If you’re looking for an easy meal to make for backpacking, you’ve come to the right place. Simple dehydrated meals are a great way to get a feel for what dehydrating your own food is like, and it only takes a few simple ingredients to make something delicious. That is where my Dehydrated Pepperoni Pizza Pasta meal comes into play.

After countless store-bought, overpriced freeze-dried meals left my stomach in disarray in the backcountry, I finally decided it was time to start making my own meals for backpacking. I wanted to eat meals that left me feeling restored for the next grueling day on the trail.

Something many backpacking recipes miss out on, but is a vital ingredient for recovery, is fat. Fat is typically left out of backpacking meals because it can spoil. However, the way I have put this recipe together, you can enjoy the benefits of a long-term, shelf-stable recipe without missing out on fat.

Let’s get into it!

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Making Your Own Pepperoni Pizza Pasta Backpacking Recipe

Most homemade dehydrated meals fail because people try to dehydrate ingredients that don’t rehydrate well, or they combine ingredients with wildly different moisture contents. This recipe solves both problems by using small pasta shapes that cook fast and rehydrate evenly, pepperoni that is already preserved and shelf-stable, and a tomato-based sauce that dehydrates into concentrated flavor.

The key ratio is keeping your pasta-to-sauce ratio around 2:1 by dry weight, which gives you enough moisture to hydrate everything without turning into soup.

Equipment You Need to Dehydrate

You will need a food dehydrator for this recipe.

An oven set to its lowest temperature might work in theory, but in practice, it either cooks your food instead of dehydrating it or takes so long that you could worry about spoilage. A basic four-tray dehydrator can cost about $60 and will pay for itself after a summer of backpacking.

Look for one with adjustable temperature control and a fan for even air circulation. I use the Cosori Dehydrator.

Other than a dehydrator, you will need:

• A pot for cooking the pasta and sauce together
• Non-stick dehydrator trays or parchment paper to line your trays
• A spatula for spreading the mixture
• Cutting board and knife to cut the pepperoni and inclusions
• Storage options
• A kitchen scale for measuring portions accurately (optional)

The scale helps ensure you pack the correct proportions for what you need on the trail. For storage, a freezer bag, sandwich bag, or even mason jars will work, but if you’re meal prepping for a thru-hike, investing in a vacuum sealer will extend shelf life even further.

Important Ingredients

Each ingredient has a job in backpacking meals, and understanding what it does helps you make smart substitutions when creating your own meal.

Small Pasta Shapes

Smaller, thinner pasta rehydrates faster and more evenly than long, thick noodles, which tend to clump and create dry spots. Ditalini, Bowtie, and Elbow pasta are my go-to because they have always rehydrated evenly for me. Avoid anything larger than a nickel or longer than a thumbnail.

Whole wheat or alternative pastas work, but they do have a grainier texture after rehydration.

Tomato Sauce

Really, any marinara sauce or pizza sauce will do as long as it is not oil-based. That is the tricky part when choosing a sauce from the shelf. Many tomato sauces have oil in them to use as an emulsifier. If you’re struggling to find a pasta sauce without oil, you can always use tomato paste and spruce it up.

Do not use a meat sauce. The chance of spoilage is high.

Pepperoni Slices

Choose pepperoni that you already love that is NOT in the refrigerator section. Shelf-stable pepperoni is going to last in the backcountry, but not if it needs to be refrigerated. Avoid soft salamis or anything labeled “uncured” without nitrates. You will either dice or slice the pepperoni into small pieces. Or you can use mini pepperonis, whichever you prefer.

If you use a turkey sausage, the meat will be drier, but it is still a great option. For more flavor, you can grab a spicy pepperoni!

Seasonings

For added flavor, especially if you are using tomato paste instead of store-bought red sauce, use garlic powder, salt, black pepper, and an Italian seasoning blend of oregano, basil, thyme, and rosemary. Want a little kick? Add some red pepper flakes.

Fresh herbs do not dehydrate well, so using dried herbs will work best with this recipe.

