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7 Delicious Knorr Side Dinner Ideas You Need To Try, According to an AT Thru-Hiker
POV: You’re planning a thru-hike, but you quickly realize you don’t have the budget to drop $10 – $20 on a freeze-dried meal every night. The idea of subsisting on ramen and Snickers for the next several months is kinda filling you with dread. Enter: the humble Knorr Side.
These green packets of goodness were my staple food on the AT for multiple reasons. Firstly, they’re very budget friendly, ringing up at about $1 – $2 each. Secondly, there’s a wide variety of flavors, which allows you to switch things up and keep the boredom at bay. Thirdly, they’re everywhere: I can’t recall a single standard grocery store I resupplied at that didn’t have at least a couple of flavors. And finally, they’re decently filling, at least as far as thru-hiking meals go. Mix in a packet of your favorite protein and add some dessert on the side, and you’ve got yourself a decent meal.
Having survived off of them for 6.5 months, I’ve tried nearly all the flavors. Here are my 7 favorite Knorr Side and protein combos — one for each day of the week!
7. Cheddar Broccoli Rice Side with Chicken
Maybe it’s because this reminded me of childhood, but there was just something so cozy and comforting about cheesy rice and chicken. I will admit, the broccoli is a bit of a farce, which made me sad because broccoli is my favorite vegetable. But the little specks of green were at least enough to convince my brain I wasn’t completely deficient on greens for the week.
This flavor is also available as a pasta side, which is also decent, but I felt rice was more satisfying, and it takes a little less time to cook. The package calls for milk, but I would either substitute an equal amount of water or just leave it out altogether.
6. Buffalo Chicken Pasta Side with Chicken
This is a newer flavor from Knorr, but from what I remember, it seemed pretty readily available. It does pack a bit of heat, so if you’re sensitive to that, this flavor might not be the best for you. If you’re looking to make it even spicier, Starkist offers a foil packet of buffalo chicken. I tried that combo once and was guzzling water, but I don’t have a high spice tolerance, so you do you!
This one calls for milk, but I would either substitute an equal amount of water or just leave it out altogether.
5. Stroganoff Pasta Side with Summer Sausage
I unfortunately only tried this combo once because I didn’t come up with it until I was nearly finished with the trail. I was bummed because it turned out so tasty! If you can find a smaller stick of sausage, that would definitely be ideal, but no big deal if not. I carried a pound at a time and loved snacking on it — it seemed to keep just fine for several days.
I did tend to have a little trouble with the fettuccine noodles sticking to the bottom of my pan, so be mindful of that when cooking. This one calls for milk, but I would either substitute an equal amount of water or just leave it out altogether.
4. Cheesy Cheddar Pasta Side with Jalapeño Tuna
I grew up eating Tuna Helper somewhat frequently. On the AT, I loved this combo because it felt like an adult version. The heat and flavor from the jalapeños is just *chef’s kiss*. It did seem like this tuna flavor was harder to find in stores the further north I went, so get your fill down south! The spiral pasta means that this one takes a little bit longer to cook, so be aware of that.
This one also calls for milk, but I would either substitute an equal amount of water or just leave it out altogether.
3. Creamy Pesto Pasta Side with Tomato Basil Tuna
I really enjoyed this flavor combo because it make me feel kind of fancy: pesto and tomato basil just aren’t ingredients I typically associate with backcountry eating! Unfortunately, I was only able to find the tuna and Knorr Side together a few times down south, while both were practically nonexistent at the resupply spots in New England. I was able to find the pesto side once up north and tried pairing it with hickory flavored tuna, but the flavors didn’t mesh quite as well. The tomatoes really bring all the flavors together, in my opinion.
2. Teriyaki Noodles Pasta Side with Spicy Thai Chili Tuna
I liked this combo so much I probably ate it close to once a week or so. There are some other brands of similarly flavored tuna out there, but I felt the Bumblebee brand knocked it out of the park. The sweet heat from the tuna is rather mild in my opinion, but it paired well with the teriyaki. There is a rice side in this flavor too that might be a little more filling; I just really liked the texture of the noodles.
Another benefit: this flavor has probably the most vegetables of any flavor I tried!
1. Marinara Pasta Side with Pepperoni
This was far and away my favorite combo and the one that got the most attention from fellow thru-hikers. On one occasion I fixed this for dinner while camping with a group of people; I remember watching each person react to the delicious scent of tomatoes and Italian seasoning wafting past their noses. One guy said, “Wow, that smells really good!”, to which other people agreed. A few minutes later, he spotted me adding pepperoni to the pot and exclaimed, “She can COOK!” I got a pretty good laugh out of that, considering all I was doing was adding water and pepperoni to a pre-made packaged meal, but hey — I’ll take that compliment!
