This Crock Pot French Dip recipe has tender beef cooked in rich homemade au jus, then piled on toasted rolls with melted provolone for delicious French Dip sandwiches.
Made with an economical chuck roast and simple pantry ingredients, this French Dip recipe in a crock pot cooks low and slow for under 8 hours until fall-apart tender.
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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."
TL;DR — Recipe Summary
What: Easy Crock Pot French Dip with tender beef, melted provolone, and rich homemade au jus.
Why: An economical chuck roast becomes fall-apart tender while creating its own delicious au jus for dipping.
How: Cook a chuck roast with onions, garlic, beef broth, soy sauce, and Worcestershire until tender. Slice or shred and serve on toasted rolls with melted cheese.
🐄 Ingredients
- Chuck roast – A well-marbled roast that becomes tender after slow cooking.
- Onion and garlic – Add depth to the beef and au jus.
- Beef broth – Use low-sodium broth so you can adjust the seasoning later.
- Soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce – Add savory beef flavor to the au jus.
- For serving – Toasted sub buns or hoagie rolls and provolone cheese.
👨🍳 Quick Overview: Crock Pot French Dip
1. Prep the beef: Trim and season the chuck roast. Sear if desired.
2. Cook the onion and garlic: Soften the sliced onion, then add the garlic briefly.
3. Fill the crock pot: Add the roast, onions, broth, soy sauce, and Worcestershire. The cooking liquid becomes the au jus for dipping.
4. Cook on LOW: Cook for about 5 hours, then slice the beef across the grain and return it to the au jus.
5. Finish cooking: Continue until the beef reaches about 200°F and is fall-apart tender.
6. Make the sandwiches: Serve sliced or shredded on toasted rolls with melted provolone and au jus for dipping.
👇 Scroll down for the printable recipe card and complete step-by-step photo instructions—or keep reading for tips, options, and serving ideas.
🤔 Crock Pot French Dip Tips
- Brown for more flavor – Searing the roast and browning the onions are optional, but add richer flavor.
- Slice across the grain – After about 5 hours, slice the beef thin across the grain and return it to the au jus to finish cooking.
- Slice or shred – For sliced French Dip, cook until tender. For shredded beef, continue to about 200°F or slightly higher until it pulls apart easily.
- Cook to tenderness, not just time – Cooking time varies with the size and thickness of the roast. The beef is done when it is tender enough for how you plan to serve it.
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🐄 Beef and Ingredient Options
- Beef roast – Chuck roast is the best choice for tender, juicy beef that can be sliced or shredded. Rump roast, bottom round, or tri-tip are leaner and are better sliced thin.
- Seasonings – Add a little oregano or thyme if you want more seasoning. Garlic powder can replace fresh garlic.
- Cheese – Provolone is classic, but Swiss, Havarti, Monterey Jack, or mozzarella also melt well.
- Sandwich rolls – Use sturdy sub rolls, hoagie rolls, or French bread that can stand up to dipping in the au jus.
🍴 How to Serve French Dip
Serve Crock Pot French Dip on toasted hoagie rolls, sub rolls, or French bread with hot au jus for dipping. Use slider buns for smaller servings or parties.
Serve with potato chips, baked French fries, coleslaw, a green salad, or even French Onion Soup.
❄️ Storing Leftover French Dip
- Store the beef and au jus separately in airtight containers. Refrigerate for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat the beef gently with some au jus or beef broth.
🥪 More Crock Pot Sandwich Recipes
❓ FAQs
Use a 3-quart or larger crock pot. The roast and liquid should fill no more than about 75% of the pot for even cooking. A 2-quart mini crock pot is too small.
French Dip is sliced or shredded beef served on a roll with au jus for dipping. Italian beef is also braised beef but is usually more heavily seasoned with Italian herbs and spices.
Au jus is the thin, savory beef cooking liquid served with French Dip sandwiches for dipping. In this recipe, the broth, seasonings, and beef juices cook together in the crock pot to make the au jus.
