Champagne Tastes

Green-Living Recipes from the Earth and Sea

Camp Stove Recipe: Chickpea Curry

Original Post: Updated: By 48 Comments

This Camp Stove Recipe for camping features vegan Chickpea Curry (or Chana Masala).  It’s ready, start to finish, in about 20 minutes, and will leave you feeling full + satisfied.

Chickpea curry in a cast iron pan, white rice in a steel pot, all on a 2 burner coleman camp stove. (Camp Stove Recipe)

Camp Stove Recipe: Chana Masala (Chickpea Curry)


A few months back, the husband started gushing about nature.  That’s right, he wanted to go camping.  To be more specific, he wanted to go on an epic, multi-week, national park-hopping, cross-country hiking and camping trip.

While I admitted that this sounded amazing (and exhausting), I had never been camping before.  Ever.  That’s right– he was taking this city-diva into the wilderness.

To be honest, I wasn’t incredibly worried about sleeping in a tent, or showering in a bath-house, or getting a little dirty.  My main worry was, you guessed it– the food!

I assumed (correctly, I might add), that a lot of the national parks are fairly isolated, with limited restaurant access.  We decided, of course, to go anyway and make it work.  What followed was a whirl of food planning, trip planning, and then eighteen days of driving, hiking, and delicious campground cooking.

This Camp Stove Recipe was one of my favorite campground meals, because it is FAST and delicious.  It’s ready, start to finish, in about 20 minutes, and will leave you feeling full and satisfied.  None of the ingredients for this chickpea curry need to be refrigerated, so if you’re planning on hiking all day, you don’t need to find a way to keep anything cold while you’re gone.

Camp Stove Recipe: Cooking Curry

To start with, gather all the ingredients and equipment before you leave for your camping adventure.  For this Camp Stove Recipe, Chana Masala,  you’ll need a camping cook-stove, a cast iron or stainless steel skillet, a small metal turner or spatula, a saucepan with a lid (for the rice), a measuring cup (for the rice), a cutting board, a knife, and then bowls and spoons (or plates and forks) to eat it all with.

You’ll also need some pre-mixed tandoori masala spices (I like the tandoori masala spice mix from Whole Foods), garlic powder,  olive oil, canned chickpeas, canned fire roasted tomatoes, and an onion.  Bring along some instant rice to serve with the curry.  You could, of course, bring jasmine or basmati rice instead, but instant rice will be much faster and simpler.

Glamping: Vegan Chickpea Curry / Chana Masala - A delicious, fast, camping friendly meal

Chana Masala

Camp Stove Recipe: Chana Masala (Chickpea Curry)

To prepare the curry, set up the camp stove, and go ahead and start boiling the water for your rice.  While the water heats up, sauté the onions and spices in the skillet, then add the garlic and tomatoes.  Let the tomatoes cook for about five minutes, and then add the chickpeas (liquid and all).

Let the whole thing simmer for a few minutes, and the liquid will cook down.  Finish the rice while your curry is cooking.  Make sure to add some more garlic powder and salt to your rice– Instant rice is not incredibly flavorful.  Finally, scoop rice and curry into bowls, and dig in.

Need more help?  Check out these Camping Recipes for a Happy Glamper for tips on making campground cooking easier and more recipe ideas!

This Camp Stove Recipe features vegan Chickpea Curry + is FAST.  It's ready in about 20 minutes, and will leave you feeling full + satisfied.
5 from 3 votes
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Camp Stove Recipe: Chickpea Curry

This Camp Stove Recipe features vegan Chickpea Curry (or Chana Masala) and is FAST.  It's ready, start to finish, in about 20 minutes, and will leave you feeling full + satisfied

Serves 2 as main dish, 4 as side dish

Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 4 people
Calories 307 kcal
Author Champagne Tastes

Ingredients

  • 1 TB olive oil
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 tsp salt, plus more to season rice
  • 1 TB tandoori masala spice mix
  • 1/2 TB garlic powder, plus more to season rice
  • 1 15 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
  • 1 15 oz can chickpeas (also labeled garbanzo beans)
  • 2 cups instant white rice

Equipment Needed:

  • camp-stove with propane
  • cast iron or stainless steel skillet
  • small metal turner or spatula
  • saucepan with lid (for rice)
  • measuring cup (for rice)
  • cutting board
  • knife
  • can opener (if cans aren't pop-top)
  • bowls or plates
  • spoons or forks

Instructions

  1. Prepare camp stove with propane tank.

  2. Begin boiling water for rice, and cook according to package directions. Season rice to taste with salt and garlic powder.

