Chili Lime Peanut Noodles (Backpacking Meal)
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This zippy, slightly spicy noodle dish is reminiscent of Pad Thai and is SO simple to make! It’s one of our favorite backpacking meals that doesn’t require a dehydrator.
The trifecta of backpacking meals is a high calorie to weight ratio, easy to make, and packed with flavor—and these Chili Lime Peanut Noodles knock it out of the park on all three.
No dehydrator or advanced cooking is required, and it takes about five minutes to cook in camp. This meal is lightweight at 5.5 ounces, but loaded with calories and nutrition to help you refuel after a long day of hiking. And, it’s delicious: the spicy but slightly sweet, slightly tangy sauce has us licking our spoons at the end of mealtime.
Ingredient Notes
Noodles: Cheap, store-bought ramen noodles work well (toss the flavor packet)
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness to the sauce
Ground ginger: A little goes a long way to add extra flavor
Chili pepper flakes: Adjust to your spice preference. You can also pack a single-serve Sriracha pack instead, or if you have a Trader Joe’s nearby, use their Sriracha Sprinkle seasoning!
Peanuts: Adds a great texture contrast to the noodles
Peanut butter packet: Single-serve packets are most convenient. If you backpack with a jar of peanut butter, use about 2 tablespoons.
True Lime: Don’t skip this! True Lime adds the citrusy tang that really makes this meal great. You can get it on Amazon. It’s great for adding flavor to all kinds of meals and water, too—so don’t worry that you’ll only use it once and have it sitting around your pantry forever 😉
Optional: For an extra nutrition boost, you can add some freeze-dried or dehydrated veggies
The Soto Windmaster and the Jetboil MiniMo are our two top stoves for backpacking. See our recommended backpacking checklist here!
Step By Step
Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for exact measurements and the printable recipe!
At home
Place the ramen noodles, brown sugar, ground ginger, chili pepper flakes, and chopped peanuts into a bag. Pack along the peanut butter packet and True Lime packet.
Here’s the bag we use–it weighs only 13g.
On trail
Remove the ramen and place it in your cook pot. Add water to just barely cover the noodles. You really don’t want a lot of extra water to deal with. Turn on the stove, bring the water to a boil, and cook the noodles for a few minutes until they are done.
Take the pot off the heat and remove of all but ¼ cup of the remaining water. You can either drink it (there are calories in there!) or dispose of it in a 6-inch deep hole (in accordance with Leave No Trace).
Then, you’ll make the sauce by adding the spices, peanuts, peanut butter, and True Lime to the remaining water and noodles. Stir until the sauce is creamy and the noodles are coated.
That’s it! Enjoy!
Trail Weight & Nutrition
This recipe makes one ~5.5oz serving (dry weight), clocking in at 130 cal/oz. Each serving provides approximately:
- 716 calories
- 35g fat
- 86g carbohydrates
- 18g protein
For more information about how much food to eat while backpacking, check out our backpacking meals post.
(Disclaimer: Nutrition was calculated based on the ingredients we used, so yours may vary slightly.)
Ingredients
- 3 oz ramen noodles, (one instant ramen packet–toss the seaoning)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, more or less to taste
- 1 tablespoon peanuts, chopped
- 1 packet peanut butter, (2 tablespoons)
- 1 packet True Lime powder
Instructions
At home
- Place the ramen noodles, brown sugar, ground ginger, chili pepper flakes, and chopped peanuts into a bag. Pack along the peanut butter packet and True Lime packet.
On trail
- Remove the ramen and place in your cook pot. Add water to *just* barely cover the noodles. You really don’t want a lot of extra water to deal with. Turn on the stove and bring the water to a boil, and cook the noodles for a few minutes until they are done.
- Take the pot off the heat and remove of all but ¼ cup of the remaining water. You can either drink it (there are calories in there!) or dispose of it in a 6-inch deep hole (in accordance with Leave No Trace).
- Then, you’ll make the sauce by adding the spices, peanuts, peanut butter, and True Lime to the remaining water and noodles. Stir until the sauce is creamy and the noodles are coated.