Road Food: Good food that travels well
Whether you’re heading across the country, across the world, or simply across town, this series of recipes is made for life on the move. They’re easy to make, easy to pack, and taste just as good hours later as they do fresh from the kitchen. Perfect for road trips, picnics, hikes, airplanes, potlucks, packed lunches, busy weeknights, and anywhere else you need to go.
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After 5 months in Michigan, Steve and I packed up and left last weekend, traveling through Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa before parking ourselves in Nebraska, where we’ll stay for the next couple of weeks.
We split the drive from Michigan to Nebraska into 2 days and spent Saturday night in the Cabela’s parking lot in Omaha. On Sunday morning, I got up and assembled these salads for our lunch, using chicken, pickled sumac onions, and yogurt dill dressing that I had prepared a couple of days prior. I packed the containers into a cooler along with slices of walnut chocolate chip spice cake from the freezer.
This is how I save us from truck stop food on long travel days. We ate our lunch in the truck while parked at a rest stop somewhere along I-80, and it was honestly so much better than anything we could have picked up on the way.
Every part of this salad is quick and easy to prepare in advance. I made the Turkish chicken, pickled sumac onions, and yogurt dill dressing on Thursday, packing them in the refrigerator along with a container of greens and a cucumber.
Sunday morning, it only took me about 5 minutes to fill two containers with greens, a chopped cucumber, cold pieces of chicken, and some pickled onions. I packed our salads into a cooler along with the jar of dressing, which we poured onto our salads right before eating.
The chicken is inspired by Turkish kebabs. Chunks of boneless, skinless chicken thighs marinate for a few hours in a garlicky pepper and paprika yogurt mixture before baking in the oven. Once cool, the pieces of chicken will keep well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and are delicious eaten cold.
The pickled sumac onions take less than 10 minutes to prepare and keep well in the refrigerator for at least two weeks.
The yogurt dill dressing requires nothing more than adding all the ingredients to a blender or a food processor and blending everything until smooth. It will also keep well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
And that’s it. Add some greens and a chopped cucumber and you’re set.
You, of course, do not have to relegate this salad to road trips or packed lunches. This is the kind of salad that travels well, but traveling is not required. It does lend itself to advance preparation, however, which is something that I think we all can appreciate.
If you have some time to cook the chicken, pickle the onions, and mix up the dressing on Sunday afternoon, for example, you have a nearly ready-to-eat meal waiting for you. And that is always a good thing.
Recipe notes:
If you can’t find Aleppo pepper in your local supermarket, it’s easy to find online. This is the brand I almost always have on hand: The Spice Way Ground Aleppo Pepper (When I clicked over to Amazon to find the Aleppo pepper link, it informed me that I’ve purchased it 15 times already this year and it’s barely October. I might be obsessed.)
More road food recipes
Walnut Chocolate Chip Spice Cake
This buttery walnut chocolate chip spice cake has a soft, tender crumb flecked with finely ground walnuts and mini chocolate chips. The cake is flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom, and cloves. A little whole wheat flour adds heartiness while cake flour keeps it soft and tender. Wrap slices individually for easy transport. This cake is bound to make any journey more delicious.
Middle Eastern Meatball Wraps With Garlic and Lemon Yogurt Sauce
These meatballs are spiced with cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon, and garlic, fried until crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside, then smothered with a garlicky lemon yogurt sauce and wrapped up in a warm flour tortilla. This is the kind of simple, no-fuss, handheld meal that you can wrap up and take with you anywhere.
Bourbon Vanilla Caramel Bars
Here’s what we’ve got going on here: Salty, sweet, bourbon and vanilla flavored shortbread bars, dripping with caramel and covered in bourbon glazed pecans, toasted coconut, and chocolate chips.
White Bean Pasta Salad with Sun Dried Tomatoes
All the ingredient amounts in this recipe are suggestions, not rules. Adjust everything to your personal tastes and preferences. This is also one of those salads to which plenty of other delicious things can be added or substituted. Toss in some chopped marinated artichokes, any kind of pickled vegetable, banana peppers, chopped cucumber, broccoli, or cauliflower. The number of people this recipe serves depends on how you serve it. As a side dish, it will serve at least 6 people. As a main dish, it will serve 4. If you want to add some protein, add tuna, shredded rotisserie chicken, or hard-boiled eggs.
Blueberry Pie Bars
These sweet, jammy little bars are much easier to transport than blueberry pie but still deliver plenty of bright blueberry flavor. Use your favorite can, or jar, of prepared blueberry pie filling, or make the filling from scratch. You'll find my favorite recipe below.
Sumac pickled onions? Sounds so interesting!