Creamy, delicious tortellini with dried tomatoes and chicken. You’re gonna love this!
I know you guys, I’m a little behind on this “once a month backpacking meal recipe” thingy! Give me a small break on this. It’s only been 5011 degrees here. Just firing up an alcohol stove can give you heat stroke.
That being said, the wait is worth it. I think you’re gonna like if not love this recipe and it’s Management approved. What I have realized is that if I can get a wink and a nod from Management, then I’m good to go.
Truth time.
In real life, I’m not a pasta eater. I’ll never get it at restaurants, and unless we need a quick meal or haven’t been to the store (like after vacation or something) we’ll not eat it at home either.
But we all know, the trail is not real life – in any way, shape or form. In my real life I do not walk 18 miles a day. In my real life I do not smell like a possum that crawled up a dead cow’s bum. In real life I do not carry around a shit shovel. In my real life I do not often eat pasta.
But on the trail magical things happen. All those things, that is totally me on the trail and I love every minute of it. After 18 miles, pasta is my best friend. Especially something like tortellini, something that cooks up so quickly on its own.
That’s just what I’m looking for at the end of the day. I don’t want fussy at the end of the day. I just want to shove food in my face (preferably good food) and go to sleep, maybe watch a little ranger television if the weather permits. Unless I’m with Grapenut and that ranger television blasts away – rain, shine, 5011 degrees, makes no difference.
Like all my other backpacking recipes, you do not have to save this for the trail. It’s got veg, it’s got a sauce, it’s got chicken, it’s got tortellini. It’s got it all. It’s that good that you can make this at home, in your college dorm, hell, even in a hotel room. I used the Keith Ti6300 for this meal. It’s a pot in pot type of thing. You can see it in the video above. But you don’t have to make it in this pot. You can use any backpacking stove and pot combination.
And you might even have all this stuff in your pantry. I did, that’s really how it came about. It was all just staring back at me in the pantry. Writing this, I’m realizing how weird that actually is. Why did we have tortellini in there anyway? Like I said, we don’t eat that – ever. Let’s call it serendipity and get on with the recipe.
Chicken Tortellini & Sun Dried Tomatoes
Chicken Tortellini & Sun Dried Tomatoes – creamy, delicious lightweight meal for your next adventure!
Ingredients
- 3-4 ounces white meat chicken, canned or in a pack Sweet Sue brand is perfect for this
- 4 whole or 10 julienned sun dried tomatoes not packed in oil, diced
- pinch salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons powered milk, I love Nido
- 1/2 pack Alfredo Knorr sauce pack or creamy pesto, garlic, whatever floats your boat
- 1 tablespoon dehydrated bell pepper in the spice section
- 1 tablespoon freeze dried garlic in the spice section
- 2 tablespoons butter powder, Butter Buds in the spice section
- 3/4 cup water
- handful dried tortellini, your favorite flavor
Instructions
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For the Keith Ti6300:
Add the water, chicken, tortellini, bell pepper, and garlic and water to the pot. Close the lid. Bring to a boil, basically when steam starts jetting out of the top.
Remove the lid and the inner pot. Let the water drain just a tad from the pasta. With the liquid that remains in the pot, add the powdered ingredients (butter powder, powdered milk and the 1/2 pack pasta sauce). Stir it about. If you want it a little thicker, heat it up until it’s the thickness you like.
When it’s thick to your liking, add the sauce to the pasta in the pot. Stir. Eat!
For a regular camping stove (not the Keith Ti6300):
Add water, chicken, tortellini, bell pepper, and garlic to your pot. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat off.
Let sit for about 5 minutes. Add the butter powder, powdered milk, and sauce mix. Bring back to a boil for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Stir.
Eat! If it’s not thick enough, let it sit around for a bit. It’ll thicken right up.
Recipe Notes
- To pack this, add all your powdered ingredients into a snack size zip lock bag. Add the spices, veg, and tortellini in another snack size bag. Keep chicken separate, unless it’s dehydrated, then you can put it with the pasta and spices.
- I suggest you make this at home before you take it as a meal on the trail. This is a portion for me. You may be like, “Whoa! This dude’s a pig!” Or once you cook it you might think, “This dude eats like a girl! I need to double this portion size.”
- And it’s loose too. You want to throw in some onion flakes, do it. Dried carrots? Yeah, perfect! Peas? Uh huh.
Turned out great. Your recipe didn’t specify when to add sun dried T’s, so I added at beginning. also added to dry pouch 1/4 tsp ea of ground cayenne, dried oregano, dried basil, and garlic powder, plus a little extra Parmesan 1 TBS to kick up the cheese punch. I used 2/3 cup dried tortellini from TJ’s. Used 1 cup water instead 3/4 cup. Thanks for the pointers…Trailmazing!!!!
Hey Keith,
Very interesting dish and also looks very yummy. I would surely give it a try. 🙂
Great on the trail and off! Thanks for checking it out!
Oh my, this looks so good! Thank you for sharing at The Really Crafty Link Party.