French Dip Sliders with tender pastrami beef, melty provolone, and caramelized onion on a soft toasted sweet roll. Like our Cheeseburger sliders, these sliders are a fun and easy way to feed a crowd. These come together quickly and you’ll love the easy au jus dipping sauce.
We love warm homemade sandwiches, from juicy Smashburgers to crispy Chicken Sandwiches and gooey Grilled Cheese. As a child, I never liked cold sandwiches, but give me all the warm ones because they remind me of restaurant sandwiches.
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These French Dip Sliders are very satisfying and leftovers reheat well. You can also scale down the recipe easily for a smaller batch- sometimes the buns come in packs of 12 and that’s ok. My son loves these as an afterschool power snack.
French Dip Sliders Video Tutorial
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What are Sliders?
We translate our videos into many different languages and the word slider translates in the funniest ways. In Ukrainian, it translates to ‘povsoonky’ or a baby’s onesie. Actually, sliders are simply small-sized burgers or warm sandwiches made with a soft bun.
Ingredients for French Dip Sliders
- Beef – deli-sliced pastrami (what we used here), thinly sliced roast beef or even corned beef would work great for these.
- Cheese – we used a mild provolone. Avoid aged provolone since it adds weird flavors unless you like that sort of thing. You can also substitute with sliced mozzarella which melts beautifully.
- Buns – we used Hawaiian sweet rolls. I purchased the larger 16 count packs at Costco, but you can use the 12-count packs and put them side-by-side or scale down the recipe.
- Mayonnaise – adds moisture to the buns so they don’t get dry.
- Butter – adds moisture and flavor to the buns.
- Sesame Seeds – make the buns look cuter. You can skip them if you don’t have them on hand.
- Onion – yellow onion works well here. Use 1 large onion or 2 smaller ones. We add a sprinkle of sugar to caramelize onions faster. Keep in mind the onion shrinks up as it caramelizes.
- Au Jus Seasoning – this is a store-bought seasoning mix but you can also make your own (see note below).
How to Make Pastrami Sliders
- Saute onions – Heat olive oil and butter over medium/high heat. Add onions and saute 5 mintues. Sprinkle with 1/4 tsp sugar and saute another 5 minutes to caramelize. Transfer to a plate.
- Cut Buns – use a serrated knife to slice buns in half, cutting all the way through the layer to make top buns and bottom buns.
- Add toppings– spread mayo over the bottom buns then top with layers of pastrami and spread onions over the top. Add sliced provolone.
- Add top buns – place the top buns over the cheese and brush the top generously with melted butter. Immediately sprinkle with sesame seeds or layer pastrami in ribbons over the bottom buns and bake uncovered.
- Make sauce – in the same skillet that onions were cooked, add water to deglaze the pan and make the au jus according to the package instructions (add the mix to taste since it can get salty).
Pro Tip: If you don’t have sesame seeds on hand, you can also use Everything Bagel seasoning to sprinkle the tops before baking.
The best sauce for French Dip Sandwiches
Ideally, if you made roast beef, prime rib, or a pot roast yourself, you can use the pan drippings to create a lovely au jus dipping sauce. Since we’re using store-bought deli meat (a quick and easy substitute), we used a store-bought au jus seasoning mix. Au jus mix is pretty salty when made to the packet instructions so add the seasoning or water to taste.
You can also reduce down beef broth and create your own in the onion pan as we did with our Classic French Dip Sandwich Recipe.
Serve with
Sliders are unique in that they can be served as an appetizer (think Game Day!) or the main course. We love it as a main course paired with:
French Dip Sliders are great as an easy dinner or a party appetizer. These disappear fast and that cheese pull is irresistible.
Easy French Dip Sliders Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 large or 2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 1 oz au jus mix, made according to package instructions
- 3 cups water, to make the sauce, or to taste
- 16 Hawaiian sweet rolls
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 lb deli pastrami or roast beef, thinly sliced
- 9 slices mild provolone cheese, not aged
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted, plus more to grease baking sheet
- 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Butter a rimmed baking sheet.
- Place a large skillet over medium/high heat with 1 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp butter. Add sliced onion and Sauté over medium heat for 5 minutes until softened, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with 1/4 tsp sugar and sautee uncovered 5 minutes until caramelized and golden, stirring often. Transfer to a plate.
