Instant Pot French Dip:
Tender beef bursting with flavor, and layered with cheese. These easy french dip sandwiches made in the Instant Pot pressure cooker for a quick and flavorful meal.
Serve with air fryer sweet potato fries, or oven baked steak fries, for a fun meal.
Instant Pot French Dip
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If you want fall apart tender, flavorful, and oh so juicy french dip, then look no further. Cooking your roast in the instant pot to make an amazing French Dip is like what the pressure cooker was made to do. It is living its best life when a chuck roast is inserted in it. Trust me on this one.
Since the Instant Pot is designed to be such a multifunctional pot, it is perfect for making something like a french dip because you can sear your roast, then cook it all in the same pan! Amazing. And it only takes about 2 hours start to finish to get a totally tender, absolutely amazing french dip meat! It takes me 8-10 hours in the slow cooker, so while you can totally make this in the slow cooker, trust me, it is sooooo awesome in the instant pot.
If you do not have an Instant Pot, get one here: Amazon!
How do you make French Dip Sauce?
- Ok, I have to tell you, that making your own au jus is absolutely key to a delicious french dip sandwich. You could in theory use a packet. But one of the best parts of this Instant Pot recipe is the same stuff that flavors the meat makes for an awesome french dip sauce.
- The broth and seasonings you cook the meat in is going to double as your au jus. Once you finish cooking the roast, you have to strain it to make your dipping sauce.
What kind of meat do you use in a French Dip?
- Typically when cooking a french dip, you use a chuck roast.
- You want a chuck roast that is well marbled. The marbling makes it juicier and keeps it moist.
- The drawback to a well marbled chuck roast is you will want to trim all the fat off when you shred it so that you do not end up with a mouthful of fat.
- And take a look at it, doesn’t it just look so juicy and delicious? Well that is because it is.
What kind of cheese do you use in a French Dip?
- The best kind of cheese for a french dip is Provolone. But one thing I have found when it comes to cooking is that the best meals are the ones that use your favorite ingredients. If you want cheddar, use cheddar. If you want swiss, use swiss. Use what you want!
Instant Pot French Dip Tips
- Make sure you spread some olive oil over the bottom of the pot before searing the roast.
- Deglaze the bottom of the pot. If you do not cook with any wine, use some beef stock. If you don’t, the instant pot will have trouble pressurizing because it will read as burning.
- To get the most amazingly tender meat, you want to make sure to let it cook for the full 100 minutes, and to naturally depressurize for 30.
- When moving the valve to “steaming”, even after you let it naturally depressurize, it might still spit a little, so put a rag over the valve so you don’t get burned.
- When everything is done, and you assemble your sandwich, it is helpful to rub butter on the buns and toast them a little.
- Garnish! A little fresh parsley lightens things up a little, and makes everything even better.
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Instant Pot French Dip
Instant Pot French Dip: Decadent and flavorful french dip sandwiches made in the Instant Pot pressure cooker for a quick and flavorful meal.
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Servings: 6
Calories: 706kcal
Ingredients
- 2.5 pound Chuck Roast
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
Au Jus Sauce
- 1/4 cup red wine optional
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
- 2 Tbs brown sugar
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 Tbs dry minced onions
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp minced garlic
The Rest
- 1 onion sliced
- 6 soft rolls
- 1 tbs butter melted
- 6 slices provolone cheese
- Parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Take salt, pepper, and garlic powder and mix together in a small bowl, then cover the exterior of the chuck roast with the seasonings. Let sit to come to room temp, about 10-15 minutes.
- Put olive oil into Instant Pot pot, and turn pot to Saute.
- Using kitchen tongs, sear the roast on all sides in the pot, once all sides are seared, remove from pot and add onions in, keeping it on saute.
- Saute for 2-3 minutes until the onions become fragrant and start to soften.
- Add red wine to pot, and let it come to a simmer, use it to deglaze the pan, by scraping the brown bits off the bottom with a wooden spoon. If you don’t cook with wine, you can use beef stock in its place.
- Once you have scraped the brown bits off, add in the remaining sauce ingredients (soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, beef broth, minced onions, dried oregano, dried thyme, bay leaf, and minced garlic).
- Return the chuck roast to the pot, and close the lid, make sure the pressure valve is set to “sealing”.
- Hit the meat/stew button, and set time for 100 minutes. Let cook.
- When pot is done, let it naturally depressurize for half an hour, then turn to “venting” to release any excess pressure.
- Remove roast from pot, and shred or slice.
- Strain liquid to make au jus for dipping.
- Turn oven to broil, and, cut rolls, and brush inside with melted butter, broil for 2-3 minutes to toast them, lightly browned.
- Layer with meat and provolone cheese
- Return to broiler, and broil until cheese starts to melt (another 2-3 minutes)
- Serve with a side of au jus, and garnish with fresh parsley if desired.
Notes
100 minutes is not a typo, the roast could however be tender at a lesser time, but I have found this to be a fool-proof time for cooking so that no matter how marbled your roast is (or isn't) or how tough the cut ends up being, you get fall apart tender.
Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan after you add the wine or broth to deglaze it so the pot does not read "burn"
I used an Instant Pot -Lux that is 6 Quart size to make this recipe.
Total cook time reflects the few minutes it takes to come to pressure as well as time for assembling sandwiches. It may be off by a few minutes.
Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan after you add the wine or broth to deglaze it so the pot does not read "burn"
I used an Instant Pot -Lux that is 6 Quart size to make this recipe.
