Backpacker's Pantry Chicken Piccata & Tagliatelle Pasta

Backpacker's Pantry Chicken Picatta with Tagliatelle Pasta is a very filling, bold-flavored high-protein lemon chicken dish with noodles, capers, and parmesan cheese.

Backpacker's Pantry added several tasty new meals to their lineup this year and I was able to test three of them. The others that I tested were the Nicoise Salad with Salmon and Chana Masala. Of the three, I liked the Chana Masala the best, but all three are good and worth a try if you like these types of food.

Nutrition

Ingredients: 

Tagliatelle pasta (durum wheat semolina, water, egg albumen, salt), chicken breast (cooked, diced and freeze-dried), organic extra virgin olive oil, butter sauce (modified corn starch, salt, whey solids, nonfat dry milk, dehydrated butter, natural butter flavor, sugar, xanthan gum, lactic acid, turmeric and annatto), capers (freeze-dried capers, salt), Parmesan cheese (cultured part-skim milk, salt, enzymes, disodium phosphate, salt), organic spinach, lemon juice powder, sea salt, black pepper, savory soup base (maltodextrin, salt, autolyzed yeast extract, yeast extract, onion powder, silicon dioxide, turmeric extract (color), sunflower oil), garlic, parsley, lemon peel. Allergens: milk, eggs, wheat, and gluten.

Prep

Prep for the Chicken Picatta is very easy. All you do is remove the oxygen absorber, remove the olive oil package and add it to the bag, add 2 1/2 cups boiling water, and let it sit for 15-20 minutes. I let it sit 20 minutes and followed the measurements and it came out perfect both times I cooked it.

I prepared it at approximately 4000 ft, so the directions applied to me where I was. The food rehydration time doubles every 5,000 ft, so make sure to take your elevation into account when you prepare your meal.

Taste

I found the taste to be a very bold, bitter, acidic flavor, dominated by lemon, parmesan, garlic, and capers. I barely tasted the chicken because the other flavors were so strong that they overpowered it. It was also pretty salty tasting, as well. I liked the overall taste, I just found it to be a little bold. I don't think there is anything you can add to make the taste any better than it already is.

Texture

The texture of the Chicken Picatta is noodle heavy with small chunks of chicken and lumps of parmesan cheese. I've never had tagliatelle noodles before, but I enjoyed them and thought they were the perfect compliment to the chicken in this dish. When cooked, they were nice and tender and not too thick or too thin.

Satiety

I found the Chicken Piccata to be plenty filling for two people (two 13 oz-servings). It isn't overly heavy, so it is great for lunch or dinner. I ate it for lunch and it kept me full all the way until time for dinner after a full day of hiking. When I ate it for dinner, it kept me full all night.

With 350 calories, 24 grams of protein and 1425 mg of sodium per serving, Chicken Picatta will keep you fueled all day long. Make sure you have plenty of water with you to help offset some of that sodium.

Best For

I'd say that due to its satiety that I described above, I would recommend the Chicken Piccata with Tagliatelle Pasta for lunch, but since it isn't too heavy, it is great for dinner, as well.

Conclusion

As I stated with the Nicoise Salad, this would not be my first choice of dehydrated meal, but it is a nice change from the more bland dehydrated meals and is definitely worth consideration if you like lemon chicken. If you don't really like lemon chicken, I'd probably try a different one.

Thank you to for reading my review. Thank you also to Backpacker's Pantry and Trailspace for the opportunity to test this tasty meal.