French Dip Sandwiches made in the crockpot with only a handful of real food ingredients! Slow cooker meals don’t get more simple & delicious than this!
Don’t judge me. I burnt my buns.
That makes for three times running that I went to make French Dip Sandwiches to share with you and burnt my buns. But since these are the least burnt, I’m going for it anyway. My only consolation is the Dip in these little guys makes up for all the burniness (no spell checker, not “burliness”- I said “burniness” and I meant it. I’ve been a mom to toddlers for almost two decades and we can make up words if we want to! I blame Dr. Suess.)
Hopefully, you’ll love and appreciate these sandwiches not so much for what they do have (flakey, crisped up edges) as for what they don’t have. And that would be chemical nasties such as MSG, hydrolyzed soy this, & yeast extract that, and wheat gluten the other thing. Among other unrecognizable ingredients (As found in here.)
Au contraire. The beef (homegrown & grass-fed goodness in this case) is slow cooked in homemade beef stock, caramelized onions, & sea salt.
And. that’s. it!!
And it tastes just as good as the Big Dippers I used to make with canned onion soup!
You could throw a can of beer in there if you were feeling so inclined. Well, not so much the can, but rather the contents contained therein. I typically don’t simply because I lack the menu-planning forethought to purchase it and it isn’t something we stock.
Tonight we had Batter Dipped Asparagus alongside our charred beefy, cheesy buns. Those were supposed to be dipped in a beer batter too, but the aforementioned planning & stocking problem interfered so I used water instead. It worked just fine but probably could have used a little more salt to compensate. (The aioli for dipping the spears was really good too.)
You know what made this meal really exciting for us though? It was either homegrown, homemade, or home ground, & local! Letmetellyou, there is something truly satisfying about challenging yourself to eat locally more often and actually being able to do it!
Especially with all the home production that was able to go into the meal!
Plus there is little more precious than hearing your babes thank the good Lord for all the ingredients we had a hand in putting together! Melts my heart like swiss cheese on a pile of shredded beef!
Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
Print Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
French Dip sandwiches made in the crockpot with only a handful of real food ingredients! Slow cooker meals don’t get more simple & delicious than this!
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. roast beef
- 4 cups (1 quart) beef stock
- 2 cups (1 pint) caramelized onions
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- swiss cheese
- buns
Instructions
- Place the roast in a crock pot.
- Add the stock & onions, scattering some onions in the stock and some on top of the beef.
- Sprinkle all over with the salt.
- Cover & cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.
- Split the buns & butter both the insides & outsides.
- Broil both sides on high until crusty. (But not burnt!)
- Remove the beef from the slow cooker (Reserve the juice!) and shred with two forks.
- Top the bun with the shredded beef and a slice of swiss cheese.
- Put the open buns back in the oven and broil until the cheese is melted. Remove & top with the other half of the bun.
- Strain the onions from the juices into a dipping bowl.
- Dip your crusty sandwich in the salty, beefy juice & enjoy!
Enjoy!
Sounds like you need to start brewing your own beer also. 🙂 Living in PA buying beer is always a problem. Instead of just going to the grocery store and picking up a six pack, I have to make a separate stop at the beer store and buy a case of beer. It drives me nuts! These look fantastic and can’t wait to make some when I can get some good beef.
This post came at the perfect time! My boyfriend has been asking for french dip sandwiches for the last month, but I haven’t been able to find the ‘right’ recipe. Thank you for this!
These are a definite man-pleaser! Hope he likes them Caitlin 🙂
What do you do with the onions after you strain the stock?
Fabulous! Alternately, try using only 2 cups of beef stock, then, add a can of condensed, french onion soup and a bottle of your favorite ale. It’s unreal!