No matter how many freeze-dried meals you have queued up in your gear stash, it’s eventually nice to add some variety even to an otherwise favorite selection of backcountry meals. Mountain House recently released a couple new meals to include the Chicken Tikka Masala meal reviewed here, as well as a Kung Pao Chicken meal. When I noticed the meals were out, I had to give these meals a try to see if they’d either serve to add that needed variety for the season ahead, or maybe they’d even become a go-to meal to add to that core selection of meals that get packed along on every trip.

In addition to their Kung Pao Chicken meal, the Chicken Tikka Masala meal is new to the 2024 Mountain House lineup.

Mountain House Chicken Tikka Masala

The gluten-free Chicken Tikka Masala meal from Mountain House contains 560 calories based on rice, chicken, tomato, cream, butter, and spices and vegetables all in new for 2024 packaging. After removing the oxygen absorber and adding 1.5 cups of boiling water (still no fill lines despite the new packaging) the meal is ready to eat in 10 minutes with a stir halfway through your wait time. The meal can be stashed away for a while – only expiring 30 years after the manufacture date.

Immediately the meal reminds you of a spicier, less sweet version of another meal from Mountain House we’ve reviewed, their Yellow Curry with Chicken and Rice meal (you can find our Yellow Curry review here). That said while the Yellow Curry just starts to get a little sweet for me by the end of the meal, the Tikka Masala has more spice and less sweetness, is more savory, and will be a meal that I’ll be working into the rotation with a fair amount of frequency in the future. There is some heat to the meal, but it should be tolerable by most backcountry diners.

While definitely not naan bread, the meal went very well with tortillas which offers a nice way to boost up the 560 calories that are in the meal by default. What I do wish is that the chicken component was more prevalent in the meal. Frankly, if I hadn’t read the package before eating the meal you could have told me there was no chicken in the meal and I would have believed you. Larger pieces of chicken would have been appreciated. Additionally, larger and / or more present amounts of vegetables would be a welcome change to the meal. While the taste is great, the meal is a bit mushy consistency wise, and something to add some texture would help take this meal to the next level.

Overall, this meal makes for a wholesome, spicy addition to the Mountain House lineup and is very good especially when combined with tortillas or bread.

Conclusion

Overall, this new meal from Mountain House is a very good one – a few changes (more calories for the price, more chicken, and more vegetables) would have put this meal into the great category, but luckily some of these things can be added on your own, like tortillas to boost calories and even more chicken and vegetables if you’re up for packing them along. That said, while there are a few changes on the wish list the meal hits the spot (especially with tortillas) and is one that I’ll be packing along and looking forward to on backcountry trips during the season ahead.

You can find the Chicken Tikka Masala meal from Mountain House here at REI.com for about $12, and if you're ready to stock up on meals you can save 10% by utilizing REI's 8 or more bulk backpacking food discount.

Editor's Note: This review originally appeared in Issue 56. You can read the original article here.