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Trail Bytes March 2026: Leftover Chicken? Try this Creamy Chicken Soup Recipe.
March 06, 2026
Hello Chef,

Every now and then, when we’ve been away from home all day, Dominique and I stop by the grocery store on the way home and buy an oven-roasted chicken, potato salad, and coleslaw. That’s enough food for four meals plus extra chicken for a sandwich or two.

But when cold weather lingers, as it did in February, a cold sandwich is not as interesting as a steaming bowl of creamy chicken soup.

For this month’s edition of Trail Bytes, I used our leftover chicken to make creamy chicken soup. We enjoyed it very much straight from the stove, and again after I rehydrated a serving on the trail.

We’re going to keep dehydrated creamy chicken soup in our pantry year-round now, so anytime a sniffle or sneeze comes around, we’ll be ready with the cure.

But think of all those times on the trail, when the cold wind blows, the fog settles, or rain dampens the body and spirits. I’ll bet you can smell that chicken soup right now.

There are plenty of vegetables in this soup: carrots, celery, spring onions, potatoes, and garlic. I pan-cooked them to maximize flavor before finishing the soup with chicken broth. The creamy texture comes from blending a portion of the soup.

Creamy Chicken Soup

Find the recipe and dehydration instructions on the new webpage:

Creamy Chicken Soup Recipe

Portable Pepper Sauce

Thank you, Chef Sid, for sharing your recipe for portable pepper sauce. Rather than carry a heavy bottle of hot sauce on the trail, Sid blends and dehydrates a can of cannellini beans with a bottle of hot sauce. It turns out like bark which he grinds into powder. He adds half a teaspoon of it to trail meals to bump up the heat. “I always pack extra since it’s a great way to make friends at shelters.”

Find the recipe at the top of the reader-shared chili recipes page:

Sid's Portable Pepper Sauce Recipe

Share Your Best Recipe

Back in the December 2024 mailing of Trail Bytes, I started putting “Chef” in front of everybody’s name. I wrote, “You’ve earned that “Chef” in front of your name. You’re having fun in the kitchen and eating well on the trail. You’re a master of the dehydrator. You’re creating new backpacking recipes.”

Now I invite you to share one of your best creations with Backpacking Chef readers. I’m looking for original recipes; dehydrated meals that you pack for every trip. We’ve got 50+ shared recipes so far, but wouldn’t it be nice to include yours?

Find the recipe-sharing form and the full collection here:

50+ Best Backpacking Recipes

Signs of Spring

The weatherman says one more intrusion of cold temperatures will come through Georgia later this month, but the daffodils say otherwise. We’ll be ready either way with our homemade creamy chicken soup. Reminds me of that old Campbell’s Soup jingle, it’s “M'm! M'm! Good!”

See you next month.

Freundliche Grüsse,

Chef Glenn & Dominique

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