We aren’t much for fast food. We almost never have it at all. (Except for an occasional, rare, White Castle or 5 GUYS run!) But there is one other food chain that I have loved since I was a little girl, and that’s Arby’s! We don’t have one here in our town, and I had a nostalgic craving for one of their roast beef sandwiches that just wouldn’t go away. So I decided to see if I could just make one myself, based on their nutritional list of ingredients! So here’s my version! My Copycat Arby’s Angus Beef ‘n Cheddar with Bacon & Arby’s Sauce!
Lookin’ pretty dang good, right?!!
And I think it’s a darn good copycat if I do say so myself!! No need to miss them! I can just make them from scratch myself, and now so can you! (Without all of the unneeded preservatives!)
So. My inspiration was this. (*Photo professionally taken by Arby’s)….
Looks pretty tasty, doesn’t it?
But…sadly…here’s what you actually get when you order it! Yikes.
(*Photo by Katie Robbins of delish.com)
Aaaand the inside….DOUBLE yikes.
(*Sorry! I can’t take any photos of what you actually get myself,
because the nearest one is at least an hour’s drive away or more.)
Looks like someone tossed it out into the parking lot…and somebody drove over it.
Twice.
We’ve all been teased by their latest barrage of commercials. So, is it that hard to make it even vaguely resemble something delicious-looking like what they advertise?
I don’t think it is. I just did it by myself. And without a crew of workers helping me.
So. Moving on.
The beef I made was very tender and juicy, had wonderful flavor, and we sliced it into ultra-thin slices on our slicer. So delicious, that now, I’m not sure I’ll ever crave theirs again!
I used a simple, inexpensive eye round roast, seared it on all sides, then slow roasted it in the oven for 3 hours so that it would be extremely tender.
Nothing worse than trying to bite into a beef sandwich and have half of it pull out because you can’t even bite through it it’s so tough!
Chewy and dry as leather does not a fun beef sandwich make!
After searing, I braised it, submerged in a nice bath of (Campbell’s) beef consommé, spices and seasonings, and basted that baby every 30 minutes. Once done and rested, I placed it into a ziplock baggie, and popped it into the fridge to chill overnight.
(*I braised this covered, only removing the lid to baste.)
*I did it this way so that the meat would slice perfectly the next day!
And that it did!!
(*Note that meat is VERY cold
and hasn’t been steamed with the au jus yet.)
Once sliced, I simply reheated it gently in the microwave, (covering the bowl with a damp paper towel), and steamed it with the roasting juices at only 50% power until heated through. Worked beautifully! And soooo juicy and flavorful!!
Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat to your sandwich, then use the rest of the juices as an au jus for dipping if you’d like!
I also made their signature Arby’s Sauce, which to me always tasted somewhat like a vinegary, barbecue slash ketchup sauce…
…and finished it off by making a copycat of their cheddar cheese sauce!
I topped off this monster of a roast beef sandwich with a few slices of bacon, all piled on top of toasted buns, and I was right back in 1969, wearing cutoffs, skinned knees, peace signs and ponytails, reliving my favorite childhood fast food sandwich! (Albeit, kicked up a little bit!)
Hey, nothing is ever as good as you remembered it to be, right? So might as well just go for it!
*By the way, you can actually order this at your local Arby’s because, pssssst!, it’s on their “secret menu”! (Just add bacon to their Regular (or Angus) Roast Beef ‘n Cheddar sandwich.)
But if you’re like us, and don’t really care for fast food, (or don’t have an Arby’s anywhere near you anyways, either), I think you’re really going to enjoy my copycat version immensely!!
I so hope that you try my Copycat Arby’s Angus Beef ‘n Bacon Cheddar & Arby’s Sauce! It’s very easy to make! And by chilling the roast, you can easily slice it thinly without a slicer.
The cheese sauce and Arby’s Sauce is also VERY simple to make using minimal ingredients.
A VERY tasty copycat of fast food made better! Enjoy!!
*What I went by:
Arby’s actual ingredients:
Arby’s Angus Beef:
Black Angus Beef, Water, Sea Salt, Raw Sugar, Sodium Phosphate, Yeast Extract. Coated With: Black Pepper, Caramel Color, Salt, Dextrose, Onion Powder, Spices, Garlic Powder, Citric Acid, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Spice Extractives. CONTAINS: SOY.
Arby’s Sauce®:
Water, Corn Syrup, Tomato Paste, Distilled Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Salt, Modified Corn Starch, Soybean Oil, Xanthan Gum, Garlic (dehydrated), Sodium Benzoate (preservative), Onion (dehydrated), Spice and Spice Extractives, Artificial Flavor, Extractives of Capsicum.