📖The Recipe Card
Crock Pot French Dip Recipe
Video Slideshow
Ingredients
- 2–3 pounds chuck roast
- 2 onions - large sliced
- 4 teaspoons oil – optional for browning
- 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
- Hoagie buns
- Provolone cheese
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Trim and season a chuck roast. In a skillet with two teaspoons of oil over medium-high heat, sear for about 3 minutes per side. Move to the crock pot
- Optional: Add 2 teaspoons of oil and thinly sliced onions to the skillet. Cook for a few minutes until starting to brown. Add the crushed garlic and cook for 1 minute. Transfer to the crock pot. If skipping the browning, add the onions and garlic directly to the crock pot.
- Add 2 cups low-sodium beef broth, ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce, and 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce. The cooking liquid will become the au jus.
- Cook on LOW for 5 hours. Remove the beef and slice thinly across the grain, about ½ inch or less.
- Return the beef to the crock pot and cook on LOW for about 2 more hours, until fall-apart tender and about 200°F or higher.
- Leave the beef sliced or break it apart for shredded French Dip.
- Split and lightly toast the hoagie rolls. Add beef and provolone, then broil briefly until the cheese melts and begins to brown.
- Serve hot with the au jus on the side for dipping.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
Pro Tips:- Chuck roast is the best choice. Leaner roasts can be used but are usually better sliced than shredded.
- Use a 3-quart or larger crock pot with enough room around the roast for even cooking.
- Browning the beef and onions is optional but adds extra flavor.
- Always slice the beef across the grain for tenderness.
- Refrigerate leftovers for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Store the beef and au jus separately.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You can adjust the number of servings above; however, only the amount in the ingredient list is adjusted, not the instructions.
Nutrition Estimate (may vary)
Originally published March 12, 2016. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Kris Marie says
This is in my crockpot as I type! Sliced it and it's back in the crockpot. Love your recipes! Thank you!
JM says
To modify this recipe for a Instapot do I still have to remove meat partway through cooking and slice across the grain into ½-inch slices then return to the pot to cook or do I just cook it all at once? How would the times be adjusted?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi JM,
Welcome to the blog.
I'm not an instapot user—I gave my away since I almost never used it. It was just a more fussy way of cooking that I didn't enjoy. I cook to make myself smile. It took the fun away for me. And I needed the storage space.
The slicing is not required. It allows the braising fluid to flavor the center of the roast while making cooking a bit faster and shreeding better. Most recipes do not do the slicing, so you can skip it and deal with any long strands of beef later.
Time of cooking a small roast in the pressure cooker to a good shredding temp of 200° plus is the real question. I have no answer. There should be some specific instapot recipes you can reference.
Sorry, I'm not much help.
Dan
Karen says
Hi Dr. Dan-
I can't tell you how happy I am I found your blog! My dad is a recent widower and wanted to start making crock pot meals this winter, but didn't want the huge recipes. He loves leftovers, but having some smaller recipe alternatives will be great for him.
I'm going to print off all your recipes for him and buy him a smaller crockpot. Here's my question. I have read through many of the recipes and it seems like 3.5 quarts would fit almost all of them, does that seem accurate to you? I like that you have them written so there won't be waste, even if they are a little bigger number of servings. He'd hate having half a jar/can of something left.
Thanks so much in advance!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Karen,
Welcome to the blog.
For years I used a 3.5 quart Cuisinart that is still going strong. So the older, not rewritten, recipes may still say 3.5 quart. Read that as 3 to 4 quart small crock pots. Many of my rewrites also have instructions for 2 quart mini crock pots. I much prefer people get the 3-4 quart size vs the mini since they are much more flexable eliminating waste. You can generally (not always) cook smaller recipes in larger crock pot but they may cook a bit faster. Also, to truly cook a recipe (like raw meat or vegetables) the pot should not be over 75% full.
Hope that helps.
Dan