These vegan French dip sandwiches are made with sautéed portobellos, dressed in spicy horseradish mustard and served ready for dipping in savory vegan au jus.
Roast beef has never been my thing. I know, you're shocked! So the idea of a French dip sandwich never appealed to me very much. In fact, I distinctly remember ordering a French dip at Denny's when I was a little kid, and thinking I'd be getting something involving French onion dip, which definitely was my thing. I was hugely disappointed when a roast beef sandwich with a cup of meat juice showed up.
A big messy mushroom sandwich that gets dunked in mushroom juice on the other hand, is way my cup of tea.
I'm really glad I got over that rough childhood French dip experience, and decided to give it another go, in vegan form, because this sandwich was insane! Flavorful, succulent, sloppy as heck, but so worth the slop for being as tasty as it was.
I served my sandwiches with some horseradish mustard and nothing more. That was perfect for me, but I've seen recipes calling for spicy mustard, Dijon and mayo. Go with them all if you'd like, assuming you're prepared for a full-on slop fest. If you're into vegan cheese, feel free to top it all off with some mozzarella shreds too.
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Vegan French Dip Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. olive oil, divided
- 1 medium onion sliced into half rings
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3 portobello mushroom caps, about 20 oz. total, cleaned and sliced into thin strips
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. vegan Worcestershire sauce
- ½ tsp. dried thyme
- ¼ tsp. liquid smoke, optional, but highly recommended
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
For Serving
- 2-6 inch sandwich rolls or baguette sections sliced open
- horseradish mustard
Instructions
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Coat the bottom of a large skillet with 1 tablespoon of oil and place over medium-low heat. Add onion and toss a few times to coat with oil. Allow to cook until caramelized, about 20 minutes, flipping occasionally. Add garlic and cook about 2 minutes more. Transfer onions and garlic to a plate.
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Coat skillet with another tablespoon of oil and raise heat to medium. Add mushroom strips. Avoid overcrowding the skillet. A little overlapping is okay, but work in multiple batches if needed (I needed two), adding a bit of oil between batches if needed. Cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook 5 minutes more on opposite sides.
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Return onions to skillet and add broth, soy sauce, Worchestershire sauce, thyme, liquid smoke and pepper. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes.
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Slather the insides of rolls with horseradish mustard. Use a slotted spoon to remove onions and mushrooms from skillet, pressing lightly to squeeze out any excess juice. Divide onions and mushrooms into rolls. Pour cooking liquid into a small bowl and serve with sandwiches, for dipping.
I'm planning on making this in a couple of hours but just realized I only have 2 mushroom caps! Do you think it will still come out okay?
It will probably taste fine, but you're sandwiches might be a bit skimpy on fillings. Depending on how many people you're feeding, you might just want to cut back on the batch size or even make smaller sandwiches.
I make this all. the. time. and my omni partner will actually request them!
Yay!! So happy to hear that! Thanks Chantel!
Also wanted to express my gratitude for this AMAZING recipe. And, as a bonus, I like to make extra and take 1 cup of the sauce/mushroom/onions and blend them with one cup soaked almonds + a little nooch and some sun dried tomatoes to make an INSANELY good mushroom pate. It's tempting to eat it the same day, but 24 hours in the fridge and it is mind blowing. Thanks for all you do!
I'm so glad you're enjoying it! And wow, I LOVE the pate idea! I'll be trying that out myself. :)
My daughter just made this for me, it was amazing. I plan on making this dish regularly.thank you for the recipe.
Very welcome!! I'm so glad you like it!
My best buddy made this for me and I was hooked! Making it today for my parents. Thank you for this awesome recipe! Hands down one of the best vegan sandwich I've ever had!
This recipe is one of me and my son's favorites. It is absolutely amazing. I have tried many of your recipes and have found them all to be delicious. Thank you so much for sharing your great recipes.
I'm so glad you're enjoying the recipes!! Thanks so much Marthanne!
I don't think I've ever seen a comment section for a recipe with so few suggestions for substitutions or tweaks. I'm going to have to try this, it's one of the meals that I miss, thank you!
Haha, yes! There are so many ways to switch things up with this one. Enjoy!
Made this today finally. Kicking myself for putting it off so long because it is absolutely delicious. Was perfect for this rainy late summer day! Thanks so much!
So glad you enjoyed it!! Thanks Jenna!
I made this tonight after stumbling across this recipe and am so grateful I did. Only thing I did differently was thicken the broth with some corn starch to make it gravy-like and served it over mashed potatoes. Delicious and completely satisfied my craving for country steak and gravy. Thank you so much!
Yay!! I'm so happy to hear you liked them! Thanks Michele!
Several years ago I stumbled across a wonderful portabella, mozzarella cheese sandwich recipe. I moved shortly after that and of course I lost it. I do remember the mushrooms, garlicky taste and the house filled with Italian wonderful scents. Can you help me. We do not care for the dipping mustard
Shirley
I'm afraid that doesn't sound familiar to me! I hope you can find it!
I've really missed beef dip since becoming vegan and this was SO good, it completely satisfied my craving. It will definitely be on regular rotation in our house and it was so easy. Thank you for the great recipe!
So happy to hear that! Thanks Sam!!
I found this recipe tonight and had all the ingredients WOW I could have eaten 10 of these they were sooo delicious. This will absolutely be in my dinner rotation
I'm so glad to hear that!! Thanks so much Meg!
