Creamed Chipped Beef is the ultimate comfort meal. I remember my mother making this for me when I was a child. Such fond memories of beef in a lightly seasoned smooth cream sauce served over toasted sourdough or European whole grain.
This is one of my all time favorite recipes. Did you enjoy this as a child? I remember this was one of those comfort meals that my mother made for me often and eventually she taught me how to make it. It was not until I was an adult that I learned that this treat is most commonly referred to as SOS gravy. I know what you are wondering. What does that acronym stand for? SOS stands for “shit on a shingle.” The shingle being the toast. Now my catholic Mother never told me that. I am sure that she simply did not want me running around using that word.
Creamed Chipped Beef is not the healthiest of recipes but as long as you make it occasionally I think all will be okay. After all a delicious nostalgic recipe that takes us back in time to a happy place can not be all bad.
What is Creamed Chipped Beef?
Creamed Chipped Beef is a dish comprised of chopped dried beef in a creamy luscious lightly seasoned white sauce. The cream sauce is usually a béchamel sauce which is made from flour, butter and milk. It is typically served over toast but it is equally delicious over eggs and potatoes.
How to make Creamed Chipped Beef
I doesn’t get much easier that this. First chop your beef into bite size pieces and set aside. Next melt your butter in a skillet over medium low heat. Whisk in the flour. Continue cooking for about two to three minutes whisking constantly. Sprinkle in the black pepper and cayenne pepper. Slowly whisk in the milk until smooth and creamy.
Add the chopped beef and simmer for three to five minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over toasted bread, eggs, hash browns, or biscuits.
Helpful hints on making Creamed Chipped Beef Recipe
- You can use any dried beef however Buddig beef works perfect for this recipe. It is available in most grocery stores and is not quite as salty or dry as some of the other brands of dried beef. You will find it with the other prepackaged luncheon meats
- Cook the butter flour mixture (roux) for 2-3 minutes as it helps to cook off the raw flour taste.
- Slowly add your milk and whisk continuously until you have a nice smooth sauce.
- If the sauce gets too thick add less than a quarter of a cup of milk at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
- Season to taste with salt, seasoned salt, fresh ground black pepper, cayenne pepper and even a splash of Worcestershire Sauce.
- Creamed Chipped Beef is best served promptly nonetheless it reheats fairly well.
Hopefully my Creamed Chipped Beef will bring back wonderful memories or make new ones. The weekend is coming. You will have a little more time to make something fabulous for breakfast or lunch!
Other breakfast recipes you will love!
PrintCreamed Chipped Beef
Creamed Chipped Beef is the ultimate comfort meal combining dried beef in a smooth cream sauce served over light toasted sourdough or European whole grain.
- Prep Time: 2
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 12 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: main meal
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Buddig original beef (see notes)
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 2 pinches ground cayenne pepper
- 2 cups milk (see notes)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Slice the beef in bite size pieces.
- Melt butter in a skillet over medium low heat. Whisk in the flour. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes; whisking constantly. Sprinkle in black pepper and cayenne pepper. Slowly whisk in the milk until smooth and creamy.
- Add the chopped beef and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over toasted bread, eggs, hash browns, or biscuits.
Notes
- You can use any dried beef or pressed beef. Budding beef can be found in the packaged lunch meat section of your local grocery.
- If the sauce is too thick whisk in 1/4 cup of milk at a time until desired thickness is reached.
Keywords: chipped beef, creamed beef, creamed meat,
It’s so funny, my mom made this at least once a week for us as kids! She also called it SOS. Laster I found out also what that stood for lol. I enjoyed reading your story. I never made this for my family but you encouraged me to do so starting this weekend! Thanks again
Blessings to you.
Thanks so much! I sure hope you enjoy it as much as we do! My Catholic Mother would have never told me what that stands for. LOL!
I Love This.My only gripe being that the corned beef is quite salty.
I rinse mine due to the saltiness…much better. The first time I made it I couldn’t eat it due to the salt. That’s why I started rinsing mine.
My family likes a dish similar to this using hamburger and seasoning with pinch of beef by McCormick and instead of toast we bake biscuits. Just a different take on some comfort food.
