Shipwreck Casserole Is The Retro Meal Perfect For Cleaning Out The Fridge

When it comes to old school Americana dishes that seem to have fallen out of favor, along with questionable but potentially delicious Jell-O concoctions, all manner of casserole would probably be at the top of the list. But this tasty, retro casserole is worth a try because it's easy to make and relatively healthy when it comes to your standard casserole. It's called shipwreck casserole and isn't completely unlike a loaded beef taco casserole, which may be considered a little more modern. Shipwreck casserole is made up of layers of onions, potatoes, ground beef, and often kidney beans, all cooked together with tomato soup poured over on top.

While shipwreck casserole is an old school ground beef dish that no one seems to make anymore, it's also one of the quirky 1950s foods that deserve a comeback. Casseroles probably fell out of favor because they came to be seen as not very healthy in modern times. As shoppers had access to fresher foods, they didn't have to rely on mixing canned ingredients or cooking with less-than-fresh veggies. But we think there's room in your recipe arsenal for a shipwreck casserole. There are a number of tweaks you can make to get it right into your flavor wheelhouse, and it's a great way to use up a hodgepodge of ingredients you may have in the pantry or fridge.

The most simple version of a shipwreck casserole is a buttered or oiled casserole dish layered with sliced onions, sliced potatoes, browned ground beef, and canned (drained) kidney beans, with condensed tomato soup poured between each layer. You can add chopped celery or peppers and cooked rice for a little bit of crunch and more filling carbohydrates. You can use hash browns in place of the sliced potatoes and add in some stewed tomatoes, or chop and sauté all of your ingredients together for more of a mix that's less layered. 

Although some of the retro recipes don't call for much seasoning, you'll probably want some salt and pepper, and garlic powder and paprika will expand the flavor even more. A mix of cheese can't hurt, and you can top it with corn flakes to get the truly retro casserole feel. For a bit of a Tex-Mex feel, try a packet of taco seasoning or top it with sour cream and some chopped lettuce. Or go with creamy soup instead of tomato and add some sautéd mushrooms. Pretty much any veggie that will cook up easily in the mix or a can of sweet corn is another easy add. Once you've started the shipwreck, it's easy to add almost any savory ingredient you have on hand. 

Lore has it that the shipwreck casserole comes from sailors quickly removing everything that they could as a ship was sinking, or using whatever was left after a ship wrecked ashore. However, this is probably not likely (and even sounds kind of silly). It's possible that the name comes from the look of the dish, since it looks like a mess — much like a shipwreck. Some say that it came from the Great Depression, when home cooks mixed together whatever they might have on hand to get by with a number of simple ingredients that could be made relatively cheaply. 

While the actual origin is unknown, there are a number of recipes appearing in cookbooks from the 1940s, so it likely does have its roots in the Depression era. However you make your shipwreck casserole, it certainly may look like a bit of a wreck, but the blend of flavors go beautifully together, so it's probably worth a try. The next time you find yourself shipwrecked in the kitchen with nothing on the menu, maybe you should look to this old school casserole for inspiration.