Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Sandwiches

Juicy Slow Cooker Shredded Beef is our family’s newest dinnertime obsession. Use this pulled beef to make Shredded Beef Sandwiches, or store leftovers in the fridge or freezer for easy meal prep.

If you love easy crock pot recipes like Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken, you’ll love this meltingly tender, flavorful shredded beef. Serve it in hoagie rolls with the au jus dipping sauce for a crowd-pleasing, French Dip Sandwich-inspired sandwich.

A hand dipping a shredded beef sandwich into a ramekin of beef drippings.

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Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Sandwiches

This slow cooker shredded beef was a happy accident. We had a tri-tip roast in the fridge and my husband had the inspiration to rub some Montreal steak seasoning over it and place it into the crock pot, along with a few other simple ingredients.

Fast forward 8 hours, and we opened the lid to the juiciest, most flavorful slow-cooked beef roast. After shredding the beef, we loaded it between hoagie rolls with caramelized onions, mushrooms, and melty mozzarella to serve dipped au jus. Needless to say, these shredded beef sandwiches were an instant hit with the whole family. If you’re a fan of mouthwatering, cheesy, beefy sandwiches like our Philly Cheesesteak, then I’m certain these shredded beef sandwiches will be your new go-to favorite.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

What makes this tri-tip recipe a must-try? Let me count the ways…

Easy to Prepare – With a bit of trimming and prepping, have your roast beef ready for the crock pot in minutes. Aside from some eventual shredding, it’s mostly hands-free.
Great for Sandwiches – Slow-cooked, shredded beef is amazing in a hoagie roll with melted mozzarella cheese, caramelized onions, and sautéed mushrooms. It’s truly a winning beef sandwich that’s also family-friendly.
Ideal for Meal Prep – This recipe makes a generous batch of tender, shredded beef, and it’s perfect to portion out and keep refrigerated for healthy meal prepping.

Tongs in a slow cooker with shredded beef

Ingredients

You only need a handful of ingredients to make extra-juicy slow cooker shredded beef. Below is a short overview, with the full details available in the recipe card below the post.

Beef – We use a tri-tip roast for this recipe. This is a triangular-shaped sirloin cut (where the name “tri” comes from). It’s tempting to use chuck roast because it’s less expensive, but I highly recommend tri-tip. Tri-tip is less fatty, tenderizes faster, and shreds easier.
Seasoning – Montreal steak spice adds wonderful flavor to a beef roast. It’s one of our favorite seasonings for beef and is available in most US grocery stores. Onion powder, garlic powder, and dried rosemary bring even more flavor to the beef and marinade.
Oil – Use a high-heat oil to get a nice golden sear on the beef.
Beef Broth – We like to use low-sodium beef broth, but you can substitute chicken stock.
Worcestershire Sauce – Adds depth and richness and brings out the natural umami flavors of beef.

The ingredients for slow cooker shredded beef.

Pro Tip: If you can’t find Montreal steak seasoning where you are you can get it online, or use regular all-purpose steak spice or carne asada seasoning instead. A rub with coarse black pepper will also do in a pinch.

How to Trim a Tri-Tip Roast

Before cooking your tri-tip, we recommend trimming off the layer of fat that sometimes covers one or both sides of the roast. If you’ve purchased trimmed tri-tip, you can skip this part as the fat is already removed. Otherwise, use a sharp knife to carefully cut the fat away from the rest of the meat. Fat is nice to have when oven-roasting, but not so great for slow cooking.

Side-by-side photos showing how to trim the fat from a tri-tip roast and season the beef.