Thanks for the tip Suann! That sounds delicious!
Same only over white rice with beets on the side… Delicious
This uses CHIPPED beef. Isn’t CORNED beef different?
The army use to serve it made with ground beef and that is where the SOS came from I believe. My mom also made for us as kids and I made for my kids. We love it with dried beef or ground beef. Loved you story . God bless…
The SOS was given to this by the WWII Vets as it was fed to them very often. Anyone who had an uncle or brother in the service knows about this dish.
I have always used Buddig corned.
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I’ve never seen Buddig but I do use Armour which is salty. I usually just rinse it a little after I slice it to remove some of the saltiness.
Budding is in with the refrigerated section with cold cuts and comes in a bag..about 69c
My favorite meal of all time! I love it over rice or Jonnycakes. I make it about 2x a year. I also use buding corned beef.
So delicious! We will have to try the corned beef! Thanks for the heads up!
This is a delicious meal, and make it often,u could. Either make from scratch or buy Stouffers in a box, which is really good!
I also made this when my kids were little, they
Loved it!
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We had this all the time growing up, but my mom would hard boils some eggs & then chop them finely and add to it. We also used Buddig corned beef which I can’t find in stores around here.
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Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing!
I love the creamed eggs on toast!! My husband likes the chipped beef on toast.
Both equally delicious!
Oh this is so funny…I have been thinking about the SOS for a week or so now. Mom made it with the jars of armor dried chipped beef and I make it with the packs of the budding corn beef (lot less expensive now.) For Dad (Navy ) SOS was actually made with ground beef and a cream sauce….
Good times and great memories!
My dad was Air Force and Mom made it with hamburger and we called it sos. Going to try this
Thanks Donna! Enjoy! You made need to thin it out with more milk. A lot readers have been saying it is a little on the thick side.
If you rinse the beef in boiling water, excess salt is gone.
Thanks for the heads up Kathy!
Seriously so delicious!
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This was my favorite breakfast growing up as a kid. I can’t wait to try out this recipe.
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I have never cared for chipped beef on toast. Like Beth said my Catholic upbringing would never have been spelled out for us. Truth is Chipped Beef is not really SOS. SOS comes in 2 versions, the Army version and the Navy version. It originated in WWII and is still served in the military today. We prefer the Army version because it has the hamburger and creamed gravy served over biscuits or toast. The Navy serves it’s version with hamburger but no biscuits or toast and it has tomatoes included. It is just served in a bowl. Both are good and those original recipes are floating around out there somewhere for all to enjoy. The original use of the letters SOS was a distress signal that meant; ‘Save O Save Our Ship’ (SOSOS) That ends the history lesson for today, class. hahaha
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Thanks so much for the history lesson. I really enjoyed reading your post. Thanks for sharing all of that information!
PS: If you find the original recipes, the first line in the instructions are to put 35 lbs of ground beef in a pot. Most of us would probably scale that back a little!
What recipe is that Pat? I will correct it.
You have more courage than I do to correct a Mess Sgt. about his recipe. lol
Love your recipes.
Thanks so much!
This is the standard recipe for this wonderful dish. I grew up eating it and so did my children. Sometimes I change it up a bit for dinner by sauteeing chopped onion before adding the chipped beef and making the roux.
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Thanks for the tip Liz. I would love it with onions!
I usually add cheddar cheese and a little dry mustard to the sauce. I serve over toasted English muffins and top with a hard boiled egg cut in quarters. A fruit salad and some steamed buttered asparagus makes a very nice brunch.
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Thay creamy sauce looks amazing! I sadly can’t have dairy or gluten but I bet that I could sub in a few things and create a version I could enjoy. Thank you tons for sharing!
Thanks so much Sara! I hope you are able to make it work for you!
This seems many like this dish.To me too it looks nice.If only I was consuming beef, I too would probably love it.
Substitute small cubed white potatoes and frozen peas for beef. Cook potatoes till fork tender, add peas just to heat thru, drain and then prepare roux, adding veggies in place of beef. We had a family member who could not digest meat protein so this substitution allowed them to enjoy the meal and saving my mother from having to make a separate meal.
