Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
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French Dip Sandwiches are a regular on my dinner menu. I make them probably twice every month. Once you taste them, you’ll see why! Sandwiched between fresh buns is perfectly seasoned, fall-apart tender roast beef and gooey, melty cheese. Then that’s dipped in a homemade au jus dip that will leave you craving more!
French Dip Sandwiches
French dip is one of my go-to dinners for a number of reasons. First off – the flavor of course! The flavor of the rich beef combined with the well-seasoned homemade au jus is the perfect match. And did I mention, there’s cheese and buttery buns?
Other reasons I love these include the fact that they’re so easy to make, my whole family loves them, they use ingredients I usually have on hand (I freeze the chuck roasts and buns), and it’s just a totally comforting homestyle meal that’s perfect for any day of the year.
Ingredients for French Dip
- 2 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth
- 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp honey
- 3 lbs chuck roast
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary and thyme
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced (2 Tbsp)
- 6 Crusty hoagie buns (smaller ones) or 2 crusty baguettes cut into thirds
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 6 deli slices provolone cheese or Swiss cheese, halved
Scroll below for printable recipe.
How To Make French Dip Sandwiches
- In a small bowl (or large liquid measuring cup used to measure broth), whisk together broth, soy sauce, Worcestershire, and honey, set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Dab both sides of the roast dry with paper towels, season just lightly with salt and a fair amount of pepper.
- Sear roast in pot until browned on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer roast to a 5 to 7-quart slow cooker, while leaving oil in pot. Add onion to the pot and sauté 3 minutes, then add garlic and sauté on the stovetop for 30 seconds longer.
- Remove pot from heat, pour beef broth mixture into pot, and scrape any browned bits from the bottom. Pour the mixture into the slow cooker over the roast.
- Submerge rosemary and thyme sprigs into broth on sides of roast. Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours.
- Remove roast from slow cooker and transfer to a cutting board, while leaving behind onions and herbs. Shred roast with two forks. Pour the broth mixture in a slow cooker through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl and discard the mixture in the sieve, leaving beef consomme for dipping.
- Return roast to now-empty slow cooker or roasting pan, toss with 1/3 cup of the strained broth mixture.
How to Toast the Buns
Note that you can skip this step and just use un-toasted buns. Just be sure to add cheese immediately after adding hot beef so it has a chance to melt. Then, if desired, you can toast without butter to cut back on fat a little. But you know I love some toasted bread for these sandwiches!
- For rolls, heat oven to 350 degrees (or a countertop toaster oven works great here if you have one). Cut buns through the center, place buns cut side up on a rimmed baking sheet. For a baguette, slice longways, butter, then place in the oven.
- Spread butter on each side, then toast in preheated oven 8 minutes, add cheese to one side of the crusty bread and toast 2 minutes longer until the slices of cheese are bubbling.
- Layer beef over buns and top with remaining half. Serve warm with remaining broth for dipping.
Can I Use Other Cuts of Beef?
I’ve also made this French dip recipe several times with cross rib roast. It’s really good, but it just a little seems to be a little less tender and flavorful because cross rib doesn’t have as much marbling of fat throughout as a chuck roast does. But if cross rib is what’s on sale, then feel free to use that.
More Recipes You Might Like
Follow Cooking Classy
Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp honey
- 3 lbs chuck roast
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 1 sprig fresh thyme (use a big sprig with several stems)
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced (2 Tbsp)
- 6 Crusty hoagie buns (smaller ones) or 2 crusty baguettes cut into thirds
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 6 deli slices provolone or swiss cheese halved
Instructions
- In a bowl (or large liquid measuring cup used to measure broth), whisk together broth, soy sauce, Worcestershire and honey, set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Dab both sides of roast dry with paper towels, season just lightly with salt and a fair amount of pepper.
- Sear roast in pot until browned on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer roast to a 5 to 7 quart slow cooker, while leaving oil in pot.
- Add onion to pot and saute 3 minutes, add garlic and saute 30 seconds longer.
- Remove pot from heat, pour beef broth mixture into pot and scrape any browned bits from the bottom. Pour mixture into slow cooker over roast.
- Submerge rosemary and thyme spring into broth on sides of roast. Cover and cook on low 8 hours.
- Remove roast from slow cooker and transfer to a cutting board, while leaving behind onions and herbs. Shred roast with two forks while removing excess fat.
- If needed season broth and beef with a little salt, if you find it a little too salty for your liking add in a little water to broth mixture.
- Pour broth mixture in slow cooker through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl and discard mixture in sieve.
- Return roast to now empty slow cooker, toss with 1/3 cup of the strained broth mixture.
- For buns, heat oven to 350 degrees (or a countertop toaster oven works great here if you have one). Cut buns through the center, place buns cut side up on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Spread butter on each side then toast in preheated oven about 7 - 8 minutes, add cheese to one of of each bun and toast until melted, about 2 minutes longer.
- Layer beef over rolls and top with remaining half. Serve warm with remaining broth for dipping.
- Recipe Source: Cooking Classy. Recipe updated 1/30/18.