Chicken with Creamy Spinach Sauce

This Chicken with Creamy Spinach Sauce recipe is a favorite backpacking meal that combines dehydrated chicken, spinach, and penne pasta in a parmesan-based sauce.

Photo: Chicken with Creamy Spinach Sauce rehydrated as a backpacking meal.

The creamy sauce ingredients include powdered milk, parmesan cheese, seasonings, and a little corn starch. Best of all, the sauce rehydrates at the same time as the other ingredients, making this a simple, one-pot backpacking meal.

We’ll start off with the ingredients for a large serving and a regular serving, followed by a discussion of the dehydration methods used for the individual ingredients.

A large serving is perfect for a hungry hiker or for two people to share as a thermos lunch.

Photos: Main ingredients for a large serving before and after rehydration.

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One Large or Two Small Servings:

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup dried penne (65 g)
• ½ cup dried ground chicken (50 g)
• ½ cup dried spinach (20 g)
• ½ cup powdered sauce mix (35 g)

Sauce Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. powdered whole milk (15 g)
• 2 Tbsp. powdered parmesan cheese (15 g)
• 1½ tsp. corn starch (5 g)
• ¼ tsp. garlic powder
• ⅛ tsp. onion powder
• ⅛ tsp. ground pepper
• Pinch of ground nutmeg (< ⅛ tsp.)

Water to Rehydrate:

• 2 cups water

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One Regular Serving:

Ingredients:

• ½ cup dried penne (45 g)
• ⅓ cup dried ground chicken (35 g)
• ⅓ cup dried spinach (15 g)
• ⅓ cup powdered sauce mix (25 g)

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1½ Tbsp. powdered whole milk (10 g)
• 1½ Tbsp. powdered parmesan cheese (10 g)
• 1 tsp. corn starch (3 g)
• Pinch of garlic powder (< ¼ tsp.)
• Pinch of onion powder (< ⅛ tsp.)
• Pinch of ground pepper (< ⅛ tsp.)
• Pinch of ground nutmeg (< ⅛ tsp.)

Water to Rehydrate:

• 1½ cups water

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Packing for the Trail:

Combine sauce ingredients and pack the mixture in a small sealable bag plastic. Enclose sauce bag in a larger sealable bag with the other ingredients.

On the Trail:

Cooking Chicken with Creamy Spinach Sauce.

1. Place all ingredients in a backpacking pot with water. Stir meal to partially dissolve the sauce ingredients.
2. Soak meal for five minutes to begin the rehydration process.
3. Light stove, bring meal to a boil for one minute, then turn off stove.
4. Stir meal again, then transfer pot to an insulating pot cozy.
5. To allow the chicken to rehydrate to perfect tenderness, wait 30 minutes.
6. Stir before serving.

Alternative Trail Cooking Methods:

Freezer bag, Mylar bag, or Thermos Cooking:

1. Add all food ingredients to container.
2. Add boiled water, stir, and seal.
3. If cooking in a bag, transfer bag to an insulating pouch cozy and wait 30 minutes.
4. Stir before serving

Dehydration Instructions for Pasta, Spinach & Chicken

Besides the cream sauce, the three ingredients in Chicken with Creamy Spinach Sauce are dehydrated penne pasta, spinach, and ground chicken.

Cooking & Dehydrating Pasta

This Chicken with Creamy Spinach Sauce meal is prepared with penne pasta, but any type of pasta can be used. If you dehydrate a 16-oz. box (454 g) of penne, you will have enough pasta for 6–10 meals.

1. Cook penne pasta according to package instructions.
2. Drain and rinse cooked pasta under cold water.
3. Spread pasta in a single layer on dehydrator trays.
4. Dehydrate pasta at 135°F (57°C) for approximately four to five hours until brittle.

More Details: How to Dehydrate Pasta

Cooking & Dehydrating Spinach

Frozen chopped spinach is used in this recipe, but fresh spinach leaves may also be used. Extra flavor is added to the spinach by cooking it before drying it. If you start with 24 ounces of frozen spinach (680 g), you will have enough for 7–11 meals.

Ingredients:

• 24 oz. frozen spinach (680 g)
• 16 oz. chicken broth (473 ml)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• ½ tsp. onion powder

Procedure:

1. Place thawed spinach in pan with chicken broth and seasonings.
2. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Spread cooked spinach and all liquids loosely on nonstick dehydrator trays.
4. Dehydrate spinach at 125°F (52°C) for approximately seven hours. You can shorten the drying time by an hour if you dehydrate the spinach at 135°F (57°C).

More Details: How to Dehydrate Cooked Spinach

Cooking & Dehydrating Ground Chicken

The key to dehydrating ground chicken so that it rehydrates to a chewy but not hard texture in backpacking meals, is to work a starch into the meat before cooking it. Starches that work well include breadcrumbs, ground oats, and ground hummus or chickpeas.

Ground hummus is used as the starch added to the ground chicken in this recipe. Extra chicken flavor is added by preparing the hummus with chicken broth before drying it.

The result is what I call “Chickeny Chicken.”

If you start with two pounds of ground chicken (907 g), you will have enough for 8–11 meals.

More Details:

You’ll find the recipes and instructions for dehydrating hummus and ground chicken on these Backpacking Chef pages:

How to Make Chicken-Flavored Hummus

How to Cook & Dehydrate Ground Chicken

You’re going to love the wonderful taste, texture, and sauciness of this recipe!

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