Pressure Cooker French Dip Sandwiches: Easy French Dip Sandwiches are sure to become a new family favorite dinner. Tender chuck roast is piled on a toasted garlic bun and smothered with provolone cheese. Served up with rich broth on the side for dipping, these delicious sandwiches are made with almost no effort in the pressure cooker or slow cooker.
I partnered with ALDI to bring you this post. As always, opinions and recipe are my own.
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New babies, snuggles with my kids, seeing kindness from a stranger, and sitting down to a dinner that my entire family raves about!
I enjoy that dinner even more when it takes me a mere minutes to prep. An extra bonus is when I can make the meal on a budget.
Guess what?!
I am about to make YOUR heart swell with my latest recipe, Pressure Cooker (or Slow Cooker) French Dip Sandwiches.
These French Dip Sandwiches are:
- Picky-Kid Approved
- Picky-Husband Approved
- Satisfying for Hungry-Teens
- Made with 5 minutes of Prep
- Made with ALDI products to save you money without sacrificing quality
- A FAMILY DINNER WINNER!!!
Pressure Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
Want to know how much my family loved Easy French Dip Sandwiches? They were devoured by my entire family and my husband and son even said they would be happy if they ate these sandwiches a couple times every week.
With just a few quality ingredients I purchased at ALDI, I was able to make a meal that served up 6 hearty portions with leftovers!
How to Make Simple French Dip Sandwiches:
Start with a Black Angus Bottom Round Roast from ALDI. I love that I can count on ALDI for quality angus beef that never disappoints.
Turn the pressure cooker to Sauté and allow to heat.
Season the roast aggressively with salt and pepper.
Once heated (the electric pressure cooker should read “hot”), add a bit of oil and sear the roast on all sides until golden.
Add the beef broth, sliced onions, garlic cloves and soy sauce to the pressure cooker.
Place lid on the pressure cooker and turn valve to sealed.
Set to high pressure for 60 minutes. (See notes about cooking less time.)
After 15 minutes of natural release, finish releasing pressure and remove roast from pressure cooker.
Shred meat with 2 forks.
Before serving, brush buns with melted butter and toast in oven until golden.
Top buns with shredded beef and sliced provolone cheese and return to oven briefly to melt cheese.
Serve immediately with a bowl of aus jus on the side for the perfect accompaniment to these pot roast sandwiches.
Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
If you don’t have an pressure cooker, you can still enjoy Easy French Dip Sandwiches, with the help of a slow cooker.
Sear the meat in a heavy bottomed skillet in 1 tablespoon oil. Once seared on all sides, place the roast into the slow cooker with the broth, garlic, onion and soy sauce and cook on high for 6-7 hours or low for 9-10 hours.
Notes on Easy French Dip Sandwiches:
- For Dairy-Free French Dip Sandwiches, omit the provolone cheese and toast the buns with olive oil instead of butter.
- For Gluten-Free French Dip Sandwiches, use Gluten-Free soy sauce and serve on gluten-free buns (ALDI carries a great selection of liveGfree products.)
- Don’t be tempted to omit the soy sauce from these French Dip Sandwiches, that extra flavor adds just the right umami flavor.
- Instead of rubbing the toasted bread with a garlic clove, you can still impart garlic flavor by adding 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder to the melted butter or olive oil before brushing on the sandwich rolls.
- While optional to brush the bread with garlic butter, I would not skip toasting the buns for a French Dip Sandwich–it helps the bread from getting soggy.
- These French Dip Sandwiches make a great recipe to entertain with, as they are made with very few ingredients and one roast stretches far when served as sandwiches.
- You can cook your meat for 40 minutes on high in the pressure cooker. The roast will not be fall-apart-tender, but will instead be able to be sliced into thin strips for serving. I personally prefer my roast to be falling apart, but the choice is yours!
- I prefer provolone cheese with French Dip Sandwiches, but Swiss can be substituted.
- My husband recommends after toasting the buns, spreading mayonnaise on the buns as well. I personally omit the mayo, but again, the choice is yours.
What can you I make with Leftover Slow Cooker Pot Roast:
Glad you asked! You can use the leftover meat and aus jus as a great base for a vegetable beef soup or serve the meat over a baked potato with cheese melted over it–but I like to freeze the meat and aus jus to pull out to use for dinner on a busy night.
To Freeze Leftover Ingredients from French Dip Sandwiches:
Allow meat and aus jus to cool. Place together in freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 2 months. Allow to defrost in fridge overnight and then reheat on stove. Use a slotted spoon to remove meat for sandwiches and serve strained aus jus on the side. **By freezing the meat with the aus jus, you keep the bottom roast from drying out.
