Backpacking Pad Thai Recipe

A Backcountry Pad Thai that is Ultra Light and Delicious

If you are feeling adventurous and want to make your own meal for your next backpacking trip this Pad Thai recipe is a great place to start. It doesn't take much prep work at home and is fairly easy to prepare on the trail and is delicious. A few of the ingredients can be difficult to find at local grocery stores but can easily be found on Amazon with free shipping and can be used for other backpacking recipes as well. Best of all because we won't be using traditional fish sauce, you can easily keep this recipe vegetarian-friendly by omitting the chicken.   

INGREDIENTS

• 4 oz Flat Rice Noodles
• 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
• 1/2 Tsp dried garlic flakes
• 1/2 Tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/4 Tsp Ginger Powder
• 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce (4 To-Go Packets)
• 2 Tbsp Peanut Butter Powder 
• 2 True Lime Packets
• 1/2 Cup Freeze-Dried Chicken
• 1/2 Cup Freeze-Dried Scrambled Eggs
• 1/2 Red Bell Pepper Dehydrated
• 1/2 Cup Shredded Carrots Dehydrated
• 1 Tbsp Dried Cilantro 
• 1/4 Cup Chopped Roasted Unsalted Peanuts

Prep 

1. Dry the red pepper and shredded carrots in a food dehydrator. 
2. Place the freeze-dried chicken, freeze-dried scrambled eggs (we just used some scrambled eggs from a Mountain House Breakfast), dried carrots, and dried red pepper in a zip-top sandwich bag.
3. The coconut oil can be kept in a small snack size zip-top bag.
4. Measure out the rest of the dry ingredients and place them in a second ziplock sandwich bag.
5. Then place the sandwich bags and noodles into a quart size freezer bag. 

Cooking

1. Add the noodles, chicken, eggs, and dried veggies to your backpacking pot and add just enough water to cover and bring to a boil.
2. While the water is boiling combine all the ingredients except for the coconut oil and chopped peanuts with 2 Tbsp of water and stir well to create the sauce. This can be done in a cup or right in the ziplock bag. 
3. Once the water has boiled and the noodles are tender, drain the remaining water.
4. Combine the noodles, coconut oil, and sauce in the pot and gently stir until the coconut oil has melted and everything is combined. 
5. Garnish with chopped peanuts and enjoy!

Let us know if you try the recipe and be sure to check out our full collection of recipes for more backpacking meal ideas.