Instant Pot French Dip Sandwiches
Instant Pot French Dip Sandwiches: A cheese-topped shredded beef sandwich that was a huge hit with my family! Plus these are quicker and more flavorful than the slow cooker version.
This French Dip Sandwich Recipe has the bonus of the beef cooked in an Instant Pot, which locks in the flavor as it cooks. Be prepared for lots of compliments at dinner time!
Why You Must Make
- I’ve made those slow-cooker Italian beef sandwiches, and while they’re fine and dandy, these French dip sandwiches trump them by a mile!
- Topped with melted provolone cheese and filled with tender shredded beef, there are no soup packets involved!
- An Instant Pot is a quick, easy tool for taking tougher cuts of beef, like a chuck roast, into a melt-in-your-mouth dinner component. Plus, it locks in all the flavor while the ingredients cook to perfection.
Ingredient Notes
- Kitchen Staples – Kosher Salt, Freshly Ground Black Pepper, Olive Oil
- Chuck Roast – Cut into a few chunks for easier browning. Don’t be tempted to use another cut of beef, chuck will be the most tender and flavorful. You can remove any large pieces of fat before cooking.
- Garlic Powder – Use garlic powder, not garlic salt. If you want to substitute, decrease the kosher salt.
- Yellow Onion– Cut into wedges. A yellow onion is slightly sweeter than a white onion.
- Soy Sauce and Worcestershire Sauce – Both provide umami, a savory sense of taste.
- Bay Leaf, Fresh Rosemary, Fresh Thyme – These herbs add more flavor.
- Hot Dog or Lobster Roll Buns – To serve. A lobster roll bun has a vertical slice making it easy to fill with the meat. A hot dog bun is cut on the horizontal and is a viable option if no lobster roll buns are available.
- Provolone Cheese – A nice melty cheese that pairs beautifully with the beef.
How to Cook Meals Without a Kitchen
If we’re friends on Facebook, you know we’re going through a major remodel. In fact, my computer is perched on a wobbly card table and we can barely find the kitchen essentials to microwave what leftovers I have stashed in the freezer. Here is how I plan to cook for the next 2 months:
- Utilize any and all leftovers in our freezer. We have a microwave oven in the basement to reheat.
- I’ve asked the builders to keep my kitchen oven plugged in. There are no counters, sink, etc. and I need to go through 2 layers of Visqueen and dust to get to said kitchen, but it is there just in case.
- I feed the workmen cookies, bar cookies, and slices of pie to keep them happy!
- I purchased a hot plate and own a slow cooker and Instant Pot. The difficult part is not using too many dishes or utensils as everything has to be washed by hand.
- We order lots and lots of pizza!
- Borrow friends’ kitchens if needed. So many of my friends and neighbors have offered their homes to me. I’m blessed by their kindness.
Have you lived through a kitchen remodel? What are some of your tips for feeding your family while under construction?
How Do You Make A French Dip Sandwich?
- First, cook the beef in a flavorful broth to help tenderize it to make shredding easy.
- Save the flavorful broth/juice to drizzle over the sandwiches. Use a fat separator to remove the liquidized fat that was rendered as the beef cooked.
- Toast your buns if desired.
- Line your bun with the cheese. This provides a barrier so the bun doesn’t get soggy.
- Fill the bun with the delicious hot shredded beef.
- Drizzle with the reserved “au jus” to serve with your Beef Dip Sandwich, if desired.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use a chuck roast which has lots of fat and connective tissue that keeps the meat moist and tender. Using an Instant Pot also contributes to keeping the beef tender.
Start by seasoning then searing the beef, initiating the Maillard reaction which occurs when amino acids and simple sugars react creating the delicious flavor you find in browned foods. Seasoning the beef before cooking is always more effective than after cooking.
Plus, the addition of sauteed onions and herbs adds additional flavor. Also, when cooking the meat in an Instant Pot, none of the flavor is lost due to evaporation since the cooking vessel is airtight.
The cheese provides a barrier to prevent the juices from making the bun soggy.
Au jus is French for “of meat” and is the juice that comes from cooking meat.
More Sandwich Recipes You’ll Love:
- Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sandwiches from Mom on Timeout
- Monte Cristo Sandwich Recipe from She Wears Many Hats
- Plus, this French Dip Crescent Ring looks terrific, too!
- Ciabatta Cubano Sandwich
- Brie, Jam and Salami Sandwich
- Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs
- Brie, Jam and Salami Sandwich
- More of my Best Beef Recipes
Do you own an Instant Pot? Let me know your favorite recipe in the comments. I’d love to try some of your recommendations!
Instant Pot French Dip Sandwiches
A quicker version of the classic shredded beef sandwich with loads of flavor
Ingredients
- 3-pound chuck roast, cut in a few chunks for easier browning
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Garlic powder
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, cut into wedges
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 cups beef or beef bone broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 8 hot dog or lobster roll buns
- 16 slices Provolone cheese
Instructions
- Season chuck roast pieces with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Set aside.