Arby’s Cheddar Cheese Sauce:
Water, Canola Oil, Modified Corn Starch, Cheddar Cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), Maltodextrin, Contains 2% or less of the following: Salt, Sodium Phosphate, Nonfat Dry Milk, Sodium Citrate, Yeast Extract, Acetic Acid, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Mono and Diglycerides, Annatto Color, Citric Acid, Cream, Natural Flavors, Paprika Color, Carotenal Color, Yellow 6. CONTAINS: MILK.
How about we just make it homemade…alright? Enjoy!!!
Copycat Arby's Beef 'n Cheddar with Arby's Sauce
Ingredients
For the Beef:
Copycat Arby's BBQ Sauce:
Cheddar Cheese Sauce:
Rest of Ingredients:
Instructions
Marshall Gourley
Saturday 16th of November 2019
Minor quibble, but there is no actual cheddar in the cheddar recipe :) A slice or two of cheddar on the hot beef solves this. No need for sauce.
Kelly
Saturday 16th of November 2019
Then it wouldn't be an Arby's.
Darren Ward
Friday 31st of August 2018
Okay. Back up and hold on. Out of sheer curiosity I made the Arby's sauce part of this recipe as written. This is damn good stuff. Shoots my recipe out of the lake you live by. There no tweaking nessesary for this recipe. I know your readers will be tempted but go easy least the other stuff in the sandwich will be lost. After a seemingly unnecessary trip to hospital today I was able to stop by Arby's and get one for a side by side tasting. Your sauce, my generic roast beef, the store bought onion buns, a bottle of western, and chedder cheese sauce. Let's just say I'm never going to an actual Arby's again. Two thumbs up five well earned stars.
Darren Ward
Tuesday 28th of August 2018
This is great stuff. I have been eating and now making Beef and Chedder for decades. Loved them so much I have worked at several across several states. Including one while going through culinary arts school. over the years my recipe has evolved both in ingredients and technique. And this a good one. You won't find ketchup, kitchen bouquet, or canned consume in my house. Let alone velveeta! This is a good solid recipe.
Fiordelisa
Tuesday 24th of July 2018
Laughing out loud, this rainy Tuesday morning, over your photos of what we *actually* get in drive-thru. :-) Yes! Like someone drove over it...twice! Lol. And how often burgers are hanging half off the bun...okay, it is *that* challenging to center it, even for a teenager with their first job? And either no onions, or you get ALL the onions from the last five orders in a heap in the very center. We grin, shrug, and eat it.
Your copycat is no copycat, but a transcendent delight vaguely inspired by an Arby's earthworm. (okay...they *are* inspiring, but yours looks light years above even their best photo...) I hope you got true Arby's satisfaction in devouring it... :-)
F.
Tuesday 24th of July 2018
Okay, now I have read all the way through the post and recipe. There is someone in this house who would pass out in ecstasy if we made this...I think I will try it. Btw, your sauces are simply amazing. It's probably the fifty-millionth time you've heard this, but have you thought of opening a restaurant?
Bruce Sommer
Monday 23rd of July 2018
HI,
Sorry to contradict, it looks like you put some time into this. I just happened to stumble on this page through a search for something else, but found it an enjoyable read.
Anyway, maybe it has been too long since the last time you had an actual Beef & Cheddar sandwich from Arby's. It's a common mistake, but the red gooey sauce on the B&C is not the actual "Arby's Sauce" (BBQ Sauce) that they hand out in packets. The sauce on the B&C is only on that sandwich (and it's two larger size variants, and new + bacon options). Of course, you could always add the BBQ Sauce, later, at those pump dispensers, or from the packets.
When they make it behind the counter for you, they use something they call "Red Ranch Sauce", which is very similar to something you can buy off the shelf, made by WishBone, called "WESTERN Sweet & Smooth Dressing".
I must say, if you are looking for "healthy", it may not be the best stuff to add to your sandwich, but, if you just want to replicate the overall taste of the B&C, this stuff is a must.
I know I am just some random dude on the Internet making a comment, so I could understand it you were to question my credibility. But, you can get it here, straight from @Arby's official Twitter site...
https://twitter.com/arbys/status/871531179425632256?lang=en
Again, I'm not trying to be critical, just helpful.
Have a nice day, Bruce
Kelly
Tuesday 24th of July 2018
Hey, Bruce! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to add the tip! Very helpful! Yes, as I said in my post, we don't have one here, so I haven't had Arby's in MANY, many years! So I made their regular sauce to go on this, versus the Western Salad Dressing "sauce" that they add for the B&C sandwiches. I've copycatted Ranch as well as Catalina salad dressings to a T, but when I wanted to copycat Western, they didn't have it here to do a side-by-side comparison/test. BUMMER! Hopefully when we move I'll be able to find it because that was my mom's favorite dressing when I was a kid! :) But that one has been on my to-do list for several years! :) But great to now know what they use that's similar to go by! I'll give it a shot at making that one homemade as soon as I can finally buy a small bottle of it! Thanks again! Have a wonderful day!