How to Make Shredded Beef in a Crockpot

Shredded beef is great for making French dip-style sandwiches, and it’s just as good for meal prep. Here’s how to make extra juicy slow cooker shredded beef:

Season and Sear the Beef – Give the roast a generous seasoning with Montreal steak spice. Use your hands to rub it all over and pat it on the meat. Next, sear the beef in a hot skillet with a bit of oil, about 2-3 minutes per side.
Add to the Slow Cooker – Add the broth to the slow cooker along with Worcestershire, onion powder, garlic powder, and rosemary. Place the meat into the marinade, turning it over a couple of times to make sure it’s nice and coated.
Cook – Cover and cook on low for about 7-8 hours.
Shred – When the beef is tender enough to pull apart, take it out of the slow cooker and use two forks to shred it.
Strain the Au Jus – Use a sieve to strain the pan juices. Discard any solids then spoon off the excess oil from the pan juices.
Combine – Put the beef back into the slow cooker and add about half of the leftover juices. The remaining juice makes a delicious au jus for dipping!

Photo collage showing the process for cooking shredded beef in the slow cooker.

Pro Tip: Before returning the shredded beef to your slow cooker, I recommend straining the liquid left in the pot through a sieve and spooning out any excess fat. Your beef will be cleaner, and the juice will also be better for dipping.

Common Questions

Can I use a chuck roast instead?

When I tested this recipe using chuck roast, I ended up throwing away a fair amount of fatty meat, which felt like a waste. If you absolutely must use chuck roast, add an extra hour to the cooking time as the beef takes longer to become tender.

Is it necessary to brown the beef before slow cooking?

It’s not 100% necessary to sear the beef first, however, it does enrich the flavor and also speeds up the cooking time in the crock pot.

Can I double the recipe?

You can double it if you have 2 separate slow cookers and can cook it in 2 different batches, otherwise, it may overload a single slow cooker and it won’t cook through properly.

What if I don’t have a slow cooker?

You can use the slow cooker function on your Instant Pot (most of them have this function nowadays),

Tongs stuck into shredded beef inside the slow cooker.

How To Make Shredded Beef Sandwiches

We serve our shredded beef with hoagie rolls or hamburger buns to make easy beef sandwiches to dip au jus. The kids love it and it’s quickly become one of our family’s favorite weeknight meals. Here’s how to make your own shredded beef sandwiches:

Toast the hoagie roll with a bit of butter.
Pile on the beef, add mushrooms and/or onions (if using), followed by slices of mozzarella.
Broil the cheese until melted.
Dip – Pour the leftover pan juices into ramekins and use them for dipping the sandwiches.

Photo collage showing how to assemble a shredded beef sandwich on a hoagie roll.

More Ways to Serve

Alone or in a sandwich, this slow cooker shredded beef is a seriously tasty, no-fuss meal. Try these other easy serving suggestions:

Additional Toppings – Fill your shredded beef sandwich with pepperoncini, sauteed bell peppers, jalapeños, Refrigerator Pickles, or Coleslaw.
With Fries – Serve with a side of Air Fryer French Fries or Sweet Potato Fries.
With Salad – Pair your slow cooker beef or sandwiches with a Macaroni Salad or Easy Garden Salad.
As a Main Course – Turn your shredded beef into easy meal prep and portion it over White Rice with Roasted Vegetables.

Make-Ahead

Shredded beef leftovers reheat really well (and don’t taste like leftovers), which makes this recipe perfect for meal planning.

To refrigerate: Store your leftover beef airtight in the fridge either all together or in portions for up to 3-4 days.
Reheating: Warm shredded beef in the microwave or in the oven until heated through. If you find that your beef is a bit dry on the reheat, add a bit of water or beef broth to help loosen it up.
To Freeze: Store the cooled shredded beef airtight in containers or freezer bags (preferably vacuum-sealed) and keep it frozen for up to 6 months.

A shredded beef sandwich in a hoagie roll served on white plate next to au jus for dipping.

A soft hoagie roll piled high with mouthwatering slow cooker shredded beef – what’s not to love? My kids are always so happy when I make these shredded beef sandwiches and it’s a recipe you won’t want to miss.

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Natasha Kravchuk

Welcome to my kitchen! I am Natasha, the blogger behind Natasha's Kitchen (since 2009). My husband and I run this blog together and share only our best, family approved and tested recipes with YOU. Thanks for stopping by! We are so happy you're here.