When I was planning my backpacking trip on Isle Royal in 2016, I was new to dehydrating and was brainstorming meals for the first time. I thought that taco salad might work well on the trail. Sure enough, a quick internet search yielded a selection of dehydrated taco salad recipes, all beef-heavy and vegetable-free. I hadn’t eaten meat in several years and these recipes didn’t interest me. But I had just learned that most vegetables that can be cooked can also be dehydrated. I suspected that a making a veggie-focused taco salad would be easy. My first experiment involved replacing “classic” taco salad iceberg with spinach. The spinach dehydrated wonderfully and proved to be a game-changer in my trail diet.

To make this recipe vegetarian, replace beef with fake meat or extra vegetables. I use a slightly different veggie combination each time. The beauty of this dish is that it doesn’t matter if the taco shells crumble in your bag because they’ll be great for taco salad regardless!

Taco salad

Serves one hungry hiker.

Ingredients (click here for detailed dehydration instructions for each ingredient)



½ can corn, dehydrated (.5 oz dehydrated) Handful of sundried tomatoes Half a bunch of fresh spinach, dehydrated (7 g dehydrated) Half a fresh jalapeño, dehydrated ( .75 g dehydrated) Sliced dehydrated mushrooms (7 g dehydrated) Dehydrated salsa (7 g dehydrated) Dehydrated beef (2 oz dehydrated) 2 ¼ tsp taco seasoning for mild/medium 2 taco shells 1/4 c fresh cheddar cheese block. (This may get slimy on the trail but will be fine unrefrigerated for at least 4-5 days.) You can substitute 3 tbsp powdered cheese but the quality will suffer.

Note: I can’t eat avocado without risking anaphylaxis. If you can, guacamole would be good here. Make or buy guacamole with little to no olive oil. Dehydrate approximately 1/4 c on parchment paper.

Instructions

Put all ingredients except taco shells and cheese in Ziploc bag. Spinach will break into herb-sized pieces while smashed into your pack; this is normal. Package taco shells and cheese separately.

To rehydrate

Boil water and pour into Ziploc bag until taco salad is just covered. Seal bag and leave for 4-5 minutes, massaging water into ingredients periodically for even rehydration. Add more water if food looks or tastes dry. Meanwhile, slice cheese into fine pieces. Test beef to confirm readiness (beef will rehydrate slowest). Add cheese and crumbled taco shells to salad and enjoy.