Smoked Italian Beef Sandwich Chicago Style

Ready to take your sandwich game to another level? This Chicago-style smoked Italian beef is juicy, flavorful, and dripping with tender beef and peppers. Piled into a hoagie bun, dipped in its own jus — it’s the kind of sandwich legends are made of. 🔥

📋Quick Recipe Card

🛒Ingredients

• 2–3 lb beef chuck roast
• Bear & Burton’s W Sauce
• Blazing Star Beef Rub
• 16 oz beef broth
• ¼ cup sliced banana peppers (with juice)
• ¼ cup hot giardiniera (with juice)
• 1 packet Italian dressing mix
• 6 hoagie buns
• Slices of provolone cheese (optional)

🔥Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Preheat your smoker, pellet grill, or oven to 250°F (121°C).
2. Coat the roast — rub the W Sauce over all sides of the chuck roast.
3. Apply rub — season thoroughly with Blazing Star Beef Rub on all sides.
4. Smoke Phase 1 — place roast on cooker and smoke for ≈ 3 hours.
5. Prepare the braise liquids — when 3 hours are up, transfer roast into a pan. Add banana peppers + juice, giardiniera + juice, Italian dressing mix, and beef broth. Cover with aluminum foil.
6. Continue cooking — return pan to cooker and smoke at 250°F for about 1½ hours or until meat is tender (internal temp around 205–208°F).
7. Rest — remove the roast and let it rest in the pan, covered, for 30 minutes.
8. Shred — move the roast to a board or pan and pull apart into shredded beef.
9. Strain the juices — remove peppers, strain the liquid, and separate fat from the jus.
10. Toast buns — lightly toast hoagie buns.
11. Assemble — pile shredded beef into buns, add some of the strained peppers, top with provolone if desired.
12. Dip & serve — dunk the sandwich in the strained jus for that iconic Chicago-style “dipped” bite.

💡Pro Tips

• Use flanken-cut or similarly thin-cut roast if possible — it shreds easier.
• Don’t skip resting — it lets juices reabsorb and makes the roast easier to shred.
• Use a fat separator or chill the jus to remove excess fat for cleaner dipping juice.
• Add extra giardiniera or banana pepper juice for a spicier kick.
• Serve warm — the cheese melts, the meat is juicy, and the bun absorbs the jus just right.

🛒Shop the Flavors

• Blazing Star Beef Rub
  
• Bear & Burton’s W Sauce

• Iron Oak BBQ Pits 115 Offset Smoker used in video
• Grill Blazer Grill Gun Use Discount Code blazingstar for 10% OFF