- In the same pan, add 2 1/2 cups water and scrape the pan to deglaze. Add the au jus seasoning (adding to taste*) then bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer according to package instructions. Add more water to taste if it’s too salty.
- Cut buns in half. Place the bottom half of dinner rolls on a buttered baking sheet and spread 1/4 cup mayo. Layer folded slices of beef evenly over the rolls. Spread caramelized onions over your sliders. Cover the beef with sliced provolone.
- Place the top of buns over and brush the tops with 2 Tbsp melted butter then immediately sprinkle tops with sesame seeds. Bake uncovered at 350˚F for 12-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and tops are golden brown.
- Cut through the buns with a serrated knife to separate into individual sliders. Serve with warm au jus dip.
Natasha!! Thank you so much for this recipe!! It’s wonderful! All the flavors are there!! We enjoyed it so much!! Your amazing!! 💜
You are so very welcome!
Natasha, these were amazing. I made them last night for dinner and they were so good. Everything works so well together and for something relatively simple the depth of flavor is far more than the sum of its parts. Great recipe and thank you for sharing!
You’re so welcome, Austin! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Hi!Natasha.
I have a question. Instead of mayonnaise, can I use something else? Because my husband doesn’t like mayonnaise.
I haven’t any substitutions for mayo but let’s see if others can share their experience here.
So delicious and so easy!!! Everyone was pleased with this dish. I didn’t even use the sauce for dip and it was still so good
Sounds good, but recipes for these huge servings are impossible to cut down for 2 servings.
Thank you for your feedback, Florence. I recommend clicking “Jump to recipe” at the top of the post, it will take you to our printable recipe where you’ll have the option to change the number of servings. Hover over the number of servings highlighted in red and slide it to how many servings you would like to make. I hope that helps!
You can purchase Hawaiian rolls in pkg. of four. Cut rest of ingredients in half. Easy easy😋
This is such an underrated recipe. I made these for the family for Sunday lunch after church and they were such a hit. And it was so easy to throw together which I certainly appreciate in a time crunch.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Jane! I’m glad to hear it was a hit with the family!
Made these tonight and they were so delicious, my husband loved them especially the carmelized onions. Told my son I would be making a tray of them for his next party. The best part was they are so easy to make.
So glad to hear that! Thank you for the wonderful feedback.
Tried this for the first time tonight and it was amazing. I varied the instructions a little, though, by putting the top and bottom roll pieces cut side up under the broiler to toast it before building the sliders. That gave the sliders a little more crunch. And I added peppers 🙂
Thank you for sharing that with us! 🙂
These are fantastic!!! I made them for football Sunday and they were a huge hit! I used roast beef.
Thanks for the great feedback and review, Mary!
Hi. I found Sharky in your oven mit.
So glad I found your site. I love your videos and especially I love the recipes. Keep up the good job.
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoy my recipes. 🙂
Just WOW!!! I made these for my family tonight using London broil instead of pastrami (bc that’s what my deli had) and my very picky eater family DEVOURED them! So delicious!
Love it! Thank you for sharing, it’s always inspiring to see great feedback about my recipes.
Hey Natasha, can you assemble these ahead of time and refrigerate for a few hours and then bake?
Hi Jan. That should be fine. I would wait and brush them with butter and sesame seeds prior to baking. Also, these reheat great!
I did this sandwich on regular sub rolls. My husband is diabetic, so Hawaiian bread is not on the menu. They were excellent! A mother great recipe!
I’m so glad it all worked out, Amy! That’s so great!
Easy and super tasting recipe. I love your smile and your new kitchen 🙂
You’re so nice! Thank you, Ted!
I love your recipes & videos Natasha but some of your American ingredients are new to me (I’m in uk) What is ‘au jus mix’? I’m assuming it some sort of powdered flavouring. 👩🍳
Hi Clara, Au Jus is a French cooking term that means “with juice.” It refers to a light gravy made using fat drippings from meat like beef.
I’m a huge fan and have made so many of your recipes (lasagna is my favorite so far). Can these leftover French dips be frozen? I have London broil to use up before we go on vacation in 2 days and I know we can’t eat it all. Hoping the freezer is a saver.
Hi Mimi, I haven’t tried freezing them to advise. You may refrigerate them a day ahead and reheat but I have never tried freezing them.