Barbecued beef is one of my favorite ways to stuff a sandwich bun. Usually, it involves a beef roast that’s spent all day in the crockpot simmering in a rich sauce and steeped in juices until it’s falling apart and ready to melt in your mouth. This though, assumes that when I put everything in the crockpot that morning, that I actually remembered to turn it on before I headed out the door. So now, it’s dinner time and this dum dum still wants her barbecued beef. What’s a gal to do?
She figures out how to whip up a different recipe for barbecue beef that’s made in a skillet on the stove top, and is ready in only 15 minutes. I’ve gotta say, that’s one heck of a recovery and went a little way towards redeeming me in the eyes of my by now, starved husband and children.
And this story is assuming that most days I follow a meal plan, or have some other method of preparedness where I wake up knowing what we’ll be having for dinner. Some days not so much, and on those days, I’m scratching my head along with everyone else up until the internal dinner bell rings. Then the fun really starts, because again, I’ve only got about 15 minutes until the troops start to mutiny. Good thing I work well under pressure.
Roast beef and barbecue go hand in hand together. Seriously. They’re like the apple pie and ice cream of the sandwich world, and in this recipe not only do the flavors work but both the meat and the sauce cook together in a flash and are ready to go from skillet to bun in no time. Tender, thin strips of roast beef & sauteed onions, dripping with a smoky, sweet, semi-homemade barbecue sauce are piled high on soft sandwich buns. Serve it with corn on the cob and a side salad for a quick and easy, stress-free meal.
- 1 small white onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 cup smoky barbecue sauce
- 1/3 cup chili sauce, such as Heinz
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp packed brown sugar
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 lb very thinly sliced deli roast beef, cut into strips or steak, again cut into very thin strips
- sandwich buns
- In a large skillet, melt the butter and then add in the onion and saute until tender and they're beginning to turn golden.
- Next, add in the barbecue sauce, chili sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar and Worcerstershire sauce and whisk them all together until they've fully incorporated into a smooth sauce. Bring the sauce to a simmer, stirring occasionally, over medium heat.
- Add the beef to the skillet and gently toss it to evenly coat the strips with sauce. Remove the skillet from heat once the beef mixture is heated through. Serve it, piled high, on your favorite sandwich buns.
- Like this, but want a little *more* on your sandwich, like toppings? We recommend a slice of cheddar and a squeeze of creamy horseradish sauce.
Great save! I think this might be a way to use up leftover steak, too. On that rare occasion when there IS left over steak!! lol! Happy Throwback Thursday!!
Mollie
Yes, for the leftover steak! Why don’t I ever have leftover steak? However, you can also use thinly sliced steak and just cook it to brown before continuing on with the sauce portion of the recipe, still a 20 minute meal, tops.