Easy Camping & Backpacking Rice Meals You’ll Love

One of the truly staple everyday foods worldwide, rice can also be among the go-to foundation eats at the campsite—from deep wilderness to the roadside RV campground. This cereal grain checks a whole lot of boxes that lend it to camping: simple, lightweight, and easy to turn into something flavorful and satisfying with almost any pairing, from basic herbs and spices to your favorite sauces.

That said, some campers and backpackers may mistakenly believe rice is too complicated and takes too long to cook to include in their great-outdoors cuisine. Well, not true! If you’re wondering how to make rice while camping or backpacking, we’ve got just the info and the inspiration you need. Below, you’ll find a whole slew of great (and easy-peasy) camping rice recipes that appeal to both “DIY” camp cooks and those who prefer the convenience of readymade options, such as (you guessed it!) Mountain House.

Why is Rice a Great Base for Camping & Backpacking?

Featherweight, packable, budget-friendly, and endlessly versatile, rice is a true campsite culinary powerhouse despite its humble reputation. It works for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and delivers the kind of satisfying, reliable fuel you want on the trail.

As a straightforward source of carbohydrates, rice provides energy your body can convert quickly and efficiently. On camping or backpacking trips that involve steady physical effort, carbs should generally make up at least half of your daily calories, which makes rice a smart and practical staple to bring along.

How Do You Make Rice While Camping?

Precooking rice at home, bringing instant rice (dehydrated), or choosing our freeze-dried rice dishes are all common methods that eliminate the need to go through the usual, somewhat time-consuming process of making rice from scratch at camp.

But if you do want to cook rice camping, how do you go about it? While brown rice is more nutritious, it takes significantly longer to cook, so most campers opt for white rice when preparing it from scratch. It’s roughly a two-to-one ratio of water to rice: 

1. In a pot, combine a cup of rice with two cups of water. 
2. Set the pot on your camp stove, cover it, and bring to a boil, carefully keeping tabs to avoid the all-too-familiar boil-over.
3. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Gentle heat is the name of the game. 
4. Depending on your elevation, it might take anywhere from 10 to 20 or more minutes for the rice to absorb the water and attain fluffy doneness. 
5. Turn off the burner and let the rice steam with the lid on for a while before eating.

You can make rice the same way over a campfire, but you’ll need to manage the heat carefully. Cooking over coals instead of open flames gives you much better control and prevents scorching.

Scratch-cooking rice at camp can take more time, use more fuel and water, and require a steady simmer that some backpacking stoves struggle to maintain. Instant rice and freeze-dried rice options are faster, easier alternatives, though instant varieties usually aren’t as flavorful as rice cooked from scratch.

Ideas For Tasty Camping Meals With Rice

We’ll kick things off with some “homemade”-style camping and backpacking rice recipes/ideas that are equal parts simple, healthy, and satisfying. All of these can be made with precooked rice (that you prepare yourself or buy at the store) or instant rice for maximum efficiency at the campstove—or over the campfire.

Note that we aren’t including exact recipes or measurements: These are more inspirational suggestions that can be adapted to your particular palate and your desired serving size.

(1) Speedy Southwest Rice & Beans

Prepare your instant rice (or fluff up your precooked rice with a little water), add some canned beans and taco seasonings, and you’re good to go!

(2) Hearty Sausage & Peppers Rice Skillet

Give some sliced bell peppers and cubed or coin-sliced smoked sausage a little sauté in the cookpot or skillet, then add rice and the savory spices of your choice for one-pan scrumptiousness.

(3) Creamy Coconut Curry Rice

Bag up some instant rice, powdered coconut milk, and curry powder before your trip, then dump this dry mix into a couple of cups of water and bring to a boil. Gently simmer or even simply let stand, covered, for five or so minutes, until the liquid’s absorbed and the rice is rehydrated. You could also add any number of spices or herbs, incorporate some cut-up veggies, or toss in some freeze-dried chicken.

