Homemade Roast Beef Sandwich inspired by Arby’s. Buttered toasted hamburger buns with a quarter pound of thinly sliced roast beef with Swiss cheese & some Arby’s sauce.

You can also go for the Beef N Cheddar with a homemade cheddar sauce. The red ranch sauce I haven’t really dedicated any time to. I just use an equal amount of Catalina & French dressings.

Roast Beef

Arby’s roast beef is processed beef round. I am curious how to replicate this, but for this post I just use deli-style roast beef that has been sliced thin or Pillers roast beef slices that, when heated and piled on the bread for the sandwich, really taste remarkably close.

Try to purchase the roast beef from a deli market and get them to very thinly slice the roast beef to resemble Arby’s, which is paper-thin. This also has the benefit of getting more height and better folds on the sandwich or use the Pillers roast beef meats.

Arby’s Roast beef Ingredients

Their Ingredients for Arby’s Roast beef are

Roast Beef: Beef, Water, Salt, Sodium Phosphates.

Arby’s Sandwich Size

Arby’s advertises the sizes as Classic, Double, Half Pound and states that their Classic is 3 oz. They also carry junior roast beef, which is about 45–60 g. These are the ones where they used to have a deal on them, 5 for $10 CAD.

Classic 3 oz./84 g
Double 6 oz./168 g
Half Pound – 8 oz./224 g

Heated Roast Beef Sandwich

Arby’s does not reheat their meat. The meat is cooked and kept at a low temperature and goes directly to the buns after being freshly sliced and weighed, as far as I know.

At home, you can reheat the meat so that it is served up warm. Add in your roast beef slices with a Tbl or so of water or beef broth and fry lightly, just to heat.

Another way, especially if you are making a lot, is to place water or broth into a casserole dish with the meat and bake at 300°F until heated through. Toss it around a bit to separate the meat. Either way you do it, top the sandwich with meat and add your sauces & cheese.

Arby’s Roast Beef Sandwiches

There are a few varieties of the Arby’s roast beef sandwich.

ROAST BEEF: Classic Roast Beef: Roast Beef, Sesame Seed Bun.

Double Roast Beef: Roast Beef, Sesame Seed Bun.

Half Pound Roast Beef: Roast Beef, Sesame Seed Bun.

Classic Beef ‘n Cheddar: Roast Beef, Cheddar Cheese Sauce, Red Ranch Sauce, Onion Roll.

Double Beef ‘n Cheddar: Roast Beef, Cheddar Cheese Sauce, Red Ranch Sauce, Onion Roll.

Half Pound Beef ‘n Cheddar: Roast Beef, Cheddar Cheese Sauce, Red Ranch Sauce, Onion Roll.

Classic French Dip & Swiss/Au Jus: Roast Beef, Au Jus, Swiss Cheese (Processed Slice), Sub Roll.

You can also turn these into a sandwich with the works. Sauté some onions, mushrooms, and red & green bell peppers to add to the sandwich. Whip up some horseradish mayo, Aoili, Red Greek sauce with or without the Arby’s sauce, and some cheese. Like Swiss, Monterey Jack, or Havarti.

Arby’s Swiss Roast Beef

This is one of my favorites. It is roast beef with Swiss cheese and Arby’s red sauce. The kind you get in the small packets to add to the sandwich. Below is my homemade version of this.

Arby’s Red Sauce

Used for the roast beef sandwich with just Swiss cheese & Arby’s red sauce. This is the kind served in the small packets.

UPDATE: Recently I have noticed that the Sweet Thai Sauce has changed a bit. There is a taste of sesame, I believe, that is a bit overpowering to be used for this Arby’s sauce. I am still leaving this post up for the other information and because I do work on a new one occasionally.

Arby’s Beef N Cheddar

The Arby’s Roast Beef n Cheddar Sandwich uses a Red Ranch sauce on the bottom bun with hot cheese on top. The below is my version of the Beef N Cheddar made with Cheese Whiz sauce.

JAHZKITCHEN Open Face Beef N Cheddar Sandwich

Cheese Whiz Sauce

Cheese Whiz Sauce on the top bun. Used for the Arby’s Beef n Cheddar Sandwich. Included is shredded cheddar cheese to thicken and give a more cheddar flavor.

JAHZKITCHEN Homemade Arbys Beef N Cheddar with Curly Fries

Arby’s Red Ranch Sauce Ingredients

Red Ranch Sauce: High Fructose Corn Syrup, Soybean Oil, Corn-Cider Vinegar, Tomato Paste, Distilled Vinegar, Water, Salt, Paprika, Spice, Beet Juice (for color), Onion (dehydrated), Natural Flavor, Xanthan Gum, Propylene Glycol Alginate, Garlic (dehydrated).

This is different than the Arby’s Red sauce you get in the small packets. This is used for the Arby’s Beef N Cheddar. There are numerous sources that state Catalina dressing can be used in its place, although I never tested this. The ingredients in both seem to be remarkably close. Some sources state a sweet French dressing. For the beef n’ cheddar sandwich in this post, I just combined equal amounts of Catalina and French dressing to slather on the bottom bun.

Wrap and Serve

No matter how you cook the meat up, what sauces you use, or additional toppings you add, wrap the sandwiches up in waxed paper for that takeout feel. It also traps the heat in and, in effect, steams everything altogether.

Even better is to visit your local Cash & Carry. They carry the thin paper wraps that are used for just this purpose.