Make sure to check our full list of recipes, ideas and tips on how to use Soup-or-Sauce (SOS) Mix!
It is time to share a series of recipes to provide help in the kitchen, meal planning, recipe building all while helping your budget too!
You see, we don’t buy canned soups for cooking unless they go really cheap! We also don’t buy a lot of pre-made soups, gravies, sauces or casserole/recipe bases unless they happen to go down to a rock bottom price, which usually isn’t low enough or often enough to keep up with normal consumption. With that in mind, we wanted to share a universal dry mix that you can make as the recipe replacement for those soups, sauces and gravies. It is the miracle mix called SOS mix. It stands for Soup or Sauce Mix as that is literally what it is!
Not only is it frugal, but it is quick and easy to use and fat free as well!
What we are going to do is first share the base mix recipes today and then we will share recipes on how to use the SOS mix to give you ideas from casseroles, soups and side dishes.
We have talked about this recipe in our money-saving classes and how it is a good idea to have this as a pantry staple!
If you want to make this even healthier, check out our post on MSG Free Chicken Soup Base Option for even Healthier SOS Mix HERE.
Note: If you desire to print this recipe or are not reading this on our site please click here for a nicely formatted and printable recipe!
| SOS Mix (Soup or Sauce Mix as a Frugal Replacement To Canned Creamed Soups) | | Print |
- 2 Cups of powdered non-fat dry milk
- ¾ cup of cornstarch
- ¼ cup of instant chicken bouillon
- 2 TBS. dried onion flakes
- 2 tsp. of Italian Seasoning or a combination of dried Parsley, Oregano and Basil
- 1 tsp. of black pepper
- Combine all of the above dry ingredients and stir until blended.
- Store in a ziploc, glass or plastic jar or even a can to use when needed. It can be stored on the shelf! No need to refrigerate.
- Combine ⅓ cup of dry mix with 1¼ cups of cold water.
- Cook and stir on the stove top or in the microwave until thickened.
- Add thickened mixture to the casseroles/recipes just as you would a can of soup.
- Check out https://thethriftycouple.com/sos for more recipe ideas using this mix!
We haven’t really run into anyone or known anyone who uses an SOS mix, but it’s a brilliant idea. The idea and recipe originated from the Utah State University Extension although I have modified the spices slightly to fit more of our taste-bud preferences. Their agents have come to speak at our ladies groups at church events concerning food preservation and shortcuts in the kitchen, many of which I have adopted because they are frugal as well! I have been using this recipe ever since and have been using the SOS mix multiple times a week for the past few years – truly a life-saver and even more importantly a budget-saver!
See our Recipes Section of our site for more frugal, healthy and hearty meal ideas!
Gwen
Thanks for this! I have been looking for a good cream soup recipe free of MSG for a while. This looks like a great alternative! Do you use it for all your cream based soups – chicken, celery, etc. Thanks again!
Liz
Where can you get this SOS mix? Is there a special brand that works better?
Liz
Oh, never mind, I understand now, you are teaching us to how to make this ourselves by using different ingredients
sandra johnson
This recipe sounds great. However, when I click on the link “See our Recipes Section of our site for more frugal, healthy and hearty meal ideas!” it just sends me back to this page. I could use the other recipe ideas
LB
Has anyone tried it in the crock pot yet? A lot of those recipes call for cans of soup.
Cassie
Yes – you do need to make it first with the water and cook until the lumps are out – but then it can be used exactly as you would use a can of soup in a recipe! Hope that helps!
Lisa`
Love this idea, but is there a vegan version???
Lisa
As a vegan I substitute the non-fat dry milk with powdered soy milk. I substitute the chicken bouillon with any vegan chicken seasoning I have. My favorite is McKay’s chickinish seasoning.
penny
i would say that the person that told you that when you click on the part in this site that says click here for a nicely fromatted one here this is all that we get the same thing over and over again so i would like to say show me the recipes thank you kindly
yours truly
penny
Cassie
Hi Penny – It is probably a bit confusing, but the problem is that you are already reading it from our site and so you can print it from there already (just click on the icon of the printer in the box where the recipe is in the above post, this will give you that printable recipe) – there is no other place to be redirected to as that is the final place 🙂 That note at the top of the recipe with the link is intended for those that are reading this post in our email, on our RSS feed or somewhere else online where it may be published. It wouldn’t be a nice printable recipe from those places and so they can click on that and be taken right to this post to print 🙂 Hope that helps clear up the confusion!
