This Crock Pot French Dip Recipe is easy to make, budget-friendly, and delicious. You can make perfect French dip sandwiches in your crock pot for game-day parties or everyday meals. Use a chuck roast or a similar cut and slow it all day in a flavorful homemade braising fluid until it is fall-apart tender. We like serving it in hoagie buns with melted cheese and au jus for dipping.
🐄Ingredients
Beef roast—chuck roast or similar
Aromatics—onions, garlic
Beef Broth—low sodium
Pantry ingredients—low sodium soy sauce, low sodium Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, and salt.
Serving—sub buns, cheese (Provolone, Swiss, Havarti, or Monterey Jack)
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Featured Comment by Darice:
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"Dr. Dan you've done it again! These French Dip Sandwiches are amazing and so easy to prepare."
This French Dip beef recipe is simple to make ahead and store. Everybody will love these delicious sandwiches with tender beef cooked in a flavorful liquid that makes au jus in your slow cooker.
See other crock pot sandwich recipes, like our Crock Pot Shredded Pork Tenderloin, Crock Pot Pulled Pork Loin, Crock Pot BBQ Chicken, and Crock Pot Pulled Boston Butt.
👨🍳How to Make Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Trim a chuck roast and add salt and pepper. Sear for about 3 minutes per side, then transfer to a crock pot.
2. Cook sliced onions until starting to clear. Add garlic and cook one more minute. Pour on top of the beef.
3. To a crock pot, add beef broth, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce and mix.
4. Cook on low for 5 hours, remove the meat, and slice across the grain into ½ inch slices.
5. Return to the crock pot to cook for the final 2 hours until a temperature of 200° or more.
6. At the end of cooking, break up the slices to make the serving easier. Save the liquid as au jus.
7. To serve, cut hoagie rolls into half and briefly toast. Top the bottom half with meat and provolone cheese, and then cook under a broiler for a few minutes until the cheese is nicely brown.
8. Serve with the cooking solution as au jus for dipping.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
🤔Make it right every time.
The short browning of the meat enhances the flavor through a Maillard reaction, and caramelizing the onions also enhances the flavor. Both are optional but suggested.
The brief cooking of garlic does two things. First, it brings out the garlic flavors, called blooming the garlic. Second, it eliminates the raw taste of fresh, uncooked garlic.
Slicing the beef and placing it back in to cook more allows the flavors of the braising fluid (au jus) to penetrate all the meat and prevents long strands of meat in the final results. This, too, is optional but suggested.
You can remove the beef at the end and shred it, but it tends to fall apart. So, I stir it a bit and use the slotted spoon to fish it out with a lot of onion. As you remove it, check for waste or unshredded beef.
The shredding temperature for beef is 200° or more. However, leaner cuts may still not shred well. If your beef is fully cooked but not shredding well, chop it to serve.
If you are cooking a larger or thicker beef roast, cook to 200° and not by time.
🐄Ingredient options and variations
A nice chuck roast is a good choice. My favorite is an English-cut chuck roast. The beef roast needs to have good marbling to be tender. Top sirloin, bottom round, and rump roasts are commonly recommended but may be too lean to shred well.
The onions can be standard yellow or white onions. Instead of chopping the onions, cut them into rings and then cut them in half.
The cooking fluid combines beef broth, caramelized onions, and garlic. Soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce enhance the beef's taste. After cooking, the liquid contains the meat juices and is the au jus for dipping.
Other seasonings, such as oregano or thyme, may be added. You can also use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic.
Use provolone cheese or other mild cheese. Other choices are discussed in the FAQs.
🍴How to serve French dip
Serve on toasted French bread, hoagies, or sub-buns with provolone or other cheese. Toast the buns and brown the cheese using an oven broiler and a baking sheet. You can also go smaller and make French dip sliders.
The au jus, French for “with juice,” is the cooking fluid and juice from the beef. It is used for dipping.
Serve with a salad, French Onion Soup, Baked French Fries, potato chips, Stovetop Mac and Cheese, or Microwave Corn on the Cob.
❄️What to do with leftover French dip
Shred meat and au jus should be stored separately in airtight containers. They can be stored in the refrigerator for 4 days or in the freezer for 3 months.
Reheat after thawing, if frozen, in a saucepan with the au jus cooking liquid or beef broth.
❓FAQs
Use a mild creamy cheese for French Dip Sandwiches like provolone, Swiss, Havarti, or Monterey Jack.
Monterey Jack or mozzarella cheese would also be good choices, but avoid intensely flavored cheeses like sharp cheddar, which will mask the flavor of your sandwich.
No, it is American. While there is some dispute about who developed it, French dip, named for French bread, originated in San Francisco in the early 1900s.
French Dip is made with thinly sliced or shredded beef braised in a cooking sauce and served with au jus.
Italian Beef is also braised but has Italian herbs and spices for a distinctive Italian taste.
This recipe works fine in a full-size and 3 to 4-quart small crock pot. It will not fit in a 2-quart mini crock pot.
📖 Recipe
Crock Pot French Dip Recipe
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Ingredients
- 2-3 pounds chuck roast
- 2 onions - large sliced
- 4 teaspoons oil - for bowning
- 2 cloves garlic - crushed
- 2 cups beef broth - low sodium
- ¼ cup soy sauce - low sodium
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
For serving
- Hoagie buns
- Provolone cheese
Instructions
- Start with a nicely trimmed, well-marbleized chuck roast—salt and pepper to taste.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add two teaspoons of oil, and when hot, brown the roast for about 3 minutes per side. Then move the roast to the crock pot.
- Add 2 large sliced onions with the rings cut in half to the pan and cook for a few minutes until browning some. Then add 2 cloves of crushed garlic and cook one more minute. Move to the crock pot.
