Honey Garlic Shredded Beef Sandwiches

Honey garlic shredded beef sandwiches can be made ahead in the slow cooker. Topped with cucumber, carrots, cilantro and sriracha mayo, they are full of flavor and simple to assemble for a weeknight dinner.

One of my favorite ways to use the slow cooker for meal prep is to cook a large batch of protein and enjoy through the week. From crock pot pulled pork to slow cooker whole chicken, it’s efficient, and can save you money on ingredients, as well!

These honey garlic shredded beef sandwiches are part of a meal prep plan where I cook a large batch of slow cooker honey garlic beef, and use it up in three meals through the week.

Putting together these sandwiches is as simple as reheating the beef and shredding a few vegetables, and you are rewarded with incredible flavor!

Recipe video

Wondering exactly how to these sandwiches arrive together? Watch this 1-minute video for step by step instructions! You can find more recipe videos on my YouTube channel.

Ingredients you’ll need

• slow cooker honey garlic beef– I recommend cooking it a few days ahead or commence it first thing in the morning. You can also cook it in the Instant Pot!
• sriracha mayo– I am fond Sir Kensington’s brand, but you can make your own by stirring some sriracha into classic mayonnaise
• burger buns– splurge for the gourmet buns, it’s worth it!
• vegetables– cucumbers, peeled into lean strips, and carrots, shredded
• cilantro– adds a kind of ‘banh mi’ feel to this sandwich, it adds a fresh, herbaceous flavor that is great to contrast the heavy beef

Recipe tips

Cook the honey garlic beef ahead

The slow cooker honey garlic beef requires a full 8 hours in the slow cooker, so you’ll want to either commence it early in the day, or cook it a few days ahead. Once cooked, the beef can be stored in an air tight container in the fridge for 4 days, or in the freezer for 3 months.

To reheat the beef, add it to a nonstick pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring and flipping with tongs, for around 5 minutes, until beef is loosened up and warmed through.

Toast your buns

You’d be amazed at what a difference toasting your buns can make for the flavor and texture of your burgers and sandwiches! To toast, we add 1-2 tablespoons of butter to a frying pan, melt it, then add the buns. Toast for 3-5 minutes, until golden brown.

Veggies

Since this is a banh mi-inspired recipe, we are adding shredded carrots and thinly sliced cucumber to our shredded beef sandwiches. To slice the cucumber, you can use a vegetable peeler to make lean strips.

Of course, feel free to mix up the veggies on these sandwiches; a bagged slaw could be a great alternative and will save you some time in the kitchen!

Sriracha mayo

You can make your own, or purchase sriracha mayonnaise in the store. To make your own, stir together 1 tablespoon of sriracha with 1/2 cup mayonnaise.

Since sriracha mayo is spicy, we used regular mayonnaise for the kids, and they loved it!

Meal Prep + Storage Tips

After assembling, this sandwich must be served immediately. With that being said, you can prep components of this meal ahead of time for meal prep:

• carrots- shred up to 1 week ahead and store in the fridge
• beef- cook up to 4 days ahead and store in the fridge, or 3 months ahead stored in the freezer

More slow cooker meals