Veg and Sausage Noodle Soup
Home-dried cauliflower, onion, and peas rehydrated into noodle broth, with smoked sausage sliced in at the end.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 10 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
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant noodles | 1 block | keep the seasoning packet |
|---|---|---|
| Dried cauliflower | 1/3 cup | sliced thin before drying or it stays crunchy |
| Dried onion | 1 tbsp | diced fine at home |
| Dried peas | 2 tbsp | canned peas, drained and dried |
| Smoked sausage | 3 oz | a cured, shelf-stable link |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Put 600 ml of cold water in the pot and stir in the cauliflower, onion, and peas. Let them sit while the stove comes up.
- Bring it to a boil. The vegetables will have taken on water by then and finish fast.
- Add the noodles and the seasoning packet. Boil one to two minutes, no longer.
- Pull the pot off the flame and cover it. Five minutes in a cozy or wrapped in a jacket finishes the rehydration.
- Slice the sausage in with a pocket knife. Salt hard, pepper harder, eat.
The cold-start soak is the whole trick. Dried cauliflower and peas are slow to come back, and dropping them into already-boiling water leaves you chewing gravel. Sitting in cold water while the stove heats gives them a head start, so everything is done at the same moment the noodles are.
The sausage goes in off the heat because it is already cooked and already smoked. Boiling it just leaches fat into the broth and toughens the slices. Cured sausage is also the only part of this that needs no home prep at all, which makes it the piece you buy on a resupply.
Packing
Dry the vegetables in one big batch at home and portion them into bags with the noodle block. The sausage rides on its own, resupplied in town, and never needs a fridge.
Variations
- A spoonful of olive oil at the end adds 120 calories and makes the broth read as a meal.
- Swap the seasoning packet for bouillon and your own chili flake if the packet is too salty for you.
- Dried mushroom in place of the cauliflower gives a darker broth.
https://www.hikeforpurpose.com/trail-meal-veg-and-sausage-noodle-soup