Trail Fill-Up: Chicken Alfredo

If you’ve been eating dehydrated meals on backpacking trips for a while, you understand that the serving sizes listed don’t always match up. Especially after a long day on the trail, it’s not uncommon to find yourself fighting with your hiking buddy over spoonfuls of that two-serving pack of mac and cheese. However, making and packaging your own food helps get the amounts right, and having a filling, hearty backcountry meal goes a long way to making sure you’re ready for the next day.

With this Chicken Alfredo recipe, one serving will be all you need. Ultimately, this meal is best on trips where you’re very active: backpacking, kayak touring, and multi-sport adventure weekends. According to the Mayo Clinic, a 160-pound person burns approximately 511 calories per hour while backpacking, which this delicious meal will more than make up for.

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Angel Hair Pasta
• 1 Tyson Grilled & Ready fully cooked chicken pouch (7 oz.)
• 2 tbsp. Creamy Garlic Alfredo Sauce Mix
• ½ cup Powdered Milk
• ½ oz. Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
• 2 tsp. Parmesan Cheese
• 1½ tbsp. Salted Butter

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1
• Calories: 865
• Carbs: 78 grams
• Fats: 28 grams
• Protein: 73 grams

Directions

 

At-Home Prep:

1. Combine the alfredo sauce mix and powdered milk in a Ziploc bag
2. Add parmesan cheese to a small container, or wrap it in a piece of cellophane
3. Put the salted butter in a small container that seals (if it’s warm out, it may melt a little)
4. Store the unopened chicken pouch inside a medium Ziploc bag
5. Add loose angel hair pasta and loose mushrooms to a Ziploc bag
6. Put the sauce mix, cheese, and butter in the Ziploc bag
7. Seal the Ziploc and admire your future meal

To Cook:

1. In your pot, add 16 oz. of water and the mushrooms together. Turn your stove on for a minute to warm up the water, and then turn it off. Let the mushrooms sit and rehydrate for 5 minutes.
2. Add the pasta to the pot, leaving the mushrooms to continue rehydrating. Turn the stove back on for about 3 minutes, until the pasta is done.
3. When the pasta is done, drain 4 oz. of the mushroom/pasta water into the Ziploc bag with your alfredo sauce mix. Swish the water around, so the mix gets creamy. [As a tip, always use less water than you think you need. You can always add more water, but you can’t take it out.]
4. Drain the rest of the water from the pot.
5. Add the chicken, butter, and sauce to the pot, and give everything a stir. Turn the stove on for another minute to warm up the chicken.
6. Boom! Your Trail Alfredo Chicken is complete. Add parmesan cheese to the meal to taste.