The only time I dehydrated rice I found the rehydration time was longer than anticipated...somewhat similar to pasta.  Certainly faster than starting from scratch but not as fast as your typical rehydration times for veggies or soups/sauces.  Mine was a little tough - but would have been fine with an extra five or ten minutes of time in the hot water.

My wife dehydrates jasmine rice in our dehydrator on every trip, either by itself, or mixed with casseroles, burritos, etc..  She typically cooks everything in an Instant Pot to make it easier.  Plus, when you pressure cook chicken, you can easily shred it and dehydrate it and it will come back really well compared to other cooking methods.  Almost every Instant Pot recipe we've tried works well since it's basically all one-pot stuff that tastes good together.

We use a basic 4-tray Excalibur dehydrator that I got from Walmart a few years ago and the food always re-hydrates really well in ~20 mins after boiling.  I'm fairly certain she soaks the rice first to remove most of the starch before cooking, but then we just dehydrate like normal on parchment paper squares on the trays.  Sometimes she separates the beef/chicken from the meal, depending on what we're making but most of the time, it's just all in together.  She does break up any clumps once it starts firming up to make sure it dehydrates evenly.

We either cook in a single pot for canoe camping or re-hydrate with boiling water in a screw top Ziploc container in Reflectix-style cozies for backpacking with equally good results.  Even when bringing to a boil in a single pot, letting it sit for ~15-20 mins sealed in a cozy (or your toque) is the key to allowing the food to fully absorb the water.

I used to weigh before/after to get the water volume exact but have since evolved to just barely covering the food and adding more cold water after re-hydrating if it comes out too dry.  It makes it so much easier and eliminates the need for a measuring cup.  Plus, it is quicker to eat since a touch of cold water cools it down just enough not to scald you.

Another tip we've found is that if you're cooking right in the pot, it's best cold-soak for ~10 mins before you're ready to cook.  It ensures that even the harder to re-hydrate ingredients come back without having to simmer and waste fuel.

Last edited by kkosik (12/19/2019 2:05 pm)

kkosik wrote:

My wife dehydrates jasmine rice in our dehydrator on every trip, either by itself, or mixed with casseroles, burritos, etc..  She typically cooks everything in an Instant Pot to make it easier.  Plus, when you pressure cook chicken, you can easily shred it and dehydrate it and it will come back really well compared to other cooking methods.  Almost every Instant Pot recipe we've tried works well since it's basically all one-pot stuff that tastes good together.

We use a basic 4-tray Excalibur dehydrator that I got from Walmart a few years ago and the food always re-hydrates really well in ~20 mins after boiling.  I'm fairly certain she soaks the rice first to remove most of the starch before cooking, but then we just dehydrate like normal on parchment paper squares on the trays.  Sometimes she separates the beef/chicken from the meal, depending on what we're making but most of the time, it's just all in together.  She does break up any clumps once it starts firming up to make sure it dehydrates evenly.

We either cook in a single pot for canoe camping or re-hydrate with boiling water in a screw top Ziploc container in Reflectix-style cozies for backpacking with equally good results.  Even when bringing to a boil in a single pot, letting it sit for ~15-20 mins sealed in a cozy (or your toque) is the key to allowing the food to fully absorb the water.

I used to weigh before/after to get the water volume exact but have since evolved to just barely covering the food and adding more cold water after re-hydrating if it comes out too dry.  It makes it so much easier and eliminates the need for a measuring cup.  Plus, it is quicker to eat since a touch of cold water cools it down just enough not to scald you.

Another tip we've found is that if you're cooking right in the pot, it's best cold-soak for ~10 mins before you're ready to cook.  It ensures that even the harder to re-hydrate ingredients come back without having to simmer and waste fuel.

Thanks! This affirms what I was thinking of doing! And I can def second the pressure cooked, shredded chicken for better rehydration situation. We've used canned chicken for this purpose because we don't have a pressure cooker and canned chicken is pressure cooked. 

I would add that Kevin’s book Backcountry Eats does an excellent job discussing dehydrating rice, pasta, etc. New process for me that we are using this year.