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! 

Print

Yield: serves 8

Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches

verything 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!

Cook Time 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours

Ingredients

• 5 pound beef chuck roast
• 2 medium onions, halved and sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ksher salt & black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry red wine (may be substituted with beef broth)
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1-1/2 cups water
• 1 bottle of beer
• 4 packets all natural beef concentrate (or four teaspoons bullion granules}
• 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 8 crusty Hoagie Rolls

Instructions

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.