Creamed chipped beef on toast is a delicious gravy flavored with dried chipped beef and served on toast. It is a true comfort food. If you've never heard of it, then you're in luck. I'm going to introduce you to it today.
What Is Creamed Chipped Beef?
This dish is considered a classic; if you grew up on it, you may feel nostalgic just talking about it. Chipped beef refers to beef that has been salted, dried, and pressed into thin slices (I used Hormel Dried Beef that comes packaged in a jar). It's the perfect breakfast or brunch meal when added to a creamy, gravy-like sauce and served over slices of Texas toast. It's a bit salty and so delicious over toast or biscuits. Start with a simple milk white gravy and add the dried beef, then serve it over your favorite slices of toast. It's a quick, 20-minute meal.
Why Is Creamed Chipped Beef Called SOS?
SOS stands for $hit on a Shingle and may not be an appropriate term to use at breakfast....or dinner. The unofficial name—abbreviated as “S.O.S.”—was a slang term used by American soldiers during World War II. The “creamed chipped beef on toast,” has been featured in Army cookbooks for over 100 years.
It was a sustainable meal that easily fed an army. From there, we began to see creamed chipped beef or S.O.S. on the breakfast tables of American families, especially in the South.
Serve Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast
This dish was a staple in our house during my childhood because it's delicious, inexpensive, and filling. My mother was raised during the Depression, so maybe that's why she made it frequently while I was growing up.
We usually ate the white milk gravy with chipped beef for breakfast served over toast, but it works well as a light supper. It's tasty over whole wheat bread from the local grocery store, but it's so much better over homemade Dillie Bread or biscuits.
The dried beef is naturally salty, so be careful how much (if any) salt you add to the gravy. My recipe doesn't call for any salt. I think there is plenty in it just from the meat.
What You Need
Equipment
For this recipe, you need:
- a skillet
- whisk
- measuring cups and spoons
- and a knife.
And if you want the gravy over toast, you'll need a toaster or a toaster oven. Remember to always buy the best tools you can afford. You'll never be sorry.
Ingredients
- freshly ground black pepper
- Hormel Dried Beef
- butter
- flour
- milk
- toasted bread
How To Make Chipped Beef Gravy
When you make your white sauce, it's like making beef gravy. You melt the butter in a skillet, add the chipped beef, and allow it to cook for a few minutes until the butter starts to brown. From there, you can add the flour. Use one tablespoon less flour than butter.
Now, mix them quickly and combine the beef, butter, and flour until they form a paste. It should be smooth and not very lumpy. If you don't remove all the flour lumps, your final product will have a raw flour taste.
Slowly add the milk, about ¼ cup at a time, mixing it in to make the paste form a smooth sauce. Continue adding this milk until the mixture becomes the consistency you like. Then, you can add your black pepper and stir it in as it continues to cook.
If the gravy is too thick, you can add a bit more milk to it until it thins out. If it's too thin, you can keep it on the heat, keep stirring, and allow it to thicken up a bit more.
Once done, keep it warm until you're ready to serve. You can just spoon the cream chip beef over your toast on the plate and then you're good to go! You can also serve it with some fruit or a favorite vegetable, depending on if you're doing it for breakfast or a dinner meal.
Now that you know the original recipe, you can also mix it up and make different variations, add seasonings that you prefer, or experiment with different types of toast or biscuits with it. There are so many options for this old classic.
Creamed Chipped Beef Made With Hormel Dried Beef
Author: Recipe Idea Shop
Ingredients
- ½ jar chipped beef sliced into ¼ in wide strips and cut in half
- 3 to 4 tablespoon butter
- 2 to 3 tablespoon flour
- 1.5 cup milk
- ¼ teaspoon Freshly ground pepper or to taste
- 4 slices of bread toasted
Instructions
- While you slice the chipped beef heat the butter over medium heat in a skillet.
- Once the butter is melted, add the chipped beef and let it cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the butter begins to brown.
- Add the flour. (Use 1 T less flour than butter. If you used 3 T butter then add 2 T flour.)
- Mix quickly to combine the beef, butter and flour into a smooth paste.
- Make sure all the flour lumps are gone; then slowly add the milk about a ¼ C at a time mixing to make a smooth sauce.
- Continue adding milk until the Cream Chip Beef is the consistency you like.
- Then add the pepper and stir it in.
- Keep the Cream Chip Beef warm on low until ready to serve.
- To serve, spoon the Cream Chip Beef over the toast.
Is Creamed Chipped Beef Healthy?
You decide. Creamed chipped or dried beef contains 322 calories per 246 g serving. This serving contains 19 g of fat, 19 g of protein, and 19 g of carbohydrates. The latter is 11 g of sugar and 0.3 g of dietary fiber; the rest is complex carbohydrates.
You May Also Like These Recipes
- Creamed Peas
- How to Make Gravy
- Aunt Pauline's Dillie Bread
- Cheesy Grits
Kathy acquired the blog, Recipe Idea Shop in 2024. She was raised on a farm in Arkansas where having a big garden and good food to eat was the norm. She shares recipes for homemade comfort food and new trending dishes.
Kathy began her blogging journey in 2011 when she founded PetticoatJunktion.com, a home décor blog focused on repurposing and upcycling furniture, and thrift store finds.
