Reuben Casserole
This Reuben Casserole is like a huge reuben sandwich for a crowd! Layers of rye bread, pastrami, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and a special sauce!
A Delicious Pastrami Casserole
One of my family’s favorite sandwiches are reuben sandwiches. They love them! But it can be time consuming to make each individual sandwich, right? So why not just make one big Reuben Casserole. All the same flavors, served warm and easy to slice up and serve!
5 stars for sure: I loved the Dressing Mix – out of this world, DELICIOUS!! Nothing to change on this recipe, I will make this again and again! Thank You!
– Jamie
Frequently Asked Questions:
You can use sliced corned beef or pastrami. I prefer pastrami but use your favorite.
Make sure you drain the sauerkraut real well. You don’t want any excess juices making it soggy.
Use dark or light rye bread. Both work just fine with this recipe.
Don’t forget the caraway seeds. They really do make this recipe! If you really don’t want to use them, you can omit them, but it won’t be the same.
You bet! If you don’t need as many servings, you can simply cut this recipe as written in half. You’ll need a smaller baking dish and you will most likely need to cut back on the baking time.
Store leftover Reuben Sandwich Casserole covered in the fridge for up to 4 days. The longer it sits, the higher the risk of getting soggy.
If you don’t have an 11×7-inch baking dish you can use a 9×13-inch dish but the casserole will just be thinner. You also may not need to cook it in the oven quite as long.
Sure thing. Just transfer to a freezer safe container or freezer safe bag and store in the freezer for up to 2-3 months.
Ingredients Needed: (See Recipe Card Below For The Full Recipe)
- rye bread – you can use dark or light. We like both but sometimes stores only carry one or the other.
- thinly sliced pastrami or corned beef – this is a wonderful recipe for that leftover St. Patricks Day corned beef!
- sauerkraut – make sure you drain it well or it will make this casserole soggy.
- shredded Swiss cheese – if you don’t enjoy Swiss cheese, you can use provolone or even mozzarella.
- caraway seeds – I think the caraway seeds really make this casserole special but you can leave them out if you don’t like them.
- chopped dill pickles – I suppose you could also use a dill pickle relish just don’t get too carried away with spreading it on.
- thousand island dressing – you could also use Russian dressing.
How To Make Reuben Casserole:
Preheat oven to 350f degrees. Spray 11×7-inch or 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Please note the photos below make the baking dish look larger than it is. It is not a larger baking dish – it is only an 11×7-inch dish. Take four slices of rye bread and cut them into 2-inch cubes. Spread cubed bread into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Place remaining slices of rye bread into food processor and pulse into fine breadcrumbs and set aside.
Cover evenly with half of the pastrami. Then evenly top with drained sauerkraut. Note: press down on the layers as you go.
Followed by chopped pickles and 1 teaspoon caraway seeds. Sprinkle 2 cups of shredded Swiss cheese on top of the previous layer.
Next, top with remaining pastrami. Continue to push down the layers as you go. Sprinkle remaining 2 cups Swiss cheese and 1 tsp. caraway seeds on top of pastrami. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, thousand island dressing and mustard. Pour mixture evenly over the casserole.
Top with breadcrumbs. Cover with foil. Bake for 45 minutes.
Remove from oven, let rest for 5 minutes then slice and serve.
Craving More Recipes?
- Slow Cooker Corned Beef
- Reuben Sliders
- Reuben Dip
- Reuben Egg Rolls
- Polish Casserole for Two
- Instant Pot Corned Beef
- Shepherd’s Pie
- Quick Sauerkraut
- Homemade Sauerkraut (Fermented)
Originally published: March 2017
Updated photos and republished: February 2024
Reuben Casserole
Ingredients
- 6 slices rye bread (dark or light) (divided use)
- 1 pound thinly sliced pastrami or corned beef (divided use)
- 14.5 ounce can or jar sauerkraut, drained very well
- 4 cups shredded Swiss cheese (divided use)
- 1 cup chopped dill pickles
- 2 teaspoons caraway seeds (divided use)
- 1 cup milk
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- ⅓ cup thousand island dressing
- ¼ cup yellow mