Everyone loves a tender, deliciously messy French Dip Sandwich!
Chuck roast is slow-cooked in beef broth and onions until perfectly melt-in-your-mouth tender. It’s set on a crusty roll and dipped in the juices for the perfect sandwich!
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Ingredients Tips for French Dip
- BREAD French Dip is best with a baguette-style French roll. I love a crusty roll with a bit of chew, plus it softens when dipped without falling apart. Any dense bread what can hold up to dipping in au jus will do.
- BEEF For this French dip recipe, the best meat is chuck or rump roast. Cook the beef low and slow and then pull it into big chunks instead of cutting. As long as it is braised (browned and cooked in liquid)‚ it will be extra tender and perfect for French dips!
- AU JUS This is the juice in the slow cooker and it is used for dipping. Add plenty of onions plus a sprig of rosemary for flavor.
- CHEESE I do not usually add cheese to this sandwich. If you want to add cheese, provolone is a great choice!
How To Make French Dip
This slow cooker recipe is as easy as 1, 2, 3!
- Season roast and brown in a large pan on all sides.
- Add all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high, until the roast is tender. If your beef is not tender, it likely needs more time.
- Remove the beef and let it rest 15 minutes before slicing or shredding.
Serve with toasted hoagie rolls or bread of your choice and dip in the juices.
How To Make Au Jus For French Dip
Technically, the ‘au jus’ is simply the liquid in the slow cooker that the chuck roast and other ingredients were cooked in.
I like to add the tiniest bit of cornstarch mixed with water to the slow cooker while the meat rests. The jus shouldn’t be thickened like gravy but a little bit of cornstarch adds a bit of body to the jus.
You should have lots of flavorful juice in the slow cooker. Once shredded or cut, you can add the beef back to the juices to keep it warm. This is a great way to serve a crowd.
Don’t forget to serve with a side of savory coleslaw or some oven baked french fries to round out this meal.
More Delicious Beef Sandwiches
- Crock Pot Italian Beef Sandwiches – easy to make & serve!
- My Favorite Reuben Sandwich – classic Irish recipe
- Slow Cooker BBQ Beef Sandwiches – always a crowd pleaser!
- Slow Cooker Shredded Beef – great in a taco, enchilada or sandwich!
- Reuben Sandwich Sliders – great party food
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 pounds beef chuck roast or rump roast
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper or to taste
- 10.5 ounces condensed beef broth 1 can, low sodium
- 10.5 ounces condensed French onion soup or condensed onion soup, 1 can
- 1 medium yellow onion sliced
- 12 ounces light beer
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary optional
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 8 French rolls or 2 baguettes cut into 6-inch rolls
- ½ cup butter
Instructions
- Season roast with salt & pepper. Brown each side in a large pan over medium high heat.
- Place condensed beef broth, condensed French onion soup, onions, light beer, garlic, rosemary, and Worcestershire sauce in a slow cooker. Cook on low 8 hours or on high 4 hours or until beef is tender.
- Once roast is tender, remove from the juices and let rest 15 minutes. Shred or slice beef.
- Butter rolls and heat under a broiler until lightly toasted. Top rolls with beef and serve with jus from the slow cooker for dipping.
Video
Notes
Cheese can be added to the broiled rolls. If you don’t want to use beer, you can replace it with extra beef broth. Option: Combine 1-2 teaspoons of cornstarch with an equal amount of water. Add the the juices in the slow cooker while the meat is resting. You do not want to thicken the jus but this just adds a bit of body.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Lunch, Main Course, Slow Cooker
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Everything looks delicious!
❤️
Your recipe’s sound delicious. Just wanted to subscribe. Thanks.
Welcome Cathy! To receive emails with new recipes, you can click here to sign up to receive emails. Look forward to sending you recipes!
10 1/2 oz. beef broth and onion soup: are you referring to the condensed: products? They are the only ones I found a can
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Yes these are condensed soups. Enjoy the recipe!
After toasting the French Rolls, I spread a thin layer of Horseradish Cream sauce on the bread. If you like a little kick, this will do it. Fantastic Recipe. Thank you.
