Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
Everything you love about French dip sandwiches but made easy by using the slow cooker. Pile tender meat and onions into crusty rolls and dip in the au jus!
I tend to shy away from a lot of slow cooker recipes as they mainly contain cream of blah-de-blah soup or packets of this-or-that. Until the light bulb went off that crock-pot-cooking didn’t have to be that way for me. And when Real Simple asked me to do a slow cooker recipe for their Simply Stated section, I took my regular ol’ recipe for French dip sandwiches and scratchified it.
So, as promised here is the step-by-step to the most fabulous of fabulous slow cooker French dip sandwiches. Ever.
In this recipe I’m pretty positive that any beer would work. I’m using Kid Rock’s beer for two reasons; A.) it’s locally brewed right here in Michigan {boom-snap}. And because like his label reads… I think it’s totally badass.
Start off by adding a couple tablespoons of extra light olive oil. Get the pan nice and hot over medium-high heat.
I let my roast sit on the counter for about a half hour or so to take some of the chill off. Then I season the chuck roast with a generous amount of kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.
When the pan is good to go, drop in the roast.
Sear both sides for about 3-4 minutes and don’t turn it until there is a nice golden crust goin’ on.
Turn off the heat and add in a half cup of dry red wine. If you’re not a wine-o then use a half cup of beef broth. It’s all good in the hood. Now with your spatula… scrape up the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan and remove off of the burner.
Peel and slice up a couple of yellow onions.
Then smash and peel a couple cloves of garlic.
Next, into the slow cooker goes the roast, onions and garlic cloves.
And then pour in the beef broth…
Then pour in the beer…
Next add in the wine and pan drippings.
And then soy sauce, this may just be the secret ingredient.
Then add in the four packets of all natural beef concentrate. My grocery store has these on the shelf right next to the bullion. But if you can’t find any then just use four teaspoons of bullion granules.
Next pour in the water.
And then stir.
Next, set it on high and forget it. Well forget it for four hours at least… yeah good luck with that!
Then, when the time comes to unveil the goods; the meat will be tender and the onions soft and perfectly cooked.
Next, use a couple of forks to shred the beef and place it back into the slow cooker with the onions and broth.
Then split a couple of crusty hoagie buns and stuff them full!
Lastly, pour a little of the broth aka au jus and dunk your French dip sandwich before every bite. These French dip sandwiches are so so sososososososo good. Promise.
Enjoy! And if you give these French dip sandwiches a try, let me know by snapping a photo and tagging me on twitter or instagram!
My cookbook Simply Scratch : 120 Wholesome Homemade Recipes Made Easy is now available! CLICK HERE for details and THANK YOU in advance!
Pull out the roast thirty minutes before searing, to bring it up in temperature a bit. Heat the two tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season both sides of the roast with salt and pepper. Once the pan is hot sear each side of the roast for 3-4 minutes. Turn off the heat and deglaze the pan with the half cup of red wine, scraping the browned bits up with a wooden spoon. Beef stock may be substituted. To a large five quart slow cooker; add the seared roast, onions, garlic, wine reduction, broth, water, beer, beef concentrate and soy sauce. Secure the lid and set the temp to high for 4 hours. {or low for 7-8 hours} Once cooked, remove the roast and shred with a couple of forks. Remove any large garlic pieces before returning the shredded roast back into the crock pot. Serve the shredded beef and onions on a sliced hoagie. Spoon some of the au jus in little bowls to dunk the sandwiches. Enjoy.Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches
Ingredients
Instructions
Over the past few years Iāve been on a mission to find and create recipes that I can make from scratch. I hope you enjoy the recipes on this blog as they are tried and true from my kitchen to yours! (
laurie..that looks so good..you are making me drool..
The husband LOVES french dip sandwiches and I LOVE anything I can make in the crockpot, which means this WILL be dinner. But I won't tell him how easy this is š
I am all over these, Laurie. I adore French Dips and I'll take any excuse to take help from the crock pot. These sound so flavorful!
I can't even taaaaake it! Looks. so. good.
Looks awesome! I had never heard of french dips until good old Sprinkles of Parsley made them. Lloyd saw them and I HAD to make them…. immediately. YUM!
oh man, girl you rocked this recipe for sure. It looks perfect.
Omg I've been waiting all weekend for this post…feed me!
I have been craving a french dip sandwich for a few days now. The only question is when can I get to the store???
Beer AND wine? And onions? I'm in! These sound incredible, can't wait to try them!
My husband would love these! Love how there is beer & wine in this recipe.
I've gotta tell you, lady, I LOVE the crock pot. Mostly because I feel like you can throw any meat/veggie/spice/stock variation in there and it seems to always turn out great. Your recipe looks awesome, and I have never once tried making french dip innards in a crock, so this is definitely inspiring. I like that you brown the meat first to give it a nice crisp and flavor. One thing I
I've always loved a good french dip sandwich. Your recipe looks great!
I made this for lunch today. It was fabulous and my husband kept saying "yummm" every few bites. :o) Thanks for the recipes!
If you asked anyone I know what my favorite meal is, they would tell you a French Dip Sandwich. It's what I order in a restaurant 9 out of 10 times. I have made it a few times in the crock pot, once perfectly, but never right again. I like the soy sauce in your recipe, that is different. I will try it again and follow your instructions, thanks for sharing!
Everything is in the crockpot now. I can't wait to try the sandwiches. Never made a French Dip before–wild livin' on a Friday night. Thanks for the recipe.
Oh how I wish my 3 year old would eat beef, this looks so yummy!
Add some yummy cheese melted on top and I am sold. I think I will make this on the weekend. I am pinning it now so I don't lose it.
Laurie, you had me at the Badass beer. I'd forgotten you were a Michigan girl too. That makes us both totally BFF with Kid Rock. The sandwiches look awesome!
I just made this for dinner tonight. Oh my god it was SO good. And my house smelled awesome all day. I wanted to just pour myself a glass of au jus, but realized my family would think I was weird.
I made this tonight and it was DELICIOUS. The only thing I will change when I make it again this winter is to drain most of the oil from the pan before I add the red wine. I felt that the au jus ended up a touch oily in the end but everything about this recipe had incredible depth of flavor and was incredibly easy to prepare. This is how I will make french dip every time now!
This looks so amazing! I have a roast sitting in the fridge that is going straight into the pot tomorrow morning! This is one of my favorites, but I use deli beef, so rarely make it as I worry about the nitrates. It will be so awesome to be able to make it a regular menu item!! Thanks so much for sharing!
Hi, this sounds awesome and I dying to try it but, I’m allergic to the hops in beer. What do you think would be the best substitute so I don’t lose to much flavor?
simplyscratch replied: — June 2nd, 2013 @ 10:39 pm
Hi Elle! White wine for sure but make sure it’s a dry one! š
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Delish!!! I shredded it in my kitchen aid stand mixer!