Make dinner easy on yourself and use your slow cooker to make these Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches. They’ll be a new family favorite recipe! Watch the video in the post showing you how to make this recipe, then scroll to the very bottom of this post and print out the recipe so you can make it at home.
First, I must ask you a pressing question. Are you into using your slow cooker? I went through many years of telling myself how horrible slow cooker recipes were… and refused to believe that anything good could ever come out of it. When I began writing about food 7-years ago, I decided to give the slow cooker another chance. Over the years, I’ve come across some dud recipes and I’ve discovered a lot of slow cooker recipes that I really and truly enjoy. As I began to endure a busy home life with a family, I came to appreciate what the slow cooker could do (make dinner for me on days that are crazy-busy).
How do you make French Dip Sandwiches in the slow cooker?
It’s so easy to make Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches. Sliced onion is put into the bottom of your slow cooker. A simple spice mixture is rubbed onto your beef. I like to use either beef brisket or boneless beef bottom round roast. Then the beef is placed on top of the onions. Beef broth, water and Worcestershire sauce are added to the slow cooker too, and it cooks on low for 8 hours.
At the end of the 8-hour cooking time, the beef with be quite tender, and it will be ready to pile onto sandwich rolls with cheese. Sautéed peppers are optional, but they make this sandwich a little more special. You’ll use the broth left in the slow cooker for dunking the sandwiches.
Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
So let’s talk about these sandwiches. They’re not super traditional… at least traditional in the world I grew up in. My Mom made French Dip sandwiches as I was growing up, but we just stuffed sliced roast in a roll and dipped it in a rich broth. You can certainly do that with this recipe, but I’ve kicked things up a notch by adding cheese, onions and peppers.
Picky eaters can choose to leave out what they wish- that’s where the family-friendly part of this recipe comes in. Dunking your dinner also happens to be fun, so kids dig this one because of that.
The beef in this recipe turns out so very tender. It practically falls apart when you slice it for the sandwiches (that’s a good thing). And I like to use soft rolls so they soak up the beef broth easier. Thin sliced cheese will melt naturally when you combine it with the hot, sliced beef. If you choose to use a thicker cheese, you can put them under the broiler for a couple of minutes to get a good melt.
Get that ‘ol slow cooker out and make some of these Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches! The slow cooker does most of the work for you. Amen.
What’s the Best Slow Cooker to buy?
I have had this Hamilton Beach 7-quart Slow Cooker for a number of years now, and I’ve been very happy with it. It’s programmable, and I like that it switches to “warm” setting when it’s done cooking. Then if I’m not home when the cycle is done, I know that it’s just sitting there nice and warm for me. The description on this slow cooker says that the insert and lid are dishwasher safe. I’ve never put mine in the dishwasher, but they’re easy to clean.
If you’re looking for more easy, family-friendly dinner recipes, you might like to try my Baked Chicken Taquitos or this Baked Pasta. 30-Minute Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas and Roasted Chicken Noodle Soup are also super easy recipes to make for dinner that most people tend to enjoy.
Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet onion, sliced
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2½ to 3 pounds beef brisket or boneless beef bottom round roast (fat trimmed and discarded)
- 1¼ cups low-sodium beef broth
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 medium red bell pepper (cored, seeded and sliced into strips)
- 1 medium green bell pepper (cored, seeded and sliced into strips)
- 6 thin slices cheese (white American, Havarti or Provolone)
- 6 regular-sized sandwich rolls, sliced in half
Instructions
- Place the onion slices in the bottom of your slow cooker.
- In a small bowl, mix 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, garlic, Italian seasoning, pepper and salt. Rub the seasoning mixture onto all sides of the roast, then set the roast on top of the onions in the slow cooker. Add the broth, water and Worcestershire sauce to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 9 hours (if you have to speed things up, you can set it on high for 4 to 4½ hours). I recommend slow cooking it, if time allows- the meat will turn out so much better!
- Toward the end of the slow cooking time, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, add the peppers to the pan and saute until the peppers are softened.
- Remove the meat to a cutting board and slice against the grain. Pile the meat onto the sandwich rolls and top with cheese, onions from the slow cooker and sauteed peppers. Serve beef broth from the slow cooker on the side for dipping sandwiches.
Notes
- Toast the rolls, if you'd like (before piling on the meat). The cheese will melt naturally a bit if the beef is hot when you add it the roll, but you can certainly put it under the broiler to melt if you have thicker slices of cheese.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My family loved this recipe! This is one of the few recipes that both of my kids like! Will definitely make it again. Thanks for sharing this.
Delicious, easy to make recipe that my family really enjoyed. Everybody likes dipping food. Thanks for a great recipe!
Yum!
Is it yellow bell pepper or green because recipe says green, videos show yellow?
Any bell peppers you’d like to use are just fine!
Oh I am thinking this is pretty brilliant. Just give me the meat, I will eat it all!
My family loves this french dip recipe! I love that I can make it in the slow cooker!
My family would LOVE this recipe! So delicious and full of flavor!