Pad Thai has always been one of the common Asian offerings for dehydrated meals for backpacking. To make it keto, I replaced the usual rice noodles with spaghetti squash, which dehydrates beautifully and brings a natural sweetness that works well with this dish. I enjoyed this thoroughly, almost as good as making it fresh, and certainly a cut above the standard backpacker meal options.
Keto Dehydrated Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai Backpacker Camp Meal Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 cups cooked spaghetti squash
- 1 cup orange or red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup dried shrimp
- ½ cup cooked chicken, shredded (*Replace with more tofu for vegan.)
- ½ cup extra-firm tofu (*or more chicken)
- ⅓ chicken bouillon cube (or an amount that would be used to make a 1 cup serving), broken into pieces
- ½ cup coconut cream powder
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter powder
- 2 tablespoons tomato powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon dried green onion or chives
- 1 teaspoon Tru Lime
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt (or to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)
- 1 teaspoon dried cilantro
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon gold erithrytol monk fruit sweetener
- 2 tablespoon roasted salted peanuts or cashews
Directions:
Keep the tofu in its original package and freeze it solid. Once frozen, thaw it overnight in the refrigerator then cut it into ¼" cubes. Freezing it opens up air spaces in the tofu through the expansion of frozen liquid inside. Dehydrating tofu, without freezing it first, results in tofu that resists rehydration, making it rubbery and hard. Freezing also shortens the drying time by allowing the heat and air circulation of the dehydrator can get into the air pockets.
Before getting started, Please note that this recipe makes 2 meals, so all your ingredients will be divided in half to go into 2 separate bags.
Spread the chicken and spaghetti squash onto a dehydrator roll sheets and the bell pepper onto another dehydrator tray.
Run the dehydrator according to manufacturer instructions until everything is completely dry.
Distribute dehydrated ingredients, along with all the rest of the ingredients evenly between 2 separate pint-sizes ziplock mylar bags. If I’m not using them right away, I’ll store them in my freezer with a food-safe oxygen absorber (like the ones that come in seaweed packages), then remove the oxygen absorber before prepping it.
Directions for Peparing the Meal:
- At least 20 minutes (more time is even better) before you plan to eat, add ¼-½ cup water to the bag and stir. Seal up the bag and allow to soak through. When ready to eat, add boiled water, little by little, stirring to combine until it’s at your preferred consistency. Grab a spoon and dig in!
Did you give this keto dehydrated spaghetti squash pad Thai backpacking camp meal recipe a try? If so, let me know what you think in the comments. Or if you share any pics on Instagram, tag me so I can see your creations. Bonus points if the photo is out in some beautiful backpacking destination! :)