Amy
I am very interested in trying this….quick question though. Are you using Instant Powdered non-fat dry milk or the non-instant variety? Or does it even matter? Thanks!
donni
I was wondering if you’ve tried this with a beef boullion and if it works as good? I’m thinking I should make 2 of these to have on hand
Cassie
Yes – beef bouillon is totally great too! Chicken is more the universal flavor, however, we also like the beef 🙂
Katie C
My son is dairy and soy free. Do you think this would work with leaving the powdered milk out, and just adding rice milk in place of the water before cooking?
Beth P
Hi, love this! I am wondering about eliminating the bullion powder and using chicken or beef stock to make the soup with?
Keith
And why are canned soups so salty? Or some brands try hide the salt by calling it “Natural, Sea Salt”.
I use canned soups (on sale of course) as a starter mix of sorts, adding water & veggies and other ingredients.
marya
it seems all grocery store bouillon have msg added. where do you suggest looking for msg free bouillons?
Maryjo
Hi ~ The recipe states to add water to the SOS mix. What about using liquid chicken broth vs the water?
Carol
Pretty much everyone on a gluten free diet uses this recipe or a version of it. Its been around for a long time.
J
Right under the picture of the SOS bottle there is a link for more recipes,
Here is a direct link:
https://thethriftycouple.com/everything-soup-or-sauce-sos-mix-one-of-your-base-recipes-in-the-kitchen/
Orange County Babysitter
I thought I’d share some ideas for variations:
* use Herbs de Provence in place of the Italian seasoning
* use arrowroot in place of the cornstarch
If you’re on a dairy free regime you can eliminate the dry milk powder and then use nondairy milk instead of water when reconstituting it.
Di H.
If you are using this recipe to avoid MSG, then you will need to find chicken bouillon that doesn’t have the MSG in it.
Cassie
Hi Di,
Here’s what we use for the MSG-free version – https://thethriftycouple.com/2012/08/28/msg-free-chicken-soup-base-option-for-even-healthier-sos-mix/
Edna Puca
I need to create a lactose and soy free vetsion of this recipe. Therefore am going to use a soy free chicken base soup flavoring (will need to ise more than i dicated for boullion and also was wondering if i ommitted the dru milk and added 1 1/4 cups of silk instead of water. I am currently looking for a powdered version of Silk so will be closer to recipe. Do you have any advice for me to convert this recipe?
Edna Puca
My daughter is a nursing mother of a newborn baby boy. The baby is allergic to milk and soy. Because she is nursing she has had to cut out all milk and soy products. I was preparing the menu for our Christmas Dinner and had to figure out what to fix her because our traditional Christmas meal had milk and/or soy in most everything. Then I remembered the pin I saved on Pinterest for the SOS mix.
Instead of using powdered instant milk, Whole Foods had a powered coconut milk that I used in the recipe. I was also able to purchase a soy free chicken boullion powder. This mix saved our Christmas dinner for my daughter.
I was able to cook her our traditional sides using this mix. Thank you, thank you,I love it!
P.S. I am also going to try making the mix using a rice protein mix.
batman
When I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Thanks!
JIWA
Well, I just stumbled on to your site! What a treat to see so much of what I do in my kitchen/ going on in yours as well. This is a great recipe that I have used for years, myself. I have learned to leave out the bullion and herbs. Then I can season it whatever way I want depending on my recipe. I do add garlic granules as I put garlic in everything savory anyway. So that saves a step. Bullion is also too salty for my taste. So when constituting, I use unsalted broth or stock and add salt to taste. Braised mushrooms also make an excellent base for this for when mushroom soup is wanted. Thank you for putting everything down in writing. I’m 60+ and a lot of this is being reconsidered today. I raised my kids this way–I’m a child of the 60’s. My parents were far from frugal, and never did anything from scratch, so I taught myself. It has been a great ride and adventure in homemaking and caring for the next generations. Happy home.
Mary
Trying to download free meal planner.