- Add 2 cups low-sodium beef broth, ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce, and 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce—mix well.
- Cook on low for 5 hours, then remove meat and slice across the grain into ½-inch slices.
- Return to the crock pot to cook for 2 more hours until 200° plus.
- Break up the slices at the end of cooking to make serving easier.
- To serve, cut hoagie rolls into half and briefly toast. Top the bottom half with meat and provolone cheese—cook under a broiler for a few minutes until the cheese is nicely brown.
- Serve with the cooking solution as au jus for dipping.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- This is an easy recipe to adjust both in size and taste.
- Avoid a roast with too much connective tissue, which you will need to remove later. The beef choice is up to you. My favorite is an English-cut chuck roast. The recipe post discusses other choices.
- The crock pot must be big enough for the beef to have some space around it.
- Browning the beef before adding it to the crock pot will add good flavor to the beef.
- Cook and brown the onion a bit before adding it to the crock pot.
- Cut the beef across the grain.
- You can use any cheese you like, but provolone is my first choice, followed by Swiss, Havarti, or Monterey Jack. Avoid strong cheeses like sharp cheddar.
- Leftovers can be refrigerated for 3-4 days or frozen for up to 3 months. The au jus should be stored separately from the meat.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Originally published March 12, 2016. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Heather says
This recipe was easy and turned out great! I served it over cheese grits instead of hoagies. A new favorite! Thank you!
Tosha says
Do you think it would turn out okay if i prep everything the night before and leave it in the fridge overnight to start in the morning?
DrDan says
I would think it would be fine. But do not store in the crockpot ceramic insert. They tend to crack when going from refrigerator to applying heat.
Dan
Brooke says
Thanks Dr. Dan! This was to die for good, and beyond easy to make! My husband was craving a great french dip and Pinterest lead me to your site. I look forward to trying more of your recipes. Loved every bite!
Candy says
I made this with a chuck roast and it came out somewhat tough. What cut of beef do you use. Flavor was great.
DrDan says
Hi Candy,
Pictured is a nicely marbled top round roast. An eye of round would be good also. Make sure there is a nice distribution of fat in the meat. You do not want one of those all lean cuts.
Nancy says
I'm wondering what to do with the onions and garlic after the roast is removed from the crockpot. Are they discarded or does one put them on the sandwich?
DrDan says
I just leave them in the dipping solution. You can of course eat them. If put on the sandwich, it would be a bit messy to handle but will add some taste. My wife always eats the dipping solution when done with a spoon including the onions like a French onion soup.
Galen says
I am going to be making this tomorrow and I'm very excited. After making the french dip sandwiches I know I will have some leftover meat and wondered if you had any other ideas on what the meat could be used for in addition to sandwiches. I am a novice and I appreciate your blogs.
DrDan says
Mix with a little salsa and it would make some very nice nachos....
Dan
Hanna says
Do you tink this recipe can be cooked on high for less hours? Im trying it now but 7 hours is a long time! Haha
DrDan says
This is one of those very forgiving recipes. Try cutting all times in half for high. When you slice the beef, see how well it will shred at that point. A half hour after cutting is needed for taste and moisture but you might need longer if it is not tender enough.
Jamie says
I made this the other day and wanted to come back and say that this is a fantastic recipe! My boyfriend and I both love french dip, and we order it often when we go out to eat. He said this is the best au jus he's ever had. This recipe is a keeper and I'll be making it again for sure!
Love your site and blog and am looking forward to trying out other recipes on here.
DrDan says
Hi Jamie,
Welcome to the site and thanks for the note.
Dan
Galen says
Hi. I am trying to save this post, and many others of yours, to Pinterest but it won't allow me to? Any ideas why? I understand you have recently changed website companies? Thanks for any help you can be.
Galen Allen
DrDan says
Thanks Galen, I looked at it and did some troubleshooting and I get it to work in Safari but nothing else. I need to do more but there are 5000 people per hour right now (peak time of day) and I will disrupt them. I will look at it in the morning and probably need to talk with the developer.
Dan
Melodie says
This is a fabulous recipe. Straightforward, basic AND delicious. I made it last night and it couldn't have turned out better. It is only outdone by your beautiful Lab dog. Thanks again for the recipe. 5 star
Cerwyn says
Absolutely phenomenal! I'm a novice cook who usually ruins dinner more often then not but I thought this sounded delicious and easy. I was totally right! I am obsessed with this site! It made so much leftovers!! Which makes it worth the money! I used a cheap $10 rump roast and it was Sooo good. Like melt in ur mouth tender. My husband is sooooo picky but he loved this! 10 stars! So excited to try another recipe on ur site! U r a food god!!!
DrDan says
Awww shucks....
Glad it worked well for you. I have targeted the site for novice cooks so I think you should be able to handle most of the recipes. Check out the recipes that I think are best at https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/category/101s-top-posts/. May I suggest https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/oven-pulled-pork-from-pork-butt/ but it does require a digital thermometer but a $10 one from Amazon or Home Depot will do.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Dan
Arlene says
Easy and great receipt. I will male this again
DrDan says
Hi Sarah,
I'm sure it can but I have not done it and oven temp and duration would not match this crockpot version. So I'm not much help to you here.
Dan
Sarah says
Hello, thank you for your wonderful and detailed recipes. I was wondering if this recipe could be made in the oven? I would really love to try it but the lid on my crockpot shattered and the company no longer makes that model nor replacement lids for it.
Patty says
I always rave about your iron skillet filet recipe. I made this French dip recipe last night and took it to my parents home for lunch today. This is my new favorite Dr D recipe...Y...U...M!
I did not have any leftovers to bring home, so I am making this again tomorrow!!!
Lynn says
Thanks for another great recipe! My boys said this is a definitely make again recipe.