I’m keto right now so I can’t do the flour elements, but I could tweak this a bit and do it over eggs and I’m sure it would still be super delicious!
Chipped beef and gravy is one of my favorite dishes. I make it at least a couple of times a month. The family loves it. I’ll have to give this a try.
I should not be looking at this post at dinnertime, I want to make this right now! It looks delicious, thanks for sharing this easy to use recipe!
Thanks Mitchell! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
I’ve been looking for a new comfort food to try outside of soup! This looks like it will do the trick! Giving this a try tonight!
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Thanks Jacque! I hope you enjoy it!
Wow I have never seen this before looks great! 🙂
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This would do really well for breakfast for me. I do mind the prep time though. :0)
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Artchee, SOS or chipped beef are usually a breakfast item. Our family prefer the SOS version rather than the chipped beef version. You should give either one a try.
I don’t think I’ve ever tried chipped beef before. I don’t eat meat anymore, but I bet my husband would love it.
It looks really amazing! Can’t wait to give it a try!
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I never had Creamed Chipped Beef sandwich before. This seems like an original recipe. I like the way the beef is chipped and the creamy sauce made. I find beef tasty in all recipes where it is found so I am sure this chipped beef sandwich in its lovely cream would make a very tasty breakfast sandwich
Thanks Ingrid. Yes it really is a tasty sandwich!
Wow this looks so delicious and mouth watering. I am a veg but will share it with my friend.
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It looks more like a snack to me. We love snacking with the kids. This would be a hit with them.
I am pescatarian so unfortunately I cant sample or try to make this in the future. I will say people who are beef fans this looks like a new way to eat this.
I’ve heard of chipped beef before, but never had it. I would love to try this recipe! Thanks for sharing.
Needs WAY more milk, it was like glue. Mine was salty, probably depends upon the brand. Otherwise a solid base to build upon.
This beef recipe looks so yummy! I need to try it soon.
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This dish reminds me of my grandmother! I can’t wait to intriduce this dish to my family.
Looks like the perfect comfort dish to me! I don’t remember my mom making it, but I don’t remember a ton about the food from my childhood…except that my mom was very adventurous with microwave cooking. LOL
LOL! That is too funny! Thanks for the good chuckle this morning! I needed it!
This lunch idea is so easy and delicious. My family will love it!
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Delicious! The ultimate comfort meal!
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This recipe brings back so many memories from my childhood. My grandma used to make this all the time. I can’t wait to give your recipe a try.
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Thank you for the recipe. I lost mine and kind if had an idea what to use and how much. I searched Google but all the recipes said to use dried beef and we never used dried beef. I came upon yours and the recipe said Buddigs Beef and I was so happy because that’s what my family always used!
Glad I could help! I hope you enjoy it!
I make a dish like this using ground beef and mushroom soup on toast real easy and real good add a little onion to the beef while cooking it in pan
That sounds like something I would love! Delicious! I will have to try it!
I haven’t made this in years, and my mom made it for the family, too! We serve it over garlic toast! DELICIOUS!
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Thanks! I just love it too! So yummy!
This was a regular at our house growing up and today brings such joy to my husbands face when I say its for dinner. We always served ours with baked potato and LeSuer peas. I’ve had it over toast too. I love the salty meat and the rounding out of the roux and cream…its as if they were meant for each other. This recipe looks the same except we never added cayenne and probably more milk so not as thick.
I love food that brings back great memories! It really can take you back to a place and time. It is as close to time travel as it gets.
Well,
Just missed VA Day, but found in pantry today and will serve to my Vet. Tonight and will see if he notices the discrepancy 🙄😉
Sounds like a plan. What discrepancy is that?
My mom used to make this but as a casserole with peas and egg noodles. My absolute favorite and now I must make it!!!!
Thanks Edie! Enjoy! I have had some readers tell me they had to add more milk to thin it out a little more.
I make cream dried beef. I use half milk and half heavy
cream to make it extra creamy. I also a little bit of nutmeg.
I like all SOS recipes but you have to use beef from
Refrigerators not the stuff in the jars on the shelves in stores.