- Turn on the Instant Pot and set it to saute. Add a tablespoon of olive oil, then the chuck roast pieces.
- Let brown on one side, then flip the pieces and sear the other sides. Remove the beef to a platter in order to cook the onions. Add the onions (if you need more oil, add it first), stir, and cook until they are brown and soft.
- Turn the IP off and add the soy sauce and Worcestershire, scraping the bottom to loosen any browned bits. Add the browned beef, broth, and herbs. Put the lid on, seal, and cook on manual on high for 60 minutes.
- When done cooking, allow the pressure to release automatically. When the pressure has been released, remove the roast and shred it when cool enough to handle, discarding any excess fat.
- Pour any juices into a fat separator, let the fat rise to the top, and pour over defatted juices. Rewarm at serving time. When ready to eat, rewarm the meat and toast the buns under the broiler, watching carefully for just a minute or two.
- Add two slices of cheese to the bun, then the meat. Pass juice to pour over meat if desired.
Notes
Adapted from a number of slow cooker French dip sandwich recipes.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1210Total Fat: 83gSaturated Fat: 36gTrans Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 40gCholesterol: 330mgSodium: 1852mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 101g
Thatskinnychickcanbake.com occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although thatskinnychickcanbake.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased can change the nutritional information in any given recipe. Also, many recipes on thatskinnychickcanbake.com recommend toppings, which may or may not be listed as optional and nutritional information for these added toppings is not listed. Other factors may change the nutritional information such as when the salt amount is listed “to taste,” it is not calculated into the recipe as the amount will vary. Also, different online calculators can provide different results. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information obtained is accurate.
16 Comments on “Instant Pot French Dip Sandwiches”
Why oh why have I never had a French Dip Sandwich! No doubt that I am going to love this one. I might even save some for my family 🙂
We love meaty sandwiches and the French Dip is a personal favorite. I may have to finally plug in my “never-used” instant pot and give this a try! These sandwiches look fantastic 🙂
I’ve been drooling over the pics of this French Dip sandwich on FB all day Liz!!! They look great. My tips for kitchen construction remodel – don’t do it in the dead of winter like we did – tough to grill out when the grill has two feet of snow on it, lol. Lots of paper plates to minimize dishwashing. Crockpot and instapot are perfect! Good luck, I hope you get your beautiful kitchen soon. xo
I’m coming back to rate this scrumptious recipe! I wish it I could give it 10 Stars!
In my search to find fabulous new recipes to try in my Instant Pot, I stumbled upon this mouthwatering recipe. I loved that it was easy to make and was so juicy and delicious! My kitchen was filled with a beautiful aroma. Mmmm….I can hardly wait to make these yummy French Dip Sandwiches again!
I am definitely breaking out my Instant Pot for this! It looks so juicy and delicious!
These would be devoured in no time at my house!! I don’t have an instant pot yet! That needs to change!!
My whole family LOVE French dip sandwiches! I love these, using the instant pot makes them perfect for mid-week and those soft glistening rolls…yum!!!
When we were re-doing our kitchen, I washed up in the bathtub 😉
plus had lots of BBQ’s where we could justify using paper plates!
I’ve made them many times and it’s certainly a classic here in Chicago area, but have never eaten nor made French Dip with a chuck roast. Sounds good to me, I love a good chuck roast!
I’ve been through the kitchen thing and sympathize, I will MOVE before doing a major remodeling again! Thanks for the recipe, Liz!
I don’t know how you are surviving so long without a kitchen, even with the current setup lol. I have never had this sandwich, looks really good. more cheese please.
I have not make any bigger renovations of my kitchen so far so will not be able tp give you any good advice.
The sandwich looks amazing!
Now that is a sandwich that I know my husband would enjoy. Oh I do know what you are going through and I’ve lived through several major kitchen redos over the years. During the last one, I cooked most of our meals on our outdoor grill. I set up sawhorses in my guest shower, put a piece of the old counter top on top of it. It became my mimi kitchen counter. I’d carefully washed my dishes in the sink and let them drain dry. Good luck and I know you will be happy when you have a beautiful new kitchen.
I’ve never actually made French Dip sandwiches! I gotta do that, and your recipe looks perfect. Kitchen remodels are the worst. We did a pretty minor remodel in a house years ago, and even though our kitchen was out of commission for maybe a week, it really disrupted our lives. I don’t have one and have never cooked with them, but you might want to think about buying a portable conduction cooking element (like a hot plate). You can get them for not-so-much, and they can boil water very quickly from what I’ve heard. You do need specific cookware to make it work, but I’ll bet you have some of that already. Anyway, good recipe — thanks.
This is sure winner in my house and my mouth is already watering for one!
A nice hearty sandwich! Kinda has me craving one now:@)
The sandwich looks so inviting with those tender beef 🙂