Venison French Dips in the Instant Pot

Perfectly savory and tender venison French dip sandwiches made in the Instant Pot, plus ideas for repurposing the leftovers for two additional delicious and freezer-friendly meals! 

The links below may be affiliate links, meaning I earn a small compensation at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure policy here. 

Hands down one of the most popular recipes from my cookbook, Family Meals From Scratch in Your Instant Pot, are the French Dip Sandwiches. Everyone who tries them raves about how delicious and easy they are…then continues to make them again and again. One “follower” (don’t love that word) on Instagram this week answered that getting an Instant Pot would be worth it just to make these sandwiches.

I mean, I don’t disagree, but stick around long enough and you’ll be wanting to make all kinds of things in your Instant Pot.

When Kate from the super popular Naptime Kitchen bought her first Instant Pot this year, I offered to send her a copy of my cookbook. Actually, I also offered to come down and show her how to use it, but I’m glad she at least took me up on one of those.

Kate tried and loved the French Dip Sandwiches, and then, being the kitchen whiz that she is, did something brilliant with her leftovers. 

NTK Vegetable Soup + Leftover Au Jus and shredded French dip = Comfort, flavor bliss.

Every time Kate made the French dips, then turned the leftovers into delicious soup, she shared about it in her Instagram stories. We both received lots of requests for the soup recipe, and the French dip recipe, so we decided to work together on a fun project…more on that in a moment.

Venison French Dips in the Instant Pot

The first time I wanted to try subbing a venison roast for a beef roast, I messaged my friend Kate from Venison for Dinner. (Yes, this is going to get confusing. Now that I have two blogging friends named Kate, there always has to be the clarification, is this Naptime Kitchen Kate or Venison for Dinner Kate???).

VFD Kate is, of course, who I should ask about having…venison for dinner. She told me just to increase the overall cook time when subbing a venison roast. Another trick she does when cooking more pounds of roast is to cut the roast into large chunks, allowing you to actually reduce the cook time.

Venison substitutes really well for beef in French dips because you don’t need to extra fatty content to build the flavor of the dish. The cooking liquid is so flavorful, whichever type of meat you choose. 

The time the roast takes to cook is also the perfect amount for making homemade sub rolls! This recipe is easy and can be finished in just an hour. It’s what I use every time we have French dips!

I almost exclusively use venison roasts to make French dips so that I can save the fattier chuck roasts for making the pot roast recipe in my cookbook. (Also, incredibly tasty and a must-try!)

When I made French dips this weekend, I added a little extra meat so that I would be sure to have enough for leftovers.

Two Ways to Enjoy Leftover French Dip

Kate and I are both sharing French Dip recipes today– she’s sharing the beef version and I’m sharing the venison version. We are also both sharing brand new recipes for repurposing the leftovers! 

• Naptime Kitchen Beef & Vegetable Soup
• French Dip Empanadas

Both recipes are freezer friendly, too, so you can make the French dip sandwiches for dinner one night, then use the leftovers to put a meal or two into the freezer for another night.

(Kate is also a freezer GENIUS, so if you want to feel like you are using that “magic box” to its fullest, check out her incredible Naptime Kitchen Guide to Freezing in her shop).

Venison French Dips in the Instant Pot

★★★★★ 5 from 8 reviews

• Author: Lisa @ This Pilgrim Life
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 75 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Print

Pin

---

Description

The Instant Pot makes it easy to have perfectly tender and savory French dip sandwiches made with venison roasts!

---

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 3 lb venison roast
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 cups yellow onion, sliced thin
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• mozzarella or provolone cheese for topping
• sub rolls 

---

Instructions

1. Turn the Instant Pot on to Saute. While the Instant Pot heats, pat the roast dry, then season it and all sides with the salt and pepper. When the display on the Instant Pot reads “HOT”, add the olive oil, then place in the seasoned venison roast. Brown for about 5 minutes, rotating it so that it browns on all sides.
2. Remove the roast from the Instant Pot and set to the side on a plate. Add the butter, then the sliced onions. Sauté the onions for 5 minutes, stirring and deglazing the bottom of the pot twice during cooking.
3.  Return the venison roast to the Instant Pot, then pour in the broth, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, and garlic powder. No stirring is needed. Place the lid on the Instant Pot, turn the valve to sealing, and set the cook time for 75 minutes.
4. When the cook time is complete, let the pressure naturally release. (If it hasn’t finished releasing after 15 minutes, you can manually release the remaining pressure).
5. Shred the meat with two forks (you can do this right in the pot if you like). Open the sub rolls and lay them flat on a baking sheet. Top them with some of the shredded meat, then with cheese. Place under the boiler until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
6. Serve with the au jus (cooking liquid) for dipping.

---

Notes

You can use the time the venison roast is cooking to make homemade sub rolls! These rolls are easy and delicious, and can be done in just one hour!

Sharing is caring! Don’t forget to pin and share. Thank you!