I made this tonight and it was a big hit with both my husband and myself. I made it without any oil by braising the onions and mushrooms in vegetable broth. It worked beautifully. I used whole wheat hamburger buns and that was nice also. We did not use and mustard or horseradish but loved it all the same. We will definitely be making this again soon. Thank you for sharing.
I'm so glad you enjoyed them! And that's great to hear that your oil free method worked out well! Thanks Lori!
Absolutely AMAZING!!! I had to stop myself from eating the whole batch! That being said, how would you store this? Should I put the au jus with the rest of the mushrooms and refrigerate or keep it separate? I’m afraid the mushrooms might dry out if not kept in something...besides that, I LOVE this recipe! Thank you 😊
Yay!! I'm so glad you enjoyed them!! I believe when I had leftovers I stored the mushrooms and the au jus separately - just make sure everything is sealed up tight. :)
This is one of my family’s favorite dishes! We add tofu stakes and sliced zucchini!!! Yumm!
Sounds like a delicious meal! I'm glad they're a hit!
Id love to see a video for this
Done! Here you go. :) https://www.facebook.com/connoisseurusveg/videos/2254824114613321/
Yet another amazing recipe! Everything that comes from this site is pure heaven. I had the cheesy rice recipe from this and my husband couldn’t even tell it was vegan. This will be another favorite.
I'm so happy to hear that! Thanks so much Carly!!
Excellent!! We add red and green peppers to the onions and a little cashew mozzarella on top sometimes, but this recipe is delicious just the way it is - now in our weekly rotation!!
That sounds delicious! I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Thanks Tami!
I just have to thank you for this recipe. French dip sandwiches were something I REALLY missed and now every time I make these I say a silent prayer of gratitude for you and this recipe! I even water sauteed everything and just added 1 T of oil at the end and it's still SPECTACULAR!! BLESS YOU!
Yay!! I'm so glad you are enjoying them! Thanks Kandis!
I really would love to find a vegan French dip substitute, since I used to love them. However, while I have grown to like other (cooked) mushrooms, I just never developed a taste for portobellos. Do you have a suggestion for something else I could use?
You could probably make it work with white button mushrooms! If you like seitan you could also try working with that and a few modifications. I have a seitan cheesesteak recipe that you could use for guidance: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/vegan-philly-cheesesteak-sandwiches/
I made this like a year ago and for whatever reason I hadn't made it again. I remembered it last night and decided it would be lunch today. Why haven't I been making this?
Beef Dip was one of my favorites before going plant-based, and one of the few things i still craved. This recipe absolutely blows that craving away! The mushrooms are so "meaty" and satisfying. I added a bit of Go-Bio Mushroom Bouillon to the dip for extra flavor (i love it extra salty) and even added vegan smoked gouda to the sandwich for a variation. I've made this a few times now and even my non-vegan friends love it!! If i could give it 10 stars, i would!!
Simply perfection!
BTW, a pinch of baking soda will make the onions caramelize faster by changing their ph level.
Wow! I cook fried onions frequently-thanks for the tip!
These sandwiches were fantastic!! I will be doubling the filling and tripling the sauce next time.
Sorry, I want to add that I did it oil free as well. And I used a half cup veggie broth and a half cup mushroom broth. This was the first recipe I tried of yours and really enjoyed it. Thank you
Looks delicious! Would Cremini mushrooms work?
Absolutely! Enjoy!
This is incredibly delicious! I’m the only vegan in my house, but everyone raved about this. It’s definitely a keeper. However, my only suggestion is to sauté the shrooms altogether. Cooking in batches is sooo very time consuming. I started out doing so since I’ve never cooked with portobellos before, but, after 2 batches, I threw the rest in the pan. They browned up beautifully. Thanks for sharing! 👍🏼😎👍🏼
Hi, Alissa. Is there any way to edit my post of June 6, 2020? I forgot to say that I added 3 julienned mini bell peppers to the onions when they were about halfway done.
Hi Debbie! Sure! If you post a new comment with the additional info I can delete the old one for you.
Made this for dinner last night and oh my! This has been added to the dinner rotation! Thank you for sharing!! Delish!!
Came here from Julien Solomita’s cooking stream and left with a new all time favorite recipe. It’s so easy to follow and so SO tasty. I’ve made it twice in a week, it’s just so good.
This is super solid! I may have cooked off too much ju, or will double next time, but the flavor was still all there and fantastic. We did broil a slice of cheese on top at the end, but did everything else exactly. Easy and yummy! Thanks man!
I made this tonight. Threw in a few red bell pepper slivers with the onions, but otherwise followed this recipe exactly. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE??
This is SO scrumptious, delicious, and SATISFYING.
I am definitely adding this to The Rotation, as my not-quite-yet vegan boyfriend raved as loud as I did. Dinner time was a huge success! Thanks for the recipe!!
Looking forward to trying this! Found out about the recipe from @thetreekisser and it sounds divine!
What happens if you leave out the liquid smoke? Is there an alternative ingredient to it?
The flavor won't be quite the same. You could try subbing another smoky ingredient like smoked paprika or sea salt.
This was delicious! Followed the recipe exactly. At first I thought it was going to be too much portobello, but it was just the right amount. Thanks for the recipe!