Air Force Casserole–sometimes called SOS, this ground beef creamy sauce is served over toast or biscuits and can be whipped up in just a few minutes.
Air Force Casserole
SOS is a dish that became popular in the United States military, especially during World War II. It was a staple in mess halls due to its low cost, ease of preparation, and ability to be made in large quantities. The real recipe uses chipped beef but since I don’t even know what that is 🙈 I decided to use ground beef instead. I found this “air force” version on Key Ingredient and changed it up a bit to make it my own. If you’re looking for a throwback recipe this is your winner! I thought I bought pillsbury crescent rolls at the store to serve with this but I accidentally bought a crescent roll sheet. So I just baked the sheet and used that as the “shingle” to serve the sauce on.
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- 85/15 ground beef–you can also use 90/10 or 93/7
- Better than Bouillon beef base
- Garlic powder
- Black pepper
- Kosher salt
- Onion powder
- Flour
- Milk
- Worcestershire sauce
- Biscuits, crescent rolls or toast–for serving
Steps
Heat a pan over medium high heat. Add in the ground beef and break it up. Stir in the bouillon, garlic powder, pepper, salt and onion powder. Cook until beef is crumbly, evenly brown and no longer pink.
Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in the milk and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly.
Reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened. Stir in the worcestershire sauce.
Salt to taste. Serve over biscuits, toast or crescent rolls.
Notes/Tips
- Serve the meat sauce over toast, biscuits, rice, noodles, etc.
- Try stirring in a big dollop of sour cream.
- Add a vegetable! Try adding some frozen peas into the sauce.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Other recipes you can make with worcestershire sauce are South Dakota Casserole and Mississippi Sin Casserole.
Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for.
Airforce Casserole
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
Sometimes called SOS, this ground beef creamy sauce is served over toast or biscuits and can be whipped up in just a few minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 pound 85/15 ground beef
- 2 tsp Better than Bouillon beef base
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 cups milk
- 2 tsp worcestershire sauce
- Biscuits, crescent rolls or toast
Instructions
- Heat a pan over medium high heat. Add in the ground beef and break it up. Stir in the bouillon, garlic powder, pepper, salt and onion powder. Cook until beef is crumbly, evenly brown and no longer pink.
- Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in the milk and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened. Stir in the worcestershire sauce.
- Salt to taste. Serve over biscuits, toast or crescent rolls.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Stove
More Ground Beef Recipes…
Instant Pot 5-Ingredient Ground Beef Casserole
An easy ground beef and potato dinner with only a handful of ingredients!
Instant Pot Ground Beef Divan
Ground beef with broccoli, a creamy sauce, spaghetti and cheese. An easy weeknight meal you can make quickly in your Instant Pot!
Instant Pot Grandma’s Ground Beef Casserole
A ground beef and pasta dish with tomatoes, peppers, spinach and cheese.
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Love both versions of SOS. The military also added sliced onions while browning the ground beef. It something that’s easy to make on WIiI front lines.
Love SOS, honestly never heard it called Airforce Casserole.. Gotta try it with chipped beef instead of hamburger meat. It is good either way!
It’s also good with ham instead of beef!
Stouffers has an excellent version of creamed chipped beef in the frozen food section next to their lasagna, if you don’t feel like making your own.
The name stopped me in my tracks – on clicking, was happily surprised to see SOS! How our BOS got the designation over the others is the mystery.
Sounds like the Army version of S*** On A Shingle. (My apologies for the name but that’s what it’s called.)
Creamed beef over a bed of hash browns and a pair of over easy eggs, toast on the side, juice, milk and coffee. It’s always been a favorite of mine, but then again, I’m an old army cook.
This is an oldie but goodie. Chipped beef is sold in a pkg by the bologna etc. It is in a baggie type pkg. sliced very thin, there is also turkey and other meats too. Budding is one brand. Ground beef is ok, bit the chipped beef is better. My step daughter fell in love with chipped beef when I first made it and even made it for everyone on her wedding rehearsal night dinner. We always make toast and cut it up in cubes to put it on. Awesome dinner and fills those young ones up.
you need to go to grocery store and get chipped beef. It’s in a jar, not cheap but is better than ground beef. my mother fixed biscuits and gravy every weekend and chipped beef was used not as often as sausage so it was a treat to have
so aside from very minor non noticeable tweaks what’s different about this version than the other? they look identical except quantity of measurements are slightly different.