Crock Pot Beef On Weck Recipe

Pop quiz time! What takes all of five minutes to prep, three hours to cook, and makes a perfect lunch or dinner for up to six hungry folks? Crock Pot beef on weck sandwiches! If your next question — despite how you aced that quiz — is what a "beef on weck" sandwich is, then that's perfectly understandable. It's also easy to answer.

Chef, recipe developer, and private practice registered dietician Kristen Carli of Camelback Nutrition & Wellness says, "The name refers to the weck rolls that it is served on." And as it happens, this is a classic sandwich on which Carli has put a modern, tasty twist. "I created an easy hack to make weck rolls starting with already baked kaiser rolls and topping [them] with caraway seeds and salt to create weck rolls," she notes. 

In order to enjoy a traditional beef on weck, you'd typically have to head to your local diner or deli. Now, though, you can make one yourself in your own kitchen, and with minimal work, too. "Like most slow cooker meals, this is an easy way to get dinner on the table for busy weeknights," says Carli. And hey — if you start cooking in the morning, why not have one for lunch?

In order to prepare a batch of these delightful sandwiches that will be well worth the three-hour wait (and very quick prep), you'll need a 2-pound top round beef (or rump roast), about 2 cups of beef broth, 12 ounces of dark beer (a porter or a stout, or a nonalcoholic beer works fine), a packet of onion soup mix, six kaiser rolls, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds, ½ teaspoon of salt, and plenty of horseradish for serving — the more, the spicier (and better).

The majority of this recipe consists of waiting for the beef to cook, which gives you time to tend to other things on your to-do list. You'll kick the cooking process off by placing the beef into the slow cooker, leaving it bound in string if it's tied, and then pour over it the beef broth, the bottle or can of beer, and the packet of onion soup mix. Make sure the soup mix gets mixed into the liquid well.

Next, cover the slow cooker with its lid, and then set it to the low temperature option. Cook the beef on low for three hours. In the meantime, you can check off things on your to-do list, or simply kick back and relax. Just be sure to check back in a bit before the time is up to address the other steps.

When there is only a little time left for the slow cooking part of the recipe, go ahead and preheat your oven to 350 F. Next, brush the top of each kaiser roll with olive oil, then sprinkle salt and caraway seeds on top of the coated bread. You'll then bake the rolls in the warmed oven for five minutes.

Meanwhile, remove the beef from the slow cooker, and slice it thinly, discarding the twine. Be sure to reserve plenty of the liquid (which can now be called the au jus) for dipping the sandwiches into as you enjoy!

You're now at the last step before the best step, which is eating! Spread the horseradish as generously as you want on the inside of the top bun, then add layers of beef to the bottom bun. Close the sandwich, dip it in the au jus, and enjoy.

To round out the meal, Carli says, "I love serving this with a big fresh simple green salad." And on the off chance you have leftovers, she adds, "The meat stores best in the fridge in an airtight container for up to three days." You can disassemble a sandwich to save the meat, or better yet, make them as they are ready to be enjoyed.