Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches are the ultimate sandwich made with your favorite beer with thick slices that are super tender with an amazing crust.
The recipe for Slow Cooker Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches which posted earlier is actually based on our recipe for this post as well as the grilled cheese sandwiches. The beer in this Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches recipe is the secret weapon to this sandwich. 
Tips for making this the best Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches ever:
- In a large dutch oven, brown the heck out of the beef on both sides and season aggressively.
- Use a darker beer for more flavor if you’ve got it. If you want to avoid beer altogether use additional beef broth.
- Butter the rolls before toasting, they taste amazing buttery and toasted.
- Dip the meat slices in the slow cooker liquid before adding to the sandwich if you don’t want to dip the sandwiches.
- Let the meat cool for ten minutes before slicing, this helps it stay together more.
- There are some recipes that use beef consomme or onion soup mix. Those are totally fine to use, you can swap out the consomme for half the broth or add the onion soup instead of the fresh onion, but this way is going to make an amazing sandwich, I pinky promise.
- Make sure you’re using a chuck roast for this recipe, using cuts that are leaner will result in tougher meat.
If you’re keeping track here are the other slow cooker sandwiches we’ve got so far:
- Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Roast Beef Sandwiches with Horseradish
- Slow Cooker Pastrami Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Reuben Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker McRib Sandwiches
- Turkey Moist Maker Sandwich <— turkey made in the slow cooker
Tools Used in the making of these Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches:
Slow Cooker: Love this slow cooker and how programmable it is, it has been a workhorse for me… until…
My New Slow Cooker: This recipe was made in this slow cooker. For larger roasts I also brown the meat in the insert and not lose a bunch of the flavor by transferring the meat and leaving the browned bits behind. If you’re thinking of a new slow cooker, consider it if your budget is open.
Worcestershire Sauce: I have been using this brand most of my life and when my husband came home with the store brand one day and I figured “eh no biggie” I could immediately taste the difference. Stick with the original.
Strand Brewing Company Beer: Love their beer, if you are in California you can even buy it at Costco. No sponsorship here but just lots of delicious beer.
Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 4-5 pounds chuck roast
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 can beer I like a dark beer
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 6 hoagie rolls
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 12 slices Provolone Cheese
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven, or if you have an aluminum insert for your slow cooker add the canola oil and heat on high.
- Add the Kosher salt and pepper to your chuck roast.
Brown on both sides aggressively (3-5 minutes on each side).
- Don't move the beef before flipping (this lets the meat get a deep crust).
- In a slow cooker add the meat, any meat juices from the pan, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, beer and onions.
Cook on low for 6 hours.
- Remove the meat and slice thickly.
- To assemble, butter your hoagie rolls and toast.
- Top with provolone cheese.
- In a small bowl add a cup of the liquid from the slow cooker and dip the sandwich in the bowl.
Have made a few other French dip recipes posted on Pinterest. This one is by far the best.
Thanks, Beth.
Used 1 bottle of Shiner Bock we will see how the troops like it!
Making now and smells delicious! Used 1 bottle of Shiner Bock we will see how the troops like it!
My husband said these were better than the restaurant version. That means success! No beer. Just broth. But everything else I followed to a T in the half-version size (2 lbs. meat) since I am cooking only for 2.
Thanks for coming back to let me know, James! So glad you both enjoyed it.
Delicious! Made exactly as recipe indicated. I do slice the meat thinly as possible without it falling apart though and pile it in top of the provolone so it melts better
Awesome recipe. My hubbs couldn’t get enough, if i wasn’t so full off the first sandwich i would have had seconds. Did not use beer, just two cups of broth and i can’t wait to make it again.
Looks food but my recipe has a lot of spices to it. Sure is good but I will try your recipe.
Entire family loved it and even went for seconds. Used 2cup beef broth and no beer.