  3. Set flame to medium, and heat olive oil until it begins to ripple. Add diced onion, salt, and spice mix. 

  4. Sauté onions for 2-3 minutes, until they soften and become translucent. Lower flame slightly, add garlic powder and fire roasted tomatoes, and cook 4-5 minutes. 

  5. Add chickpeas (add the entire can- don't strain the liquid), and cook over a medium flame until the liquid reduces and thickens (2-3 minutes).

  6. Serve chickpea curry over rice.

Recipe Notes

Nutrition Facts
Camp Stove Recipe: Chickpea Curry
Amount Per Serving
Calories 307 Calories from Fat 54
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 6g 9%
Sodium 884mg 37%
Potassium 258mg 7%
Total Carbohydrates 54g 18%
Dietary Fiber 6g 24%
Sugars 1g
Protein 9g 18%
Vitamin A 17.1%
Vitamin C 2.5%
Calcium 5.7%
Iron 25%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Comments

  1. You nailed this recipe! When in hurry I do the same for week night meal. We camp quite often or rent a cabin in woods (my preference) and this is like the best idea! Waiting to see what else you cooked..

    Reply

  2. I would gladly go glamping if I got a chance to eat this, Sarah! That’s my kind of time in the wilderness. As long as there’s good food, doesn’t matter if I have to sleep in a tent, lol. Hubby and I used to camp all the time and haven’t in a very long time. The best part about it is definitely the food. Beans have never tasted better than when they are cooked in the wilderness. So many happy memories 🙂 Love this recipe!

    Reply

    • It was a lot easier than I thought it would be!! We borrowed a camp stove and it turned out just fine 🙂

      Reply

  6. Most people do hotdogs and burgers when they camp. I’m glad to see you have shown that campground cooking can be gourmet and this looks like some pretty fancy campground food.

    Reply

  9. Wow Sarah, you do camping RIGHT! Or glamping, that is! Love the creativity and organization. I’m pretty sure if I tried to pull off something like this, I would lose my spices and drop my pot in the river, etc…lol. I’m not much of a camper. I’ll have to try making this one indoors!

    Reply

    • Lol .. My OCD came out on this trip (just a little!) I just made this for dinner tonight (inside) and it was just as tasty!

      Reply

  12. Oh, I am ALL ABOUT glamping! Nature and I just have a hard time being bestie and need all the help we can get! This dish looks awesome…and I think I need to make it…off the campsite 🙂

    Reply

    • Haha yes- I’m working on my relationship with nature. I’m happier with it when I get good food 😉
      This is super easy to make inside too!

      Reply

  15. Oh what an adventure! I’d love to do on an epic hike fest like that. We’ll be heading off for a glamping sesh of our own soon but with night’s spent at our central home base – ie an airconditioned ‘tent’ with attached ensuite, cooking area, and bottle of wine on arrival. Hey, it’s my birthday, totally valid haha. At least now I know what we’ll be cooking on one of our nights! This sounds delicious and I can’t wait to try. Only a few weeks til our adventure in August, but maybe I’ll have to cheat and have a practice run before we leave haha. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

    Reply

  16. Lovely!! So glad you guys enjoyed curry at camp. Something so warming about curries, right! You seem to have made the easy no fuss method that works great when in a rush… 🙂

    Reply

  20. I told my friends that I wanted to go glamping and they laughed at me because they had no idea what I meant!
    This looks like it was such a fun trip! 😀

    Reply

  25. Looks great! We’ve not cooked in a campsite but we always take a few spices with us when we go on self-catering holidays so we can throw together a good curried dish like this!

    Reply

  27. I’m with you – I can handle roughing it, going without a shower, trekking the wilderness, but if you make me eat a bunch of dehydrated and bland meals in a bag, I’m out. If I’m not enjoying my food, I’m probably not enjoying myself. But recipes like this prove that you can enjoy amazing food while out in the majesty of nature – and that’s a great thing, in my opinion. Plus, this serves as something of a reminder of how many people in the world still cook. After all, not everyone has refrigeration, electricity, and a well-stocked pantry. Cheers!

    Reply

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