Reuben Casserole
This Reuben Casserole recipe has all the layers of your favorite Reuben sandwich in casserole form! Corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, Thousand Island dressing and Rye bread all make this casserole taste just like the sandwich. A St. Patrick’s Day classic!
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REUBEN CASSEROLE RECIPE
As I’ve said before, St. Patrick’s Day isn’t necessarily a holiday that I get excited to cook up a storm for (until this Reuben casserole). Dishes doused with bottles of green food coloring aren’t exactly my idea of appealing but it seems to be the overwhelming theme of the holiday.
It doesn’t stop me from making my kids green eggs and ham for breakfast because it wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s Day if I didn’t spend some quality time in the kitchen making a green breakfast my kids refuse to eat.
And apparently I’m getting lazy in my old age because I’m constantly searching for ways to make cooking easier. Case in point, instead of making 8 Reuben sandwiches I layered all of the ingredients in a casserole dish and baked it.
The bread on top gets all toasty which is the perfect compliment to the layers of corned beef, sauerkraut, Thousand Island dressing and Swiss cheese. Reuben sandwiches are one of my husband’s favorites and I knew he would be all over this.
INGREDIENTS LIST
Here are the main components of a Reuben sandwich.
- CORNED BEEF – you can buy corned beef deli meat at the deli counter or make your own Corned Beef.
- SAUERKRAUT – All it is is fermented cabbage which adds flavor and acidity.
- SWISS CHEESE
- THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING
- SLICES OF RYE BREAD – you could also use butter crackers, rye crackers, or pita chips
The traditional bread in a Reuben sandwich is rye but you could use any sturdier bread you had on hand. I used a beautiful marble rye.
Assembling the casserole takes a matter of minutes. I will say one important thing to note is to make sure you drain your sauerkraut well and even dab it with a paper towel to make sure the liquid is out so that it doesn’t seep to the bottom of the casserole while baking.
MORE ST. PATRICK’S DAY RECIPES:
Reuben Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound sliced deli corned beef, coarsely chopped
- 16 ounces sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup Thousand Island salad dressing
- 2 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
- 6 slices Rye bread, cubed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Layer corned beef on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
- Make sure the sauerkraut is drained and patted dry. Sprinkle it on top of the beef.
- Drizzle the dressing on top of the sauerkraut and sprinkle the Swiss cheese on top.
- Arrange the diced bread on top of the casserole and lightly spray it with cooking spray so that it toasts up nicely (or you can butter the bread).
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bread is toasted and cheese has melted.
Notes
Delicious drain sauerkraut. Butter bread that you place on top! Love this
Thanks!
Turkey makes a Rachael. I am making this tonight
Can you use canned corn beef? Of course you would have to heat it to remove the grease first.
Yes you can!
Hi. I’ve made this many times. I always leave the canned corned beef grease in it because I found that the casserole at times seemed a little dry. I also add chopped drained stewed or chopped tomatoes It provides another great flavor to an already delicious casserole.
Made a house favorite even easier! We love it!
Thank you!
Scrolling through my saved recipes, looking for an idea for dinner, and refound this amazing recipe. Quick and easy to make with wonderful flavor!
Thank you!
I really think this needs more bread. I felt that it had a lot of sauce and meat, but not enough bread to balance it out. Otherwise, good recipe.
We like more bread also – so we toast more bread and put the Rueben casserole on top of the toasted bread (open face Rueben)
We love it !!!
In fact this is what I’m making today for tomorrow 🍀🙂
Hands down, the best Reuben Casserole recipe! Have made it for family, friends, work, and potlucks. It always gets rave reviews. Every once in a while I will make 1/2 recipe and put in individual containers for my lunches for the week. Because the bread is on top, it reheats in microwave without getting soggy.
Great feedback thatnk you!
This is not a casserole. It’s a sandwich in a casserole dish.
I make this all the time we love it! It works great as a meal prep freeze meal. I just assemble it and freeze it. We like to mix sriracha Mayo with the thousand island and pepper jack cheese slices instead of Swiss, gives it a little kick.
Ooh sounds delicious!