Unfortunately, this one was a little harder to find in stores: I tended to have the most luck at Walmart. The slight scarcity made it that much more enjoyable, especially after a long, hard day on the trail. Pro tip: if you can snag a packet of parmesan from a pizza place, it only elevates this already fantastic meal! The only downside is that the pepperoni leaves the pot pretty greasy and is kind of difficult to clean up.
Don’t Ig-Knorr The Downsides
Of course, Knorr Sides aren’t perfect. For one thing they have far longer cook times than most other backcountry meals, which means burning more gas. This can definitely get expensive, especially as isobutane becomes costlier and harder to find the further north you go. And the cook times specified are for ideal conditions: on windy days at exposed sites, I burned through tons more gas just trying to get water to boil so I could properly cook.
I met some people who tried to mitigate fuel loss by preparing rice sides like freeze dried meals by boiling water, pouring it directly into the pouch, and letting it sit for a while. I never heard anybody raving about their results, however, and I think the results sometimes ended up pretty crunchy.
Additionally, Knorr Sides are pretty useless to those with a stoveless setup. You might be able to get away with cold soaking the rice sides, but I definitely wouldn’t bother trying that with the pasta sides. Furthermore, if you have Celiac disease or a gluten intolerance, know that Knorr sides are not gluten-free. Even the rice sides contain vermicelli, which is wheat-based.
Despite these shortcomings, I’m still highly in favor of the humble but mighty Knorr Side, and I encourage you to give them a try if you haven’t already. Also, I’m always looking for new trail meal ideas, so if you have a favorite, Knorr or otherwise, drop it in the comments — I’d love to hear it. Thanks for reading, and happy trails!
Featured image: Photo by Sheraya Smith. Graphic design by Zack Goldmann.
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Comments 14
These sound very tasty! But the aspect of having to actually cook them is challenging. I wonder if one could buy the side, freeze dry it, then just add hot water and meat on the trail?
This is such a great article and so helpful but I couldn’t stop laughing at #2 because I really thought it was going to be bagged chicken + a different flavor Knorr side for every single one
Great suggestions, Sunshine! I love the idea of many of these pairings. And I can say from my experience that adding boiling water to some of these works, but they aren’t perfect and you need a lot of patience!
For many/most of these, you recommend replacing the required milk with water, or just “leave it out altogether.” How do you cook them without either water or milk? Is the residual juice from the protein packet enough?
I find adding olive oil helps.
I was the same as you, except I used Rice Sides
Never really had an issue with time taken, gas used, etc. They were always available at every stop
My favourite….spanish rice side, two tuna packets, bacon bits….and a squirt of olive oil (once cooked)
But then , I’d swap them for a town meal 😂
Adding olive oil helps (almost) EVERYTHING! 🙂
I put most of these in a cozy with EVO. Potato flakes to suck the leftover water, snatch some mayo packets to add calories and creaminess
I have a Jet boil Zip. I boil the amount of water needed, with olive oil if milk is required. Turn off the stove and put the cup on the ground. Add the Knorr packet and stir. Put the protein packet on top of the lid to heat. Cover everything with a pack towel or any insulation for 15 minutes. Then add the protein packet and eat. Turns out perfect every time.
This method saves tons of fuel and is easy.
My favorite is to add spam to Spanish Rice for a hearty “Spamish Rice.”
This post made me sick to my stomach. I stopped eating Knorrs in southern Virginia because I just couldn’t do it anymore. It was replaced by Ramen.
Any way you could do an addendum to this listing calorie counts for each meal? I realize the photos show the per serving calories for the Knorr sides, which helps, but some text listing an approximate total for the meal as prepared would be a nice touch to this article (which made my mouth water in anticipation).
CousCous is a quick cooking alternative to the carb component. Similar cooking as instant mashed potatoes–just add boiling water. They come in a couple of different flavors, and provides texture that the mashed can’t. For protein, add bits of jerky (your choice of flavor/meat) to the water while it boils. I also add dehydrated veggie bits (pepper, mushroom, tomato), either to the water, or directly after soaking for the day. These are really lightweight ingredients and the whole thing is ready to go as soon as your water boils (it’s usually too hot to eat right away, so sometime dessert (a snack bar or tortilla construction) come first while waiting for the main course to cool down.
A fun article! Cheddar Broccoli is one of my favorites too, but the pasta instead of rice. I find the rice sides cook easier, but the pasta sides are more satisfying. Rice sides also have the more “exotic” flavors…teriyaki, Spanish, Mexican, etc. The variety of sides and tuna/chicken/beef packets make for a great deal of combos.