Backpacker's Carbonara
Egg powder, parmesan, and bacon bits over pasta. No cream, no packet sauce.
- calories
- 790
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 132
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 28 min
- water
- 500 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Bikepacking
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Short pasta | 3 oz dry | parcooked at home in chicken stock, then dried |
|---|---|---|
| Whole egg powder | 3 tbsp | commercial, pasteurized; do not dehydrate raw egg at home |
| Hard parmesan | 1.5 oz | vacuum-sealed wedge, grated in camp or at home |
| Real bacon bits | 1/4 cup | shelf-stable ones, not refrigerated |
| Dried mushrooms | 2 tbsp | sliced, they rehydrate with the pasta |
| Chicken bouillon | 1 tsp | |
| Olive oil or rendered bacon fat | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle or small screw-top jar |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | coarse, more than feels right |
Method
- Bring 500 ml of water to a boil. Add the parcooked pasta, mushrooms, and bouillon.
- Simmer two to three minutes until the pasta softens and most of the water is gone. Leave a few tablespoons in the pot.
- Take the pot off the stove and let it sit thirty seconds. Boiling water scrambles the egg.
- Stir the egg powder into a splash of cool water in your mug to make a slurry, then pour it in and stir hard.
- Add the parmesan, bacon bits, oil, and pepper. Keep stirring until it turns glossy.
- If it stays thin, set the pot back over the lowest flame for fifteen seconds while stirring. No longer.
Real carbonara is an emulsion: egg and cheese held together by starchy water and fat, not cream. That works on a stove as long as you respect the temperature. Egg proteins set around 150°F, so the pot comes off the flame before the egg goes in, and the leftover starchy water does the emulsifying.
The trail adaptation is mostly about fat and food safety. Fat blocks dehydration and goes rancid, so it travels separately in a bottle instead of being dried into the meal. Raw egg should never be dried at home — commercial pasteurized egg powder is the only version worth carrying. Parcooking the pasta in stock at home and drying it cuts camp boil time to a couple of minutes, which matters more than it sounds when fuel is finite. Parmesan is the one perishable, and a vacuum-sealed wedge holds about a week without a cooler.
Packing
Pasta, mushrooms, bouillon, and bacon bits go in one bag. Egg powder in its own small bag so you can control the slurry. Cheese wedge stays vacuum-sealed and travels separately; it holds about a week out of the fridge. Oil in a leakproof bottle.
Variations
- Skip the home parcooking and use standard pasta with a longer boil and more water. Heavier fuel cost, same dinner.
- Swap the bacon bits for a foil packet of chicken if you want less salt.
- Freeze the packed meals at home if they will sit in the pantry for months before the trip.
https://slowerhiking.com/slower-hiking-recipes-part-2/backpacking-carbonara-recipe