Pressure Cooker (Or Slow Cooker) French Dip Sandwiches
Pressure Cooker French Dip Sandwiches: Easy French Dip Sandwiches are sure to become a new family favorite dinner. Tender chuck roast is piled on a toasted garlic bun and smothered with provolone cheese. Served up with rich broth on the side for dipping. These delicious sandwiches are made with almost no effort in the pressure cooker or slow cooker.
Ingredients
- 1 3 1/2 lb Black Angus Bottom Round Roast
- Stonemill salt and pepper
- 1/2 tbsp Carlini Canola Oil
- 4 cups Simply Nature Organic Beef Broth
- 3 garlic cloves divided
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp Fusia Soy Sauce
- 8 L'Oven Fresh Rolls
- 1 tbsp Countryside Creamery Butter or Carlini Olive Oil optional
- 16 slices Happy Farms Deli Sliced Provolone Cheese
Instructions
-
Season meat on all sides with salt and pepper.
-
Turn Pressure Cooker to Saute and let heat to hot. Add oil and sear meat on all sides until golden (about 2-3 minutes per side).
-
Add beef broth, 2 garlic cloves, onion slice and soy sauce to pressure cooker. Place lid on Instant Pot and turn to sealed.
-
Cook on high pressure for 60 minutes for extremely tender meat or 40 minutes for meat that can be sliced.
-
Once cooking time is finished, allow pressure cooker to naturally release for 15-20 minutes before manually releasing pressure.
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Remove meat and shred with 2 forks or thinly slice.
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Heat oven to 400 degrees and brush hoagie rolls with melted butter or oil.
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Toast rolls for 5 minutes or until golden and rub garlic clove over inside of roll.
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Layer meat and cheese on rolls and return to oven until cheese melts--about 3 minutes.
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Serve with side of strained aus jus (cooking liquid) on side for dipping.
Recipe Notes
- Total pressure cooker time: 5 minutes prep, 15 minutes warm up, 60 minutes cook time, 20 minutes natural release: Total time 2 hours and 20 minutes.
- If your roast is thicker than my pictures show, increase time by 15 minutes per pound.
- If the meat is still not tender enough for you, remove from broth, slice and put back in pressure cooker in broth. Set on high pressure for 10 minutes and allow to release for 20. Serve with slotted spoon.
- Slow Cooker Instructions: Sear the meat in a heavy bottomed skillet in 1 tablespoon oil. Once seared on all sides, place the chuck roast into the slow cooker with the broth, garlic, onion and soy sauce and cook on high for 6-7 hours or low for 9-10 hours.
- Nutrition Facts are based on 1/3 pound meat, 1 rolls, 2 slices of cheese and 1 cup aus jus.
Featured on Meal Plan Monday.
Lisa says
I haven’t made a french dip in years — but I desperately want to dive into that sandwich. Love that you can do it in the pressure cooker!
Kristen Chidsey says
You need to make these so you CAN dive into this sandwich <3
Angela says
I’ve never heard of these – they look so tasty though – I love beef cooked like this.
Kristen Chidsey says
Oh Angela, you have been missing out. You must try these!
Tiffany says
We love French dip sandwiches! I always buy healthy deli meat but this looks super easy and delicious. I’ll have to try this method instead!
Kristen Chidsey says
This is super easy Tiffany! And so much cheaper than deli meat–not to mention tastier 😉
Tara says
Yum! Such a great use of the pressure/slow cooker. I have actually never had a French dip sandwich before. Definitely need to start with this.
Kristen Chidsey says
You certainly need to give it a try!
Peggy Hughes says
I read somewhere that bottom round is too lean for cooking in the IP! I am glad you proved this wrong as it’s one of my preferred cuts for this type of meal 🙂 I can’t wait to make this!
Kristen Chidsey says
Peggy, it takes a bit longer to get tender, but is absolutely perfect (and no full of fat!)
Jodi says
I did exactly what your recipe said to do and mine wasn’t tender or falling apart. It was a tough mess. I even made sure i bought the correct meet “bottom round, Black Angus”. I so wanted this to work out. Oh well, thank you for the recipe though.
Kristen Chidsey says
Jodi, this makes me so sad for you! Can I ask a few questions? Were you sure to set on high pressure? Did you allow the pressure cooker to release naturally for at least 15 minutes?? That is crucial for tender meat (sort of like how you would let meat rest before cutting to keep it juicy) And what size roast did you use?
Don’t discard the meat, place it back in IP and set again for another 20 minutes and let naturally release for another 20 minutes. It should be super tender after that.
Mrow says
I had the same experience as the person above. Followed your directions exactly & it was tough. You may want to edit your instructions & include the put back in for additional 20min.
Kristen Chidsey says
Oh man, so sorry. I am remaking this today (for 5th time) to see if I can help troubleshoot better for you!