(4) Zesty Lemon Herb Chicken & Rice

You can whip up an elegantly simple yet full-on delicious campsite dish by combining precooked or freeze-dried chicken (depending on your camping setup) with instant rice, an herb mix, and some lemon zest. Other possible additions include garlic powder and dehydrated/freeze-dried shallots or onions.

(5) Mountain Morning Rice Pudding

What a way to start the day! Ahead of your trip, bag up a mix of instant rice with powdered milk, cinnamon, brown sugar, maybe some nutmeg, and dried fruit such as raisins. At camp, bring water to a boil, then add your rice pudding dry mix and let it stand covered and off the heat for five or 10 minutes.

(6) Mediterranean Medley Rice Bowl

Prepare instant rice or heat up precooked rice and then add sun-dried tomatoes, chopped olives, and feta cheese to create the perfect, bright al fresco lunch.

(7) Spicy Peanut Noodle-Rice Fusion

Rice noodles are quick-cooking, making them ideal for camping and even backpacking, and there are also instant versions available. Whip up an easy peanut sauce using peanut butter, chili flakes, curry powder, and perhaps lemon or lime juice, and toss together with the rice noodles for guaranteed goodness.

(8) Trailside Tuna & Rice Pilaf

Treat yourself to a tasty boost of protein and carbs by prepping instant or precooked rice with dried herbs such as oregano and thyme, as well as onion or garlic powder, then mixing in chunks of tuna.

Freeze-Dried Camping Meals With Rice

Do you want to skip the prep entirely and hone your “cooking” time down to the very minimum? Well, in that case, you simply can’t beat Mountain House rice meals: freeze-dried, lightweight, pre-cooked, perfectly portioned, and ready in mere minutes with just-add-water convenience! Plus, the freeze-drying process preserves the flavor and the nutrition of the original dish, which is prepared in a kitchen, home-cooked style, before undergoing freeze-drying. Unbeatable ease and big-time flavor? That’s a killer combo!

Here’s a look at some of our most beloved rice pouches to round out our list.

(9) Cheesy Beef Enchilada Bowl

Go the Tex-mex route with our Cheesy Beef Enchilada Bowl, which mixes together ground beef, corn tortillas, black beans, melted cheese, and—yes—long-grain rice in an absolutely knockout red enchilada sauce that’s wonderfully spicy and smoky.

(10) Chicken Fried Rice

Rice anchors this dish of chicken, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, onions, red peppers, peas, and carrots, with a delicious blend of soy sauce and oyster sauce tying everything together. It’s like relishing takeout on the trail!

(11) Yellow Curry With Chicken & Rice

Offering a crowd-pleasing mild-medium spice hit balanced with coconut sweetness, our creamy and aromatic Yellow Curry With Chicken & Rice is just the ticket for satisfying your curry cravings on the trail. And it’s 100% gluten-free!

(12) Kung Pao Chicken

Grilled chicken strips and Basmati rice harmonize beautifully in a bold, tangy, spicy blend of soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes.

(13) Chicken Tikka Masala

Our gluten-free Chicken Tikka Masala pouch bathes chicken, green peas, cauliflower, and rice in a creamy sauce woven together using 10 different traditional spices. The end result is steamy, taste-bud-tingling, belly-warming awesomeness with a little bit of a kick!

(14) Korean-Inspired Beef With Rice & Vegetables

A sweet, savory, umami-full Bulgogi sauce takes center stage in this Korean-style beef, rice, and veggies meal, among our newer offerings.

Bring Mountain House Meals on Your Next Adventure

To drive home the point, rice is a fantastic camp staple: nutritious, filling, and a versatile base or side that can go with just about anything and really “ties the room together” meal-wise.

Homemade rice recipes are awesome, no question, but there’s no topping the ease—or the shelf life—of a flavor-packed Mountain House rice pouch. Hey, why not make it the best of both worlds, and stock your camping/backpacking larder with both Mountain House and some instant- or precooked-rice mixes?

Browse our entire line of backpacking and camping pouches, rice-based and not, and start dreaming of your next adventure out there! We know we are...