Did this freeze well? Was the bread in when you froze it? And how did you reheat it? Sorry for all the questions, lol. I just wanted to know for future reference 🙂
Instead of layering the ingredients could you mix everything together than put swiss cheese on top
I have tried this numerous times. I use Bavarian sauerkraut and it is delicious.
Oh yum!
I am going to be making this for dinner tonight, was wondering if the baking dish needs to sprayed so meat doesn’t stick? And I am having to use Pastrami because the stores in this town only carry deli corn beef of certain Holidays.
You must be fun to live with…never know what exciting or different things you would be living eating. You have so many great meal ideas. I lost my husband a little a year ago. I have been dealing with by going to the gym class 4 times a week so that I have a support team. Keep up the great recipes…I love them
I’m so sorry about your husband. That’s incredibly hard.
This is an amazing idea!! I never would’ve thought to do a casserole like this and I LOVE reubens like crazy. I’ll have to try this out!
Hope you love it!
This recipe looks awesome, but I have a question I can’t find answered anywhere. I’m not planning on using deli corned beef but have regular uncooked briskets. Do I need to precook the meat or will it cook through just in the casserole in the oven? I’m thinking I can throw the briskets in the crock pot and assemble the casserole tonight if it needs to be cooked. Thank you for a great recipe. I can’t wait to try it!
The meat should be cooked because it won’t have enough time in the casserole to get fully done.
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Thank you. I will try to do that!
I made this casserole again tonight and it was excellent, as usual! After having discovering it last fall, I’ve made it several times. It’s a great idea for anyone who loves Reuben sandwiches. Thanks for an easy, delicious recipe!
I’ve made something like this before as my husband and I both like reubens. This was good especially with the toasted bread on top. But we thought there was too much meat in it, (which is unusual for my husband to think that, he’s a meat and potatoes kind of guy) and next time I make it, I’ll make it with less corned beef.
Just found your recipe and I will be making it for St. Patrick’s Day. I never really liked Ruben sandwiches until I had one made with Russian dressing. Bingo! Sorry, but just don’t like thousand island. I only mention this for others who may not try your recipe for the same reason. I know people who will not vary from a recipe and not make it if it has just one ingredient that they don’t like. Thanks for the recipe.
Do you think it’s okay to assemble it ahead of time and bake it the next morning??? Any help is greatly appreciated 🙂
Yes, I think that would work!
My family loves reubens! This is a tasty way to enjoy them!
Great take on the reuben!
Thanks Kevin!
Made it for St. Patty’s Day…my husband LOVED it! Thanks for sharing!
Great to hear!
I am not surprised a Reuben sandwich lover like your husband would be all over this recipe. I am a working woman, so lunch is geared toward that. When I have to make a home lunch, my mind blanks out. Maybe because I am so grateful that I am not at work, I can’t think straight. Who knows. Laughing. Anyway what a ‘ great get me off the hook of what to serve’ lunch idea this is. Thank you.
Delicious casserole:)
This is genius! I adore Reuben sandwiches. Pumpernickel is my choice of bread for it. I actually never had one in a restaurant, only the one I made at home which is not quite authentic (based on my research)– I replace the dressing with Dijon mustard. My husband and I prefer it this way. Thanks for the idea, putting on my “to cook soon” list!
This looks delicious!
I can’t remember the last time I had a reuben . This is an interesting twist – have to try.
That looks really good! It’s a giant sandwich!
I’d really like to give this a try but good corned beef is hard to come by in the UK (we still seem to have a love affair with that weird greasy stuff that comes out of tins!). What other types of meat would be suitable in this dish?
Hmm. I’m not sure since corned beef is kind of the staple for a Reuben. Maybe a deli roast beef?
PAstrami works well on a reuben also
Pastrami works perfect. In fact, that’s the only way my son will eat it. Pastrami and 1000 island dressing. Sometimes he wants a 3 layer sandwich and I’ll use a slice of dark rye, turkey, swiss cheese, another slice of dark rye, pastrami, sauerkraut and a last slice of dark rye. Then I grill it on both sides. Coming up on Tuesday. Yay. : ) Love your website!
You can use pastrami and still get the same flavor. There is also a “Rachel” that is the same only they use ham instead.