This juicy Italian beef crostini with garlicky butter spread is an easy melt-in-your-mouth appetizer! Lots of melty provolone cheese and sweet pepperoncinis make every bite better than the last.
Why I Love These Cheesy Beef Crostinis
These beef crostinis with melty cheese and pepperoncinis will be your new go-to appetizer. They’re our favorite to serve at parties! As long as you have batch of Italian beef ready to go, they’re so easy to toss together in less than 10 minutes. Yes, you read that right! Whether it’s New Years Eve or a random cocktail hour with friends, these little crostinis will fly off the platter. Here’s what makes them so fabulous:
- Quick: They’re so quick and easy to assemble, then all you have to do is broil them to melt the cheese on top.
- Feed a crowd: You can easily double or triple the recipe if you are feeding a lot of people at once. Be warned, these cheesy beef crostinis go fast!
- Versatile: Use pot roast as the protein, pre-sliced bread, and add juicy garlic roasted tomatoes for easy variations.
Looking for more quick and easy meat appetizers? Try our crunchy coconut shrimp, easy crockpot sweet and sour meatballs or these cheesy pepperoni pizza bombs!
Key Ingredients
These juicy beef crostini are a great way to use up homemade garlic butter spread and Italian beef leftovers. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and exact amounts!
- French Baguette: These are always pretty easy to find in your local grocery store bakery. You can slice it yourself or ask the bakery to slice it for you to save time!
- Garlic Butter Spread: While you can find this at the store, I also have a pretty great homemade garlic butter spread recipe! It’s the best.
- Italian Shredded Beef: Have any leftovers of Italian beef? Perfect! This is the BEST way to use it up so it doesn’t just sit there in your fridge.
- Provolone cheese: Cheddar, mozzarella, or a melty cheese blend work too.
- Pepperoncinis: Calabrian chilis are a great Italian swap.
How To Make Beef Crostini
You just need to toast the bread, add the beef, and then melt the cheese. It’s really that simple! Below is a quick recipe overview, but please scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions.
- Prep the broiler: Place the oven rack two levels from the top of the broiler. Set the oven to HIGH.
- Toast the bread: Add garlic butter spread to every slice of bread. Pop them into the broiler until nice and toasty. Set them aside.
- Melt the cheese: Add beef and cheese to every crostini. Broil again until the cheese melts.
- Serve: Remove them from the oven, garnish with pepperoncinis, serve, and enjoy!
Cook’s Tips & Variation
- Change the bread: Use ciabattas, focaccia, sliced sourdough or leftover toast to make these crostinis.
- Watch them: Some broilers have a higher temperature, so keep a close eye on your appetizers once they’re in the oven to prevent burning.
- Add a drizzle: Spoon balsamic reduction, fresh basil pesto, chili oil or aioli to taste over the crostinis for more flavor.
- Use store-bought: Pre-sliced bread and garlic butter will save you lots of prep time when making this recipe.
- Swap the protein: If you don’t want to make the Italian beef, use Instant Pot pot roast or Crockpot shredded chicken instead.
- More toppings: Halved cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, and diced roasted peppers will add more depth to every bite of these beef crostini.
What To Serve With Italian Beef Crostinis
This crispy beef crostini is an easy appetizer for gatherings. Serve it with other quick bites:
- Dips: You can’t go wrong with our hot crab dip, but this Velveeta Rotel sausage dip or easy refried bean dip are also always crowd pleasers!
- Finger Foods: Impress everyone with these easy crab stuffed shrimp, or whip up a batch of these juicy Cajun baked chicken wings.
Italian Beef Crostini
Ingredients
- 1 French baguette, sliced into 1/2” rounds
- 3 to 4 tablespoons garlic butter spread
- 1 pound Italian shredded beef
- 8 slices provolone cheese, cut each slice into 4 pieces
- Sliced pepperoncinis, optional topping
Instructions
- Place an oven rack on the second highest level to the broiler. Turn the oven to HI broil.
- Place the baguette slices on a large baking tray and generously spread the garlic butter on each slice. Place under hot broiler for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until toasted and lightly golden brown. Remove from under the broiler.
- Top each crostini with shredded beef and top with cheese on each baguette slice.
- Place the tray back under the broiler for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until cheese is melted. Watch closely so the cheese does not burn!
- Serve warm, topped with pepperoncinis, if desired!
garlic butter and Italian beef is the perfect combo, made these last night for a birthday party and they were everyones favorite.