Growing up, chicken soup was one of my favourite things.
Typically, my mom would make a creamy form of it, with a generous sprinkle of black pepper. Sometimes she would try to sneak in more nutrients and substance by adding veggies or rice. If we went to a Chinese restaurant, the usual culprits would be either lemon coriander chicken soup or sweet corn chicken soup.
Chicken noodle soup, on the other hand, was a dish I discovered after moving to Canada. In contrast to soups we had growing up, which were more of an appetizer or first course, this was an entire meal by itself! Every winter – until I switched to a vegan diet – I prepared and consumed copious amounts of chicken noodle soup. It was nothing like the chicken soups of my childhood, but there was something familiar about that distinct flavour of sodium-laden broth from a carton.
In the years since then, I’ve stopped using boxed broth, and certainly stopped making chicken soup.
But I haven’t stopped loving soup. It’s still one of my favourite things to make and eat, especially in the cooler months.
So for a spring/early-summer backpacking trip, I came up with my ultralight version of Frommybowl’s vegan chicken soup recipe. It’s so easy, everything fits into one resealable bag. I even weighed it: despite the heavy silicon bag, it still comes in at 405g for two hefty portions.
The main stars of the dish are soy crumbles, our “chicken”, and tiny pasta – I used stelline – our noodle. They cook in 5-10 minutes (depending on the altitude!), so it keeps fuel consumption pretty low. Finally, the dehydrated vegetable mix and imitation chicken broth bring the dish together to give it the familiar chicken noodle soup flavour.
Note: We’re calling it a soup, but the result is actually more of a saucy pasta. This is mainly to keep it backcountry-friendly: to fit in smaller pots, and for lower fuel consumption. You can always add more water for a true soup-like consistency, just scale up the seasonings accordingly.
If you’re interested in more one-pot soupy recipes, check out the this Minestrone Soup recipe.
“Chicken” Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 180 g stelline or any other small pasta
- 60 g TVP mince or soy crumbles1
- 60 g mixed dried veggies and mushrooms
- 1 tbsp imitation “chicken” broth
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp lemon pepper2
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
At Home
- Put everything into one resealable bag.
At Camp
- Empty the contents of the resealable bag into your pot. Pour in enough water so that there's 1½ inches of water above everything. Give it a good mix and bring to boil.
- Once it has come to a boil, reduce the flame and let it cook until the pasta is al dente, or just shy of being fully cooked3.
- Give it a good mix once in a while so nothing sticks to the bottom. Add more water if needed, it should never get very dry.4
- Finally, once it reaches al dente, let it sit with the lid covered for 5-10 mins until the pasta is done. The "chicken" noodle soup is ready!
Notes
- Feel free to use a different shape/size of TVP or dehydrated soy.
- If you don’t have lemon pepper, use ½ tsp black pepper and ½ tsp garlic powder instead.
- How long it takes to reach al dente state will depend on the altitude. The boiling point of water decreases the higher you go, but it also takes longer to cook! In my case (approximately 1200 m) it took about 7-8 minutes from the very start.
- The total quantity of water required depends on your pot’s capacity, and how soupy you want it to be. Note that more soupy means a longer cook time, more fuel consumption, and requiring more seasoning. As a baseline, 750 ml – 1 L water results in a saucy pasta dish.
Winter brings back memories of those home made soups. May all your winter days be soupy and warm, nothing like a cup or bowl of soup to warm you up.
Thanks! I’ve even started carrying some miso soup in a thermos when doing winter activities. Someone suggested that as a remedy to ensure you’re properly hydrated when it’s cold out. Being dehydrated makes you feel colder, but cold water is unpleasant to drink when we’re cold, so something warm is the solution!