I’d like to meet the person who came up with the reuben and give them a big bear hug. It’s my go to pub food and triggers so many fond memories of great nights with friends, drinking Guinness and listening to Irish folk music. The crunch of the perfectly grilled rye giving way to gooey melted Swiss and thousand island dressing seeping into the sauerkraut before hitting pay dirt, the hot corned beef star of the show.
This is another reason I stock up on corned beef when it goes on sale for St. Patrick’s Day and stash it in the freezer for reubens and corned beef hash.
Even better, we came up with a fantastic thousand island dressing recipe that uses our red pepper relish so we can make what we need without staring at an expiring bottle of dressing the rest of the year.
Skill Level: Easy
10 minutes
Prep: 5 minutes
Bake: 5 minutes
10 minutes
Prep: 5 minutes
Bake: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
Thousand Island Dressing:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 2 tbsp sweet red pepper relish or hot red pepper relish
- 1/8 tsp kosher salt or more to taste
Reuben:
- cooked corn beef
- swirled rye bread
- swiss cheese
- saurkraut
- butter
Directions:
Thousand Island Dressing:
- Combine mayonnaise, ketchup, relish and salt
- refrigerate to allow flavors to meld
Sandwich:
- Heat corned beef and sauerkraut in a small skillet until warm
- Butter one side of rye and place on skillet, top with thousand island dressing (think grilled cheese)
- Layer corned beef, swiss cheese, sauerkraut
- Spread thousand island dressing on one side of bread and top reuben
- Butter and flip to toast the other side
- Serve Hot
There you have it, a crunchy, juicy, gooey reuben that’s steaming hot and hasn’t been sitting under a heat lamp. Grab some napkins, crack a Guinness and dig in.
