Best Italian Beef Sandwich Recipe

The Windy City is famous for a lot of things (like deep-dish pizza, Garrett’s popcorn, and World’s Fairs), but when it comes to city-specific, iconic sandwiches, nothing holds a candle to Chicago’s Italian beef. This meaty, juicy, gut-busting sandwich is a Chicago delicacy that's thought to have been created by Italian immigrants during the Depression as a way to make tough and inexpensive cuts of meat more palatable. A classic Italian beef sandwich is made by piling thinly sliced, au jus-dunked roast beef onto a French roll and topping it with roasted sweet peppers or spicy giardiniera. Based on the sandwich-eater’s preference, the sandwich is then dipped or fully submerged into the au jus it was cooked in before being wrapped deli-style to let the juices soak into the bread.

The only barrier to making one of these babies at home is getting a super-thin slice. Even if we chill the cooked roast, without a commercial slicer, it’s almost impossible to get the paper-thin slices that an Italian beef is known for. As a workaround, we shredded the slow-roasted beef to mimic the tenderness of sliced beef.

Since we’re not thinly slicing the beef, there are a few simple rules to keeping this sandwich truly Chicagoan.

Don’t fear the dip:You don’t have to go full dunk on your first attempt, but at least give the ends of the sandwich a dip or spoon some jus over the bread.

No mayo & cheese, please:Cheesesteaks are delicious, but that’s not what we’re going for here. The extra fat in mayo and cheese will weigh the sandwich down and make it overwhelming.

Put that ketchup down:Just don’t. It’ll make Chicagoans shudder. Sweet roasted peppers and tangy, spicy giardiniera are all the condiments you should need.

Did you try making this sandwich? Let us know how it went in the comments!

extra-virgin olive oil, divided

boneless beef chuck roast

kosher salt, divided

fresh ground black pepper, divided

large yellow onion, sliced

cloves garlic, sliced

Worcestershire sauce

dried basil

dried oregano

dried thyme

garlic powder

onion powder

crushed red pepper flakes

low-sodium beef stock, divided

green bell pepper, seeds and ribs removed, cut into 1" strips

chopped giardiniera

soft French rolls, seeded or unseeded, toasted

Brooke Caison is the food editor at Delish, where she develops and styles original recipes, writes the weekly membership newsletter, and appears as occasional on-camera talent for Delish's YouTube channel. She's obsessed with the idea of bringing restaurant methods to the home cook with foolproof techniques and organized cooking (like how to safely shuck a clam or tackle a complex baking project). A graduate of ICE, she was previously a line cook, hospitality manager for the opening season of Little Island, and culinary assistant to Top Chef judge and food expert Gail Simmons. Her work has also appeared on Martha Stewart. There's no food she won’t try, but cranberry whipped feta dip has her heart.

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