Parmesan Cheese

Depending on how long you need the meal to be shelf-stable, you can take a few different routes with the Parmesan Cheese. You can use a hard Parmesan cheese that you need to grate, or you can just use the shelf-stable Parmesan that comes with the green lid.

Keep the parmesan in a separate container and sprinkle it on top of the rehydrated pasta to avoid it getting stuck and burnt to the bottom of your pot.

Mozzarella cheese, while a delicious pizza topping, will not last on the trail.

Inclusions

This recipe is great because you can add any of your favorite pizza toppings. Add your favorite bell pepper, jalapeno, banana pepper, or even broccoli. Anything you believe will add great flavor to your meal!

Dehydrating Pepperoni Pizza Pasta

What makes this Pizza Pasta Recipe so beginner-friendly is that you only NEED to dehydrate some pasta and a sauce for the meal. Everything else is a dry ingredient that you need to measure out and set aside for your trip.

You are going to pre-cook your pasta until it is just shy of al dente or al dente. Follow the directions on the box for this.

After cooking your pasta, drain the water and return your pasta to the pot. You’re going to mix the sauce you are using with the pasta, so the noodles have time to marinate in the sauce for extra flavor on the trail.

If you are adding any inclusions, such as olives, bell peppers, or onions, add them to the pot as well.

Spread the meal onto a dehydrator tray and let it cool to room temperature before putting it in your dehydrator. Set the dehydrator for 135°F and let it run for six hours.

Check the meal after 6 hours and test for pasta brittleness. Once the pasta and sauce are completely dehydrated, the pasta should be able to snap easily.

Let the meal cool after dehydrating before packing it up.

Rehydrating on the Trail

Depending on your backcountry kitchen setup, you will either pour 250 mL of boiling water into your Mylar Bag with the noodles and sauce for each serving, or rehydrate your meal in your pot.

If you are rehydrating in a Mylar Bag, add the boiling water, stir, and set aside for 8 minutes before stirring again. If the water has been completely absorbed after the 8 minutes, add a few more tablespoons of water before adding your pepperoni slices and parmesan cheese. Let it sit for another 5 minutes and then enjoy!

If you’re rehydrating your meal in a pot, bring 300 mL of water to a boil in your pot before adding the dehydrated pasta. Let the pasta boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and let sit for 8 minutes. Place the pot back on the flame before adding the pepperoni and cheese. This will help heat the meal back up and melt the cheese.

Once the pasta is soft, you’re good to eat!

My current backcountry cooking setup is:

• MSR Titan Kettle
• PocketRocket Deluxe Stove
• GSI Compact Scraper
• Alpha Light Spork

Packing & Prepping for Backpacking

There are several ways people like to reheat their meals in the backcountry. Here is a short overview of your two main options:

Mylar Bag

If you want to cook your meal in a Mylar Bag, put the noodles and sauce in the bag at home. Pack the pepperoni and parmesan in a separate baggie. The baggie can go inside the mylar bag for storage, so everything is in one place.

Cooking in a Pot

Place the pasta in a compostable bag or plastic bag by serving size. I use these. To limit your bag usage, put the toppings in one corner of the bag, twist the corner, then add the pasta. This will keep your ingredients separate, so you only need one bag instead of two.

Storage Options

The base of this meal is great for long-term storage because everything has an extremely long shelf life. Since most of this meal comes together in the backcountry, how you store it depends on how long you’ll be storing it.

A gallon Ziploc bag is great for large batches of dehydrated pasta and sauce if you’ll be using this method during the current backpacking season.

Mylar bags are great for long-term storage and help maintain the crispness of your pasta.

If you want to store the entire meal together but are unsure when you will use it, use freezer bags and store it in the freezer for up to 2 years.

You might also like…

• Dehydrated Chicken Burrito Backpacking Meal
• Dehydrated Cuban Pork and Rice Backpacking Meal
• Dehydrated Peanut Butter Pad Thai
• Beginner’s Guide to Homemade Backpacking Meals
• Homemade Chili Mac Backpacking Meal