off it?
Pretty good first try…
https://imgur.com/gallery/V6BN12O
I’m not sure I would go through all this trouble in the field but it’s a nice option to have. Making it correctly is definitely an art AND a science.
Had to add the Fritos…
What brand is that collapsible spoon you’re using?
Not sure, not mine.
MSR Alpine Collapsible Utensils
My 12y.o. boy is kind of a picky eater…espeically when it comes to breakfast. At home he usually eats toast and a pancake. I make a bunch and freeze them. To minimize high-fructose corn syrup, I just make chocolate chip pancakes which he eats without syrup.
In the backcountry, I use Kodiak cake mix and chocolate chips. I enjoy the change up from the heavy Backpacker’s Pantry meals as well; especially on a day where we aren’t hiking much. I just bring a little fry pan in addition to the standard pot.
But on basketball game days…which is just about every Saturday or Sunday, I make breakfast burritos so he has a little extra bulk and protein. On our last trip I thought about making them but thought of using the backpacker’s pantry scrambled eggs as the base. It’s 2 servings and I could easily split it between us.
Maybe I’ll try giving the above a go.
The rest of your ideas look great.
Hi, Andrew! These recipe ideas look great, and I’ll likely be trying out a few this summer. I notice, however, that the Google doc lists of ingredients have been deleted. Any possibility those will be restored soon?
In the meantime, thanks for making this resource available!
It should be fixed.
Hi Andrew this is amazing! I’ve made it numerous times on backpacking trips with my daughter. We both love it. Thanks for posting it!
As a previous comment noted the Google list of ingredients doesn’t show up – it had a message that Google Docs encountered an error. It appears to be happening on several of the meal pages. I hope that can be fixed – your recipes are spot on perfect!
Are the ingredient lists showing up now? I just purged the cache for the entire website, so you should be getting a fresh read on the page.
We are still unable to see the google docs section of the actual recipe. This is happening across all the recipes. You may need to check the google doc links sharing permissions.
Google Docs encountered an error. Please try reloading this page, or coming back to it in a few minutes.
To learn more about the Google Docs editors, please visit our help center.
We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
– The Google Docs Team
It’s not on my end, and everything displays just fine for me.
You might try using incognito mode, clearing your browswer’s cache, or using another browser or device. Apologies for the inconvenience — I’m looking for a solution that will work for everyone, but so far have not found it.
Incognito mode worked. Thanks! Was having the issue across multiple devices but incognito mode worked both times. Have a good one!
Works fine for me too. I think Andrews recommendations are a good place to start.
Incognito mode did the trick for me.
Just made this for my lunch at home to try it out. I was surprised by how tasty it is. I am going to try it out on this weekend’s one overnight backpacking trip to see if it’s worth the effort in the field.
Tried this out at home in preparation for a couple trips this summer. My picky 11-year old reluctantly tried a bite. Her eyes literally widened by 20% and she whispered, “so many flavors.” Then asked if we could have this on our trip. Thanks for the great recipes!