The most popular snack I’ve ever prepared is undoubtedly my Dried Beef Roll-ups. Almost every time a friend of mine is planning a party or event, they ask me to contribute by bringing my famous “beef thingies”. When I walk in the room with a plate full of these savory snacks, everyone rushes to the table and no matter how many I make, they are usually gone within a half hour. It’s an easy recipe with killer results, and I’d love to share it with you.
The key ingredient, as you’ve probably guessed, is dried beef. Most people don’t know what that is, but if you’ve ever had “creamed chipped beef”, it’s in that. The exact flavor of dried beef is really hard to describe, but it’s yummy, salty, semi-dry, and comes in round slices about 3″ across. You can buy it in the “canned meat” section of the grocery store, and I recommend Armour brand if you can find it. It comes in little jars or sometimes in plastic packets.
Finding the dried beef is by far the hardest part of the recipe. Once you’ve got that, the rest is quite easy! Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 small jars or packets of Armour Dried Beef (or 1 large jar)
- 1 8oz block of cream cheese
- 1 bunch of green onions
Leave the cream cheese on the counter for a couple of hours so that it softens to room temperature, which will make it much easier to spread. Spread some cream cheese on a slice of dried beef.
If you are a big fan of onions, you can leave them whole, but for a milder, crowd-pleasing taste, slice them in half lengthwise so that the white part isn’t too strong.
Place a piece of onion on the beef and roll it up completely. Do a few and then line them up and trim off the ends of the onion. You can use the leftover onion on the next roll-ups.
For better presentation and to make them bite size, cut each roll-up in half crosswise.
Arrange the roll-ups in a sunburst pattern on a pretty plate. Serve either chilled or at room temperature. (You can do these a couple of hours ahead of time, but don’t make them too early, because the onions will wilt after a while.)
And that’s it! I know it sounds so easy, but people actually beg for the recipe all the time. This is a perfect example of something that’s greater than the sum of its parts, mostly due to the unique flavor of the dried beef. Enjoy!
P.S. The little jars that the dried beef come in have perfectly smooth edges (the lids are not screw-on; they just pop off), and they are really cute, thus making them perfect little juice glasses or kid’s glasses!
6 comments so far:
The dried beef sounds yummy I will definately try this. I make something similar, the difference being I use sliced ham instead of beef. Get pretty much the same response from family and friends.
This sounds great and easier than our family’s favorite dried beef appetizer. I’ve also had a hard time finding the dried beef but had success at Walmart. Our version coats a dill pickle with cream cheese with finely-chopped peanuts mixed in, wraps that (liberally) with dried beef then chops the whole thing into “coin”-shaped slices 1/4-1/2″ thick.
Hi JJ. That sounds very tasty!
I put my cream cheese mixture into a plastic baggie. I cut a very, very small tip off one corner. Then squeeze the bag (and cheese mixture) toward the small hole. This is the easiest way I have found to quickly spread my cream cheese onto my dried beef. Add your onion and roll. I have used the “already flavored” variety of Cream Cheese and found that my rollups go even quicker!
The little Jars now come with snap on & off lids, making them great for my husband to use with his tool set for screws, nut, bolts, or for me to use in my sewing area for buttons, safety pins, and notions.
What clever ideas, AgnesEthel! I love the way you are re-using the jars. They are such a cute size
My family’s version uses a pickle also. We just ate them at Christmastime. We do not use chopped peanuts. We use the dried beef, cream cheese and a full dill pickle and then slice it into rounds before serving. So yummy, but very salty!