I used about 2.5 lb chuck roast because that’s all I could find at the grocery store I was at . Cooked on high in the crockpot and was done in four hours. After letting the meat rest I sliced the beef in thin slices and assembled the french dips. I have tried other french dip recipes and this one was the best . My husband and I enjoyed this very much . Will be adding this to our recipe collection. Thank You so for such a wonderful recipe.
What does it mean when it says 10 1/2 ounces of soup does that mean tin cans sorry I’m crazy
Yes, in a can.
I can not find a can of onion soup, what can I use instead? Thank you
You can use extra beef broth and add in some onions or caramelized onions.
It’s called French Onion Soup if that helps to find it
You can get the Lipton’s packets of onion recipe soup and dip mix that are also found in the soup isle. I use the great value ones,
I only have powdered onion soup. Am I able to use that if I mix it with water?
I can’t find condensed onion soup anywhere.
That should work fine. You’ll want to add about 1 cup of extra water. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out Melanie!
I’m making this today but my roast is smaller, about 2.3 pounds. How long do you think it should cook for or until what degree? Hope you see this quickly, can’t wait to try it! Thanks
I’ll also check previous comments just in case.
Sorry for the late reply JillBaby, I hope it worked out well for you. I would suggest about 1 hour less than the suggested time, you want it to be fork-tender.
Can I increase the broth and onion soup instead of adding beer?
The recipe notes mention that if you don’t want to use beer, you can replace it with extra beef broth.
This was simply delicious! My family loved it. My 4 year old grandson felt really fancy dipping his bread into the jus. You do a great job with your recipes, and many have become our favourite dinners.
Aww thanks so much, Sara, that makes us so happy to hear!
Can you use regular beef broth instead of the condensed can?
Hi Rose, you won’t get the same rich flavor or thickness to the au jus but I imagine it would still taste delicious. We would love to hear how it turns out for you!
Just finished supper. This was really good and easy. Perfect Sunday dinner. Took a little of the broth and thickened it to make gravy then used that to cover thin cut fries that I cooked in the air fryer. YUM!!
The best beef dip par none. I added mushrooms to the pot. I’ve used lots of your recipes and they are ALL GOOD!
Thank you so much Laureen!
Hi, has anyone made this recipe in their instapot? If so, how?
I save almost all your recipes!
Love your recipes..made the French duo last night for card club, added a little better than bouillon and it was delish!
Mmmm, that sounds perfect Sue!
I looked at your FRENCH DIP sandwich recipe…
On Step 3 of-
How To Make French Dip, it says…
3. Remove the beef and let it rest rest 15 minutes before slicing or shredding.
WHAT does ‘rest rest ” mean?
Hi Michael, You will just want to let the beef sit before slicing it.
Hello! It simply means let it sit on the plate and soak in its own juice.
What kind of onion soup do you use? My options are the powdered onion soup packets, can of cream of onion or a can of french onion soup.
I would suggest a can of french onion soup.
I tried to make this exactly as it was printed.
I didn’t have beer but I had red cooking wine. I used that instead.
I used dry Onion soup mix and added 10oz. of water and poured that into the pot. Everything else I followed to a T!
It was a WIN with my family!
So glad your family enjoyed this recipe, Kara! :)
Great
What is the ‘onion soup’ in the recipe? I’m not familiar with that, I thought of onion mix packets but that doesn’t seem right, or maybe a can of French Onion soup?
It is a can of condensed onion soup sold in the aisle with the other canned soups.
Will the cream of onion soup work?
We haven’t tried this recipe with cream of onion soup Eva, but it should work. However it will change the flavor and color of the beef dip, making it creamy :)
Made this today. It came out so tender and flavorful. I didn’t brown the chuck roast because I was feeling lazy and it still came out amazing. I used beer and followed the recipe to a T. I took out the chuck roast, let it rest and then I kind of shredded it because it was so tender I didn’t think I could slice it very well. It was amazing and the juice that we dipped it in was so flavorful. Next time while the meat is resting I will put the juice into my gravy separator to reduce some of the grease. I also used a 2pk of French baguettes from Sams club for about $3. Perfect.
It sounds like a great recipe to make ahead for dinner before going to work. Thank you so much for sharing the nice recipe.
Sounds wonderful
If you can’t use beer what would be a good substitute? Thanks.
Beef broth is a good substitute.
Extra beef broth instead of the beer?
Yes, that will work just fine.
The jalapeño poppers are SO good!