April says
oh my goodness, french dip is literally my FAVORITE sandwich ever. and you can’t beat the deals at ALDI! can’t wait to make this <3
Kristen Chidsey says
Enjoy April
Patty K-P says
I live near a restaurant that’s known for their French Dip sandwiches and there’s always a line. I can’t wait to try this easy French Dip recipe so I don’t have to wait in line!
Kristen Chidsey says
Be ready to fall in love with these 🙂
CHICHI says
Would definitely give this a try. Looks so tasty. ChichiBtw I love ALDI
Kristen Chidsey says
ALDI is the best 🙂
Christina says
I wanted to slice my meat and after 40 minutes on high it was very raw. I’m looking at your pictures and the size of my roast is nowhere close to yours but was a 4.2 lb roast. What size roasts have you used? I want to make this work for next time?
Kristen Chidsey says
Hi Christina,
So I tried this recipe for the 4th time to ensure directions were correct, as another person had issues with timing. My roast is 3 1/2 pounds, as stated on recipe card. For an almost 4.5 lb roast, I would cook for 15 minutes longer on high pressure. Also, be sure that your roast is completely thawed out, or you would need to add an additional 25 minutes to cooking time.
After my 4th attempt, I was still able to slice meat at 40 minutes with no issues (did let pressure come down naturally) but I do prefer the meat at 60-70 minutes on high pressure for a more tender roast. Hope that helps! I added notes to the recipe card for increasing size of roast and indicated I prefer the longer cooking time 🙂
Tammy Kettler says
This was Amazing!! But I did stick the Center of my roast back in for 20 more minutes and then it totally fell apart but I was using our own beef so I wasn’t sure the weight on it . But I seen you also used leftovers for a stew ! So I am going to try that today. I am going to add fresh potatoes and carrots but I prefer the can green beans, peas and corn .. I have seen on a lot of other recipes that the use frozen. Then I always put cabbage in my soup also so I am going to put it in after the rest is done . Wish me Luck!! LOL I just wanted to let you know that I love this recipe so Thank you !! 😊
Kristen Chidsey says
Oh thank you so so much Tammy! I love that you enjoyed this recipe so much! And good luck with the stew. I just made a beef and barley soup with leftover cooked beef–I need to get that recipe up soon. But I think a bag of frozen mixed veggies, cabbage, potatoes and carrots with the leftover stew meat, broth and maybe diced tomatoes sounds HEAVENLY!! In fact, I want to come over for dinner–LOL! Enjoy! And I hope you find more recipes you love on my site
Amy says
I made these tonight and they turned out perfect, thanks for sharing the recipe!!
Kristen Chidsey says
Love that you enjoyed them Amy!
Steph says
This might be a silly question but can I use a top round instead? My grocery store did not have bottom round. I am attempting it tonight!
Kristen Chidsey says
Oh yay! Yes Steph, you certainly can. If after the 60 minutes the roast is not tender, cut it up and put back in pressure cooker for an additional 15 minutes on high. Enjoy!
Diane Smith says
I read this recipe the other day and knew I had to head to Aldi for the ingredients. As a rule, I do not care for their meats, but I buy a good bit of their other products. Tonight I made this exactly the way you suggested. It was fantastic and I will definitely be making it again. I told my husband, the broth could be French Onion soup. The only thing was NOT Aldi was the rolls because, due to the storms in the east, the shelves were pretty bare and there were no rolls. I had to go elsewhere for them. I am loving your site. I have made the creme brûlée three times already.
Kristen Chidsey says
Oh Diane, this just made my night! I am so glad you have found my site and are loving my recipes. Stay safe and hopefully spring weather is on it’s way to stay.
Carliste says
The best way to prepare shredded meat is always in a pressure cooker. I tried the recipe in the exact same way as you suggested but served it in between burger buns instead of rolls and it looked great and tasted just as great!
Kristen Chidsey says
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! We actually had it ourselves last night–it is a regular meal in our household. Pressure cooking makes the BEST shredded meat–totally agree
Kat Horn says
How much time do you think it would take for a rosy half this size?
Kristen Chidsey says
Hi Kat! So sorry it took me a day to get back to you–we were traveling yesterday. You can use the guideline for 20 minutes per pound for cooking roast in your pressure cooker. For this particular recipe, I may go more like 25 minutes per pound, as you want the roast to fall apart. Enjoy Kat!
Andrea W. says
This was absolutely fantastic. Thank you for sharing!
I followed the recipe and made in instant pot. There was a ton of liquid, so next time I may try cutting the liquid in half.
Kristen Chidsey says
I am SO glad you enjoyed Andrea! This recipe does make a lot of liquid, but we love the Aus-Jus in GENEROUS amounts. However, with the leftovers–use it to make Instant Pot Beef and Barley Soup–Delicious!