Chicken Noodle Soup, Trail Version
Freeze-dried chicken, small pasta, and dried vegetables in one pot. The pressure cooker was not invited.
- calories
- 540
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 14 min
- water
- 600 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
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Rotini or small shell pasta | 3/4 cup dry | small shapes cook faster and use less fuel |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried chicken | 1/2 cup | or a 5 oz foil pouch, added at the end |
| Dried carrot slices | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried celery | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Low-sodium chicken bouillon | 2 tsp | powder or crushed cube |
| Dried thyme | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | optional, for calories |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil. Drop in the carrot, celery, onion, and chicken first and let them sit two minutes before the pasta goes in. They need the head start.
- Add the pasta, bouillon, and thyme. Boil eight to ten minutes, stirring so nothing welds to the bottom.
- Cut the heat, cover, and wait three minutes. The pasta finishes on residual heat and you save fuel.
- Stir in the oil, then salt and pepper. If you carried a foil pouch of chicken instead of freeze-dried, add it now so it does not shred to nothing.
The original runs in a pressure cooker with fresh carrots, celery, onion, stock, and a rotisserie chicken. None of that travels. Fresh vegetables get replaced by dried ones, stock becomes bouillon and water, and the chicken becomes freeze-dried or a foil pouch. What survives is the shape of the thing: aromatics, thyme, noodles, meat.
Order matters more than technique here. Dried vegetables rehydrate slower than pasta cooks, so they go in first or you get soft noodles and crunchy carrots. The covered rest at the end is not optional either — it finishes the pasta without burning another two minutes of fuel, which is most of what a stove costs you on a long trip.
Packing
Everything dry except the chicken goes in one bag. Freeze-dried chicken rides in its own bag so you can check it rehydrated before committing.
Variations
- Swap the pasta for instant rice or crushed rice noodles to make it gluten-free.
- A squeeze of lemon juice from a plastic bottle cuts the salt.
- Half the water and it becomes a thick noodle bowl instead of a soup, which is easier to eat in the cold.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/instant-pot-chicken-noodle-soup