Ginger Chicken Noodles
Instant noodles rebuilt into dinner with freeze-dried chicken, dried vegetables, and real ginger.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 138
- protein
- 33 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 13 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
- Liquid fuel
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Bikepacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant noodles | 1 block | throw out the seasoning packet, it fights the ginger |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried chicken | 1.5 oz | diced, not shredded |
| Dried mixed vegetables | 1/2 cup | cabbage, carrot, and pepper flakes; a dried coleslaw mix works |
| Ground ginger | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Soy sauce | 1 tbsp | in a leakproof dropper bottle, or use soy sauce powder |
| Sesame oil | 2 tsp | |
| Red pepper flakes | 1/4 tsp | optional |
Method
- Put the chicken and dried vegetables in the pot with 500 ml of water. Bring it to a boil.
- Boil two minutes so the vegetables start to soften. The chicken needs the head start more than the noodles do.
- Break in the noodle block, stir once, and pull the pot off the heat. Lid on.
- Wait four minutes. The residual heat finishes the noodles and rehydrates everything else.
- Stir in the ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, and pepper flakes. Most of the water should be gone; if it is not, leave the lid off for a minute.
The original is a fry-pan dish: raw chicken, fresh stir-fry veg, a second pot for the noodles. None of that survives a warm pannier or a bear hang, so everything here is dried and the whole thing collapses into one pot. Freeze-dried chicken goes in first because it takes longer to come back than noodles take to cook.
Ditching the seasoning packet matters. It is mostly salt and MSG aimed at broth, and it muddies the ginger. Soy sauce and sesame oil added off the heat do the same job with more direction — sesame oil in particular loses its point if you boil it.
Packing
Chicken, vegetables, and the dry spices go in one bag; the noodle block rides separately so it does not shatter into the powder. Soy sauce and sesame oil live in small dropper bottles inside a zip bag.
Variations
- Skip the chicken and add 3 tbsp of textured vegetable protein with the vegetables for a vegan version.
- Swap the noodles for instant rice noodles or a packet of precooked rice to make it gluten-free.
- A spoonful of peanut butter powder stirred in at the end thickens it into something closer to a sauce.
https://www.advrider.com/food-ginger-chicken-noodles