50+ Best Backpacking Recipes
Here are 50+ of the best backpacking recipes shared by experienced backpackers and camping chefs. These trail meals come from vegans, vegetarians, and omnivors. Take a look at their top-picks.
Share your best backpacking recipe, click here.
Best Backpacking Recipes for Dinner
Photo: Granuaile's Chicken with Caramelized Onions & Tomatoes over Rice.
Recently Shared Recipes
Chef Bonnie's Italian
Chicken Noodles with Deconstructed Pesto
Chef Tanya's Upside Down Shepherd's Pie.
Chef Brittany's Beef & Potatoes and Trail Turkey Dinner.
Chef Tanya's Curry Chicken & Rice.
Barbara shares several ways to serve it Yellow Mung Dal (shown above) on the trail. Mung beans are fast-cooking, high in fiber, and loaded with protein.
A hearty Red Lentil Indian flavored meal. Zondra dries her Indian Dal into bark and serves it with vegetables and rice. Shared by Zondra Skertich.
Meat & Potatoes Backpacking Recipes
Tanya's Upside Down Shepherd's Pie (shown above), Brittany's Beef & Potatoes, Brittany's Trail Turkey Dinner, and Bill's Barbeque Chicken Stew.
Jamaican Jerk Chicken (shown above) shared by Squidbilly's wife, Granuaile's Chicken with Caramelized Onions & Tomatoes, Tanya's Curry Chicken & Rice, and Tassie's Penang Chicken.
More Best Backpacking Recipes with Rice:
Southwest Beef & Rice, Rice & Sausage Dinner, Pineapple-Ginger Rice, and Cajun Red Beans & Rice.
- Chicken Carbonara (shown above) by RollingStone.
- Italian Chicken Noodles with Deconstructed Pesto by Bonnie.
- Chicken Piccata with Lemon-butter Sauce by Sprinkle.
- Chicken Cacciatore over Noodles by Chris.
Uses the "squeeze bag" method to mix and pour the dumpling mix into the boiling water. Easy prep at home and on the trail. Shared by Scottpash.
Chicken & Cheese Couscous with Mushrooms & Veggies, and Couscous with TVP & Tomatoes.
- Thai Curry with Rice Noodles
- Thai Spicy Peanut Noodles with Chicken
- Tom Ka Gai Rice & Chicken.
Chef Glenn's Green Lentil Chili
This vegetarian chili backpacking recipe was featured in Chef Glenn's free monthly newsletter. Subscribe to Trail Bytes.
No meat lentil stew. Can be cooked on the stove, but it’s faster in an Instapot pressure cooker. Shared by Eric Payne.
Books to Help You Dehydrate Better Backpacking Meals
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Recipes for Adventure: Healthy, Hearty & Homemade Backpacking Recipes Action Guide: Dehydrating 31 Meals Recipes for Adventure II: The Best of Trail Bytes
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Italian-style Pasta Sauce Recipes:
Pasta with Red Sauce & Meat, Cheesy Vegetarian Spaghetti Sauce.
Beef & Italian sausage in an Italian-style Bolognese sauce served over Penne pasta. Shared by Katherine Phillips.
This chili recipe was featured in the Trail Bytes newsletter with tips on dehydrating stew meat.
- Subscribe to Trail Bytes and get a free e-book, Home & Trail: An Introduction to Drying Food.
More Chili Backpacking Recipes
SierraJud's White Bean Chili, Mr. Dog's Chili Corn, Tucson Damselfly's Gluten Free Chili with Quinoa, Cram's 4-Way Chili.
Beef Tortillas, Meatloaf & Rice, Beef Stir-Fry, Vegetable Beef Stew, Chili, Mexican Beef & Rice, Unstuffed Peppers, Taco Mac & Cheese, Bean Bark Stew, and more.
Brittany's Family Favorite Beef Stroganoff, Moof's Beef Stroganoff, Lucky's Beef Stroganoff, Easy Beef Stroganoff.
Mushroom Stroganoff (shown above)
A hearty vegetarian version of beef stroganoff. Shared by Robin RD, London, Ontario.
A hearty trail meal of Knockwurst sausage and cabbage. Shared by Chef Russ.
Salmon Cakes, Spicy Salmon & Noodles, Smoked Salmon Chowder.
Shelley's Clam Chowder and Fettuccine Alfredo with Clams shared by Mephistus.
Spam, salsa, onions, cheddar cheese in tortillas wrapped in foil. Shared by Shelley Lauzon.
Instant Black Bean Soup, Stuffed Pepper Soup, Quick Backpack Chili, Thai Pumpkin-Carrot Soup, Chicken Soup and more.
Foil Wrapped Veggie Dinner, Stick Bread. There's a form on this page to share campfire recipes and tips.
Backpacking Food Ideas for Lunch
You don't always need to pull out the pot and stove for a trail lunch, especially on shorter trips where perishable foods like tortillas and cheese will keep for a few days and overall backpacking food weight is not as big of a consideration.
Another backpacking meal strategy for lunches is to prepare the meals in the morning in a thermos food jar. Just add hot or cold water depending on the recipe. At lunchtime, just open and eat - very convenient!
Backpacking lunch ideas from Chef Glenn's newsletter:
Gazpacho - a zesty tomato soup served hot or cold
Couscous Salad with Cucumber Salsa Dressing
Dried Thermos Lunch Recipes for trail or work
And the link below will take you to more backpacking lunch ideas shared by BackpackingChef readers:
More Backpacking Food Ideas for Lunch
Curried Salmon Salad Sandwich, Turkey BBQ Sandwich, Beef & Bean Burritos, Sloppy Joes.
P.S. These recipes are great for dinner, too!
Best Backpacking Recipes for Breakfast
4-Ounce breakfast bars with 400 calories. One batch makes 30 servings. Shared by PasnThru.
A great collection of recipes that use fresh (heavy) ingredients and/or require a frying pan.
Hash Browns, Salmon Scramble, Breakfast Burritos, Flat Bread, Applesauce Oatmeal Pancakes, Cinnamon Breakfast Bannock, Chocolate Chip Plopcake, Apple Crumble and Banana Crunch Breakfast.
Best Energy Bar Recipes
Toasted Oat & Almond Energy Bars, High-Carb Peanut Butter Energy Bars, Low-Carb Nuts & Seeds Energy Bars, Apple Jerky, Banana-Granola Trail Cookies, and Chef Glenn's Fig Nut Energy Bars.
More Backpacking Meals from Chef Glenn
Using a food dehydrator, you can make light-weight, delicious meals like Chili, Root Bark Stew, Ratatouille, Mexican Beef & Rice, Unstuffed Peppers and dozens more!
Thanks again to everyone who has shared their best backpacking recipes.
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Dehydrating Food from A–Z
