Looking for an easy, healthy and super tasty backpacking recipe idea that isn’t instant mashed potatoes, ramen or an expensive, store-bought, freeze dried backpacking meal? Coconut Cashew Curry is incredibly easy to make and is loaded with flavor. Prep the ingredients ahead of time and in the backcountry and this DIY backpacking meal takes less than 10 minutes to cook.
Coconut Cashew Curry With Couscous
Ingredients
¼ cup dried onion flakes (or dehydrated onion)
¼ cup dehydrated shredded carrots
¼ cup dehydrated mushrooms
2 veggie or chicken bouillon cubes
2 tsp curry powder
4 tbsp coconut milk powder
¼ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp crushed red pepper
½ tsp sugar
1 cup water
½ cup couscous
1 packet coconut oil
½ cup roasted cashews
Instructions (Prepping the Dish Before Your Trip):
- Add the onion, carrots, mushrooms, bouillon, curry powder, coconut milk powder, garlic powder, crushed red pepper and sugar into a Ziploc bag.
- Package couscous, coconut oil and roasted cashews separately, each in their own bag or container.
Instructions (Cooking the Dish in the Backcountry):
- Boil ½ cup water of water.
- Add couscous, cover and remove from heat.
- Let couscous sit covered for 5 minutes.
- Boil the remaining water, stir in vegetable curry mix and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add coconut oil to the vegetable curry sauce.
- Add curry sauce to couscous and top with cashews.
- Enjoy!
Serving Size: 1.5 cups
Recipe makes 1 serving
Backpacking Meals DIY Recipe | Coconut Cashew Curry With Couscous
Learn how to make your own backpacking meals with some of my favorite recipes:
Dehydrated Backcountry Spaghetti
Dehydrated Pasta Penne Alfredo
Sweet & Spicy Homemade Trail Mix
Holy Molé Breakfast Bars
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Going to try this one, but I can’t seem to find packets of coconut oil already to go and will need to measure it out from a larger bottle. How much would you say is in a “packet ” of coconut oil? It looks to me around 1 tbsp but I could be way off.
I got the coconut oil packets from Trader Joes. If you don’t have a Trader Joes near you, you can get away with adding 1 tablespoon of coconut oil to the recipe. The packets just make the ingredients more packable for a backpacking trip. Less messy and easier transport. Good luck!
I’ve made this a few times with success. My suggestion is to add some raisins in for a touch of sweetness. I also reduced the bullion since it was quite salty.
I made this one for our group of 5 and found it to be excellent. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
A couple of notes for people who want to try it:
* The red pepper flakes add a fair bit of heat and you might want to decrease it a lot if you don’t handle spicy foods well. We used about half and it was still quite spicy.
* The serving size on this is quite large. Only one person in our group could finish their serving. I think next time I will make 3 “servings” to feed 5 people. If you are a thru hiker looking to replace a lot of calories, then this will hit the spot as-is.
* Make sure you have some paper towels or extra fuel (for heating water) so you can clean your dishes. The coconut oil makes it kind of hard to clean up with cold water.
We’re definitely adding this one to our list of frequent backpacking meals.