I've seen ramen recommended as good backpacking food before. It's lightweight and easy to cook -- just add water and heat! The problem, for me, is the lack of nutrition. I've seen it dressed up in various ways. But often those additions end up negating the "light" and "easy" qualities that might've caused one to consider ramen in the first place. This sort of mock pad thai seemed like a reasonable middle ground to me. And, just as importantly, it's quite tasty!

Backpacker's Pad Thai

Ingredients

• 3-4 c. water
• 1 packet ramen¹
• 1 can chunk chicken breast²
• 1/4 c. dried veggies
• ~1 Tbsp. crunchy peanut butter³
• ~1 Tbsp. sriracha
• ~2 tsp. fish sauce
• 1 packet True Lime crystalized lime (optional)
• 1 handful bean sprouts (optional)⁴

Directions

1. Fill your pot with enough water to cover the noodles and place over a hot stove or fire.
2. Add ramen noodles, chicken (no need to drain), and dried veggies and bring to a boil.
3. Check noodles for doneness after 4 minutes or when water boils, whichever comes first.
4. Once noodles are cooked, drain all but a couple Tbsp. of the cooking water.
5. Add peanut butter, sriracha, and fish sauce to taste. Add a little seasoning from the ramen packet if you like.
6. Mix well and sprinkle on TrueLime/lime juice if using.
7. Add bean sprouts if you have them.

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¹ Any brand or flavour is fine. You'll be using little to none of any of the seasoning packets that come with it. ^Back
2 Feel free to substitute shrimp here if you'd prefer. ^Back
3 If you want to save even more weight, you can use 2 Tbsp. peanut flour instead. ^Back
4 Bean sprouts aren't really practical when backpacking since they're generally highly perishable. That said, if you happen to be close to a resupply point and can get your hands on a few they're really, really nice here. ^Back