Total cook time reflects the few minutes it takes to come to pressure as well as time for assembling sandwiches. It may be off by a few minutes.
Nutrition
Calories: 706kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 51g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 154mg | Sodium: 2171mg | Potassium: 848mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 330IU | Vitamin C: 3.5mg | Calcium: 275mg | Iron: 15.7mg
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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Briana says
How long do you think I should cook a 1.5 pound roast?
Rachael says
I would start with 60-65 minutes. If it isn’t fork tender at that point, add more.
chicook13 says
Thanks for a great recipe — we absolutely LOVED these! I think my boyfriend’s comment while eating sums up this recipe: “I will never order this in a restaurant again. THIS is what a sandwich should taste like!”
I did cook for only 75 minutes (thinking I could add more if necessary but it was perfect!) with the full 30 minute NPR. I can’t remember the last time I was so impatient to open my Instant Pot!
I made fresh bread (I used a quick French bread recipe), sliced it, broiled in my toaster oven, added provolone and put it under the broiler another minute, added meat, another minute under the broiler. The result was that perfect crunch when you first bite, soft inside and then the meat and cheese!
And the au jus!!!! My boyfriend said that was the part that just added that little extra to take an already outstanding sandwich over the top. In restaurants he says he usually dips a time or two, then just skips that step.
chicook13 says
Forgot to add that I didn’t use red wine – I just did a little more beef broth. Also I used about half soy sauce, half fish sauce. I added the recommended seasonings but also sprinkled a little Penzey’s “Beef Roast” spice. All around, a fabulous meal that we will absolutely put in the regular rotation. I made some french fries in the air fryer and I think my boyfriend regretted wasting precious stomach space on fries!
Holly says
Do u guys put the meat right on the bottle or use the rack ?
Rachael says
Right on the bottom but add your liquid and deglaze so you don’t get a burn reading.
Holly says
Lol I mean bottom not bottle
Lainie says
Sooo happy I tried this recipe tonight! My entire family- husband and 3 kiddos under 5 gobbled it all up. We’re talking my husband had 2 servings and he literally NEVER eats my food hahaha.
I followed the recipe mostly, but wanted a more flavorful au jus, so I added some mustard seed powder to marinade the roast. I also put in 1 10oz can of beef consume, 1 10oz can of French onion soup instead of the beef broth and 2/3 cups of red wine (because seriously, who doesn’t love the taste right?).
The roast came out perfect! Fall apart perfect! So now i’m happily going to add this to my recipe book.
Thank you!
Rachael says
Love the changes you made. I am so glad to hear your family loved it and especially your husband. Thanks for taking time to comment.
Karen says
Would a 6qt instant pot fit larger than 2.5 lb chuck roast?
JT says
Yes. I had a 4.5lb roast in mine. By the time I shredded and removed the fat, it was about 5 servings for us (one mom and 3 boys!). I am gluten free and had mine in a bowl without bread. I might have eaten more than an average serving. I left the cooking time the same and it was fine.
Very good!
Rachael says
Thanks for that. I am happy to see you liked it.
susan says
Simply AMAZING!! I did use the wine. the roast just shredded apart the YUMMM!!!! will be a definite GO TO! would totally make it for a casual supper or lunch for guests
Susan in Canada
The sandwich guy says
This is NOT a french dip recipe. This makes a POT ROAST. A dry, crumbly meat, that is relatively flavorless. I used a larger ROAST, and a shorter time, and it was still overcooked. As a guy who has had probably 300 French dips, this is the worst. Anyone that rated this as a great French dip needs to learn what one really is. Back to slow roasting in the oven for me!
Rachael says
I am sorry to hear you did not like it. We love this recipe. As do many others.
Dikdark says
I believe the idea behind this is to avoid the time it takes to cook the beef the old fashioned way. Personally, if it wasn’t cold as Siberia here, I would smoke the beef for several hours before foiling and finishing with the usual liquid and root veggies but this was definitely the way to go without freezing my knickers off. Cheers to Rachel for keeping my knickers at room temp and providing a great alternative.
Donna says
I have a 6lb roast cut up into about 5 pieces, would it still cook for 100 minutes? I’m using my 8qt. Also, could I make this a few hours before needed then just reheat? Thank you
Rachael says
You could start with 70 minutes, and decide if you need to add more. I have found 100 works well for almost any size roast, simply because by then all the connective tissue has broken down and it is fork tender.
Karen says
Yum, this recipe was outstanding. My 25 year old son, who tends to be a bit picky, raved about this (as did my husband). Thanks for much for a terrific recipe. I followed your recipe exactly (except to cut back a wee bit on the thyme).
Heather Ridenour says
The whole family loves this! I’ve made it several times. A new family fav
Bobbi says
This is so delicious! I have made it a few times now exactly as written. No need to change a thing!
Scott says
100 minutes on High, Med, or Low??
Rachael says
The default is high, it works great on High or Medium.
Jo says
If I wanted to use the slow cook function on the instant pot, how many minutes should I set it for ?
Rachael says
I do not know. Sorry! If you try it please let me know how it goes.
Kate says
Made this the other night with about 2 lbs of a chuck roast I needed to use up. IT WAS FANTASTIC! I even ate the leftover au jus as french onion soup for lunch the next day. My husband and I loved it so much that I’m making it again today. This time I’m serving it on long french baguettes, sliced into appetizer portions for a family get-together. Thanks!