Our dehydrated picadillo recipe is a spicy Latin-American stew of meat and a few vegetables. Picadillo is often made with raisins and olives and could be used as a filling for tacos or served along with some rice, beans, or both rice and beans.
Taking our Dehydrator Chef approach, we’re dehydrating individual ingredients that will be easy to reconstitute in a reasonable period. With some pre-planning, you could make several picadillo ready-to-eat meal packets and have left-over dehydrated ingredients for other recipes.
So let’s get started.
Table of Contents
- Dehydrated Picadillo Recipe
- Supplies and Tools Needed for Dehydrated Picadillo
- Dehydrated Picadillo Dry Ingredients
- At-Home Preparation
- Optimize Food Protection for Storage and Travel
- In the Field Preparation
- Dehydrated Picadillo Detailed Preparation Instructions
Dehydrated Picadillo Recipe
Our dehydrated picadillo recipe only needs a handful of simple ingredients that you can easily dehydrate yourself. It tastes great and can be ready to eat in 30 minutes or less with our simple three-step process once you get to camp.
Supplies and Tools Needed for Dehydrated Picadillo
Supplies and tools are minimal; nothing special is required for this recipe.
- Several 1-quart zip-top bags
- Heavy-duty paper towels
- Labeling materials such as masking tape and waterproof all-weather pen
- Camp cookware and dinnerware
Look for lightweight, durable cookware that is compatible with your camping stove or heat source. Stainless steel or titanium cookware is popular for camping due to its durability and heat distribution ability.
1) dehydrated white rice made with vegetable broth
2) dehydrated onion
3) dehydrated RoTel diced tomatoes
4) spices and seasonings: Sazón seasoning, dehydrated cilantro, apple cider vinegar powder, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper
5) dehydrated olives, dehydrated capers, and dehydrated green bell peppers
6) dehydrated ground beef
7) 1-ounce box of raisins
Dehydrated Picadillo Dry Ingredients
This recipe makes one serving, approximately 155 grams of dry mix.
- 40 grams dehydrated ground beef
- 40 grams dehydrated rice
- 3 grams dehydrated green bell pepper
- 5 grams dehydrated onion
- 8 grams dehydrated tomato sauce or dehydrated RoTel tomatoes
- 5 grams dehydrated olives, about 10 pieces
- 1 teaspoon dehydrated cilantro
- 2 grams dehydrated capers
- 2 or 3 teaspoons sazón seasoning
- 4 450-milligram apple cider vinegar capsules, about 2 teaspoons
- 1 35-gram/1-ounce box of raisins
- Salt to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Dehydrated Picadillo Dry Ingredient Notes
A staple of many cuisines, including Puerto Rican and Mexican cooking, sazón is a blend of spices, and when translated from Spanish, it means “seasoning.” We use this sazón seasoning, it has no MSG. Every other sazón seasoning blend we have looked at has MSG as one of the primary ingredients. Short of mixing up your own, this is the best you can do. It’s good stuff; it’s labeled as organic, non-GMO, with nothing artificial, so pick up some of this Loisa organic sazón seasoning blend. It has nearly 2,000 customer reviews, with an average rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars.
Many picadillo recipes call for olive or caper brine. We’re substituting apple cider vinegar. We’ve made homemade dehydrated apple cider vinegar, which will be a future recipe. In the interim, we’re using apple cider vinegar supplements, which, for the most part, are 100% powdered apple cider vinegar. You can find Amazon offerings of powdered apple cider vinegar; however, they all contain maltodextrin. We’re trying to pare down these kinds of additives. So we make our own when we can or investigate other alternatives.
We are omitting volume measurements as we update our recipes. Measuring dehydrated ingredients by weight makes for a more consistent product. The most accurate way to measure ingredients is by weight because minor differences in measuring can lead to substantial differences in the recipe’s outcome.
At-Home Preparation
Combine all the dry ingredients into a single food-safe 1-quart quality name-brand zip-top bag for the best storage results. The sharp edges of dehydrated ingredients will likely cause micro-punctures in lesser-quality zip-top plastic bags.
Label and date the zip-top bag to identify the contents. Masking tape and an all-weather pen with permanent ink work well here.
Compared to the local big box stores, Amazon has the best prices for the name-brand 1-quart zip-top bags. So says the 20,000 plus Amazon customer reviewers who took the time to leave feedback. Generic zip-top bags are very often compromised by the rough edges and sharp ends of dehydrated foods. Quality zip-top bags are a necessity when making dehydrated meals for camping.
Be sure to include a short note with the name of the dish and detailed preparation instructions. We have included printable and detailed preparation instructions at the end of this page.
Optimize Food Protection for Storage and Travel
Double bagging, using two zip-top bags with a separator, is an option to help guard against punctures, leaks, and water penetration and to protect the food’s integrity. This way, it remains viable in the field or pantry storage.
The Scott Shop towels brand makes an excellent bag separator. These multipurpose paper towels are thicker than the average heavy-duty paper towel. As a multitasker, repurpose these towels for the after-meal cleanup activities.
These heavy-duty paper towels have over 11,000 Amazon customer reviews with an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars, which is evidence of a great product. Check them out here. You can find them at your local big-box megamart automotive department.
In the Field Preparation
Empty the contents of the zip-top bag into a suitable-sized cooking pot.
Measure in enough water to cover the dry ingredients. Then add a tad bit more water. Stir to mix thoroughly. Cover, and let the dry ingredients hydrate for a minimum of five minutes. Stir several times, and add more water if needed to keep all of the ingredients covered and well-saturated with water.
You’ll notice that the dry mix starts to soften and rehydrate in the water bath.
So why not add all the water at once? You certainly can, but we are metering in the water so we don’t end up with a too dry or soupy final product. Adding water in smaller amounts works best for our Dehydrator Chef recipes.
Bring the hydrating mix to a boil on your cooking stove, stirring occasionally to mix. Be sure to stir the contents all the way to the bottom of the cooking pot.
Next, adjust the stove to a low-heat simmer for approximately two minutes. Stir frequently to reduce the chances of burning.
Practice this dehydrated camping meal recipe several times at home before preparing it for the first time in the field so you know what to expect. Use the very same camp cookware and dinnerware to work through all the how-to unknowns.
After two or more minutes of cooking and ingredient stirring and mixing, turn off the stove and move the pot into an insulated wrap or cozy to rest and hydrate for 15 to 20 minutes more for the flavors to blend and the ingredients to fully reconstitute.
Dehydrated Picadillo Detailed Preparation Instructions
Empty the dehydrated picadillo dry mix contents of the zip-top bag into your cooking pot.
Pour in enough water to cover the dry mix, then add just a tad bit more.
Cover, and let the dry ingredients hydrate in your camp cookware for a minimum of 5 minutes. Stirring all of the way to the bottom every now and again. Make sure the mix stays covered and well-saturated with water.
Next, on your cooking stove and over a medium flame, bring the mix to a boil, stirring frequently, all the way to the bottom of the cooking pot. If your stove will simmer, turn the heat down to a simmer after bringing it to a boil.
After two or more minutes of cooking and ingredient mixing, turn off the stove and move the pot into an insulated wrap or cozy to rest and hydrate for 15 to 20 minutes more or until your preference for doneness.