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Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches

Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches are easily made with only five ingredients! So tender and flavorful and cooked until tender in au jus gravy!

AN EASY AND TASTY BEEF DIP SANDWICH

These French dip sandwiches are a staple recipe in my house. We make them pretty often because they’re easy and anyone in my family (even the ones that don’t enjoy cooking) can pop it all in the slow cooker and get dinner going for us. You can serve with chips or French fries and a little au jus sauce on the side and you have the perfect, easy weeknight meal!

a closeup photo of the inside of a beef dip sandwich.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT FRENCH DIPS:

What is the difference between beef dip and French dip?

They are the same thing. Different regions will call it either one or the other. But both are made with beef (usually thinly sliced) that is cooked until tender in a broth (au jus). Then it is put on a sub roll and topped with cheese. It is served warm along with some of the au jus to dip the sandwich into.

What if I can’t find a beef round steak?

Any kind of chuck roast will work. You can even use sliced roast beef for this recipe. Sometimes my grocery store carries shaved steak and I will use that for this. It cooks up a lot quicker when its already sliced but it still tastes amazing.

I don’t like to use packaged seasoning, what else can I use?

I have a recipe on my site for Homemade Onion Soup Mix that you can make if you want to use that. You can leave out the au jus seasoning if you don’t want to use pre-packaged ingredients. Or perhaps try a beef broth base (it’s a thick paste sold in jars.) There are a few brands on the market that are all natural and preservative free. Just check the ingredients on the back of the jar.

What are the best rolls to use for beef dip?

Use your favorite sub rolls here. I use a 6-inch soft sub roll. French bread will also work for this.

a Caucasian hand folding half a beef ip sandwich and dipping it into a bowl of au jus.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)

  • beef round steak (or any type of beef roast)
  • onion soup mix
  • au jus seasoning
  • beef broth or stock
  • water
  • mozzarella or provolone cheese
  • sub rolls 
beef round steak, onion soup mix, au jus seasoning, beef broth, water, provolone cheese and sub rolls.

HOW TO MAKE CROCK POT FRENCH DIP SANDWICHES:

This step is optional but adds great flavor. In a hot pan with a little oil, brown both sides of he pot roast really well. Don’t cook it all the way through, just brown each side in the hot skillet.

browning a round steak in a cast iron skillet.

Put beef roast in slow cooker. In a medium bowl, combine beef broth, onion soup mix, au jus seasoning and water and stir until combined.

beef broth shown being poured into a bowl along with seasonings.

Pour mixture over beef, put cover on slow cooker and cook on low for about 8 hours. An hour before serving, shred meat with two forks or take it out and slice thinly.

sliced cooked round steak shown on a baking sheet.

Place meat back in the slow cooker for about another hour.

large serving spoon holding up some of the shredded beef from the crock pot.

When ready to serve, place some subroles on a baking sheet and top the rolls with some of the shredded beef.

shredded cooked beef placed on two sub rolls on a baking sheet.

Add slices of cheese onto the top of shredded beef.

slices of provolone cheese added to the tops of sub rolls.

Place under the broiler (or use broil option on toaster oven). Watch carefully, broil for just a couple of minutes until cheese is melted and roll is just slightly toasted.

two sub rolls with shredded beef and melted cheese on top.

Serve sandwich with a bit of Au Jus from the slow cooker (you may want to strain it first). Also, I added just a bit more beef broth to our Au Jus to make sure there was enough for all of the sandwiches.

hand holding a slice of beef dip sandwich in front of a slow cooker.

CRAVING MORE RECIPES?

Originally published: May 2011
Updated and republished: January 2022

closeup photo of a hand dipping a French dip into some gravy.

Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches (+Video)

Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches are easily made with only five ingredients! So tender and flavorful and cooked until tender in au jus gravy.
4.98 from 35 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours
Total Time: 8 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • 3-4 pounds beef round steak (or any type of beef roast)
  • 1 packet onion soup mix
  • 1 packet au jus seasoning
  • 15 ounce can of beef broth or stock
  • ½ cup water
  • 6 slices mozzarella or provolone cheese for serving
  • 6 sub rolls for serving

Instructions

  • This step is optional but adds great flavor. In a hot pan with a little oil, brown both sides of the 3-4 pounds beef round steak. Don't cook it all the way through, just brown each side really well in the hot skillet.
  • Put browned beef roast into an oval slow cooker.
  • In a medium bowl, combine 1 packet onion soup mix, 1 packet au jus seasoning, 15 ounce can of beef broth or stock and ½ cup water and stir until combined.
  • Pour mixture over beef, put cover on slow cooker and cook on low for about 8 hours.
  • An hour before serving, shred meat with two forks or take it out and slice thinly.
  • Place meat back in the slow cooker for about another hour.
  • When ready to serve, place 6 sub rolls (open faced) on a baking sheet. Top one side of each sub roll with some of the shredded beef. Then take your 6 slices mozzarella or provolone cheese and place them on top of the beef.
  • Turn on your oven broiler. Place baking sheet in the oven and broil until cheese is melted and buns are toasted (note, please keep an eye as it broils because it can burn very quickly.)
  • Serve sandwich with a bit of Au Jus from the slow cooker and enjoy! Note: you may want to strain the sauce in your slow cooker before serving.

Video

YouTube video

Notes

  • Optional toppings include onions, green peppers and mushrooms.
  • We also enjoy adding some mayonnaise to our buns. 
  • Also, instead of the water, you can substitute with more beef stock if you like.
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Calories: 580kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 62g | Fat: 17g | Sodium: 1600mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g

Nutritional Disclaimer

“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

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Recipe Rating




65 Comments

  1. Can I use chuck roast for this? It’s on sale this week at my local store and these sandwiches have been on my mind since reading the recipe.

  2. 5 stars
    While you could use any roast I am sure glad I spent the extra money and purchased a better cut of round roast. These flavors were amazing! Thanks so much

  3. 5 stars
    Hands down, the best French Dip recipe out there! I've tried many others, but none measure up to this one! And so easy too!

  4. what's the best cut of beef roast to use for this? bottom round or top round?

    I've never made beef roast a day in my life lol so I wanna make sure I do it right

  5. These were awesome! I had no idea something like this could be so easy. The leftovers were great too! This one is a keeper.

  6. I'm having trouble with the meat being dry. It didn't happen the first time that I made it, but it did the second and now the third. (My son says that he doesn't think that it's dry and he has asked for this often since the first time that I made it about four weeks ago. LOL) I don't know if I'm doing something wrong. This time I initially cooked the meat for seven hours instead of eight, thinking that maybe I was overcooking it. Of course, now that I'm reading your response to Anonymous (March 6, 2013), I see that this might have been a mistake because the length of time makes it more tender. In my infinite wisdom I thought that the shorter time would help. LOL I am by no means a whiz in the kitchen as I'm sure you can tell. *gah* I also wonder if I'm slicing the meat thinly enough, but I have a medical condition that renders my right arm useless a great deal of the time, so maybe the pain from that is getting in the way of the thinness of the slices. Pulling it apart isn't an option for me, because Like others have said, my son is an expert on steak/beef sandwiches and he doesn't like them that way. lol Can you please let me know if I'm correct in thinking that you're saying that my cutting an hour off might make it dry and how thin the slices should be? I am truly at a loss the minute that I step up to the oven/slow cooker. 😉 (Just to let you know, I had promised my son that I would make these this week and it's Friday and I hadn't done it yet…it is now almost midnight and I have thirty more minutes before it's done. Yes, I'm making it to be finished around midnight AND my son (he's 20 by the way) asked if he could have a sandwich when it's done. Sure, go ahead!). My son *seriously* wants these. 🙂 Also, because it's midnight, I intended to put it in a container and put it in the fridge until tomorrow and you write that it should be eaten right away (I think that's what you meant anyway), so I was wondering if storing it in the fridge was okay. I really apologize that I'm asking so many questions that are most likely elementary, but I really am not talented when it comes to making new things. 😛

  7. My daughter-in-law makes this but adds peppercini peppers and juice to it while it is cooking. Amount depends on how much heat you like. Really yummy!!

  8. Anonymous, the thing about this meat is it needs time to get tender. The longer it cooks, the more tender it gets. Now, you could certainly cook it for a shorter period of time and it will get done. But you may not get that butter-y tenderness that you would get if you let it hang out and cook all day. I hope that helps! ~Brandie

    1. Made this today and it was amazing! My son is a connoisseur of steak sandwiches and he said that he loved it! I will admit that when I removed the roast at the eight hour mark to cut it into slices, I became extremely concerned that it was going to be dry from the looks of things. However, after I put the sliced meat back into the Crock Pot for the hour, it was incredibly moist and tender. I don't mean to tell you your business (Lord knows that I can't even handle my own business LOL), but you might want to consider noting in the recipe that it looks dry after the eight hour mark and assure people that that's not the case, so that they don't freak out. lol Please don't think that I'm critiquing you, your site, or your recipes. I am impressed with every one of those things, so keep up the good work.