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!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT FRENCH DIPS:
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.
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 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.
Use your favorite sub rolls here. I use a 6-inch soft sub roll. French bread will also work for this.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- 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
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.
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.
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 some subroles on a baking sheet and top the rolls with some of the shredded beef.
Add slices of cheese onto the top of shredded beef.
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.
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.
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Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches (+Video)
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
- 4 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 he pot roast really well. Don't cook it all the way through, just brown each side in the hot skillet.
- Put browned beef roast in slow cooker.
- In a medium bowl, combine beef broth, onion soup mix, au jus seasoning and 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 several slices of beef on roll, add sliced mozzarella cheese and 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.
- Serve sandwich with a bit of Au Jus from the slow cooker (you may want to strain it first).
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.
Nutrition
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 can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Originally published: May 2011
Updated and republished: January 2022
Kelly M Johnson
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
Brandie @ The Country Cook
Love it!! Thank you s very much Kelly!
Cookykamp
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!
Anonymous
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
Anonymous
These were awesome! I had no idea something like this could be so easy. The leftovers were great too! This one is a keeper.
Theresa D
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. 😛
Anonymous
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!!
The Country Cook
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
Anonymous
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.
Anonymous
Can this be done in a shorter amount of time? 4-6 hours?
Thanks 🙂