I always want to go for seconds with this dish! 🙂
I have to take dinner out of town next weekend. Could I make this the day ahead and keep cold in slow cooker or how would you recommend ?
I would recommend cooling in a separate container in the fridge and then reheat in slow cooker or on stove top. This will ensure that it is brought to the safe storage temperature, as the crockpot can keep residual heat for a long while.
Hi, I’m Eva, I dont mean to be a but-in-ski, but the laws must be vastly different from state to state. Oregon state requires an ice bath cool down and a Quick reheat and then into the crock pot. The Food Inspector marked me down for reheating our beef stew in the crock pot. He said that the reheating process is as important as the cooling process and a crock pot doesn’t heat up fast enough. I think that is a little anal but I got chewed out anyway. Lol.
I made this dish on Monday, September 20th using a Guinness beer for the first time for our bocce team of 10. It was a huge hit, layering the onions on the bottom of the cooker was a great tip. We Canadians, especially my hubby, love a good beef dip. Thanks Sabrina!
My comment should read September 16th not 20th
Love that it was an international hit 🙂 Thanks for letting me know!!
I made this over the labor day weekend and it was DELICIOUS! My family loved it and the dip was phenomenal!
Glad to hear it was hit!!
has anyone made this in an instant pot? how long did they cook the meat?
I’ve made this twice so far. I never saved the recipe the first time, but when I wanted to make french dip again, I knew I had to find this recipe because it’s the best I’ve ever had!!! Lucky me, I was able to find it and now it’s saved forever. Thanks for such a simple and wonderful recipe!
You just made my day! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know.
WOW! This is my kind of French/Beef Dip! The addition of cheese (not served @ restaurants) is the 1st big plus. I’m not a big beer fan, but the dark lager-type beers add a deep molasses-y flavor that I will always require in my future dips! I added mushrooms, only because we like them; a good ‘shroom never ruined anything. My only disappointment was my rolls. Since Colombo Bread Co in the SFBay area is, sadly, no more, I have not found a replacement-any suggestions? Your pictured rolls look like a hoagie roll (or hero or sub or whatever they’re called where you live!) should look-soft inside, a bit solid & crunchy outside…yumm! This will show up on our table quite frequently-Colombo roll or not! Thank you, thank you.
We just picked these up last minute from the bakery section of our local grocer. I do make sure to butter the rolls and toast them before serving. Good luck on your search!
Made this yesterday!
End result was TOTALLY AWESOME!
Only additions made was that I experimented with stuffing the roast with some PICKLED GARLIC, which I bought at a Farmer’s Market earlier in the morning!
Once I added the browned roast to the slow cooker, along with the pan drippings, I added a little Liquid Smoke to the ingredient list, put the cover on, and impatiently waited for a little slice of heaven!
Then when done, I place a few provolone-layered ciabatta sub rolls in the oven to toast. (Since Ciabatta bread has a crusty type texture to it, I find it doesn’t get as soggy like regular French bread will, after you introduce the gravy.
The additional ingredients definitely kicked up the flavor of this recipe by a couple of notches!
Will definitely make this again, and again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
This recipe is a keeper. Everyone loved it. We used brioche slider buns and broiled them in the oven with cheese. Would be great for a party.
So glad everyone enjoyed it!
This was delicious. It was very easy to make. When I toasted the rolls I made them into garlic bread with cheese. They are definitely a remake.
Yay!!
That was delicious. It was very easy to make. I did make the rolls into garlic bread. I put a little EVO and chopped garlic with the cheese and put them under the broiler. It was a big hit definitely a remake
Hi Sabrina – recipe looks so good I can’t wait to try it. I wanted to pass this along if you like horseradish there is a stand at Central Market in Lancaster PA called Long’s horseradish. Five generations thus far. They grind the horseradish right there in the market and they have a fan running. You can smell the horseradish all over the market. Check it out and if you ever get to Lancaster pay the market a visit – it is a real treat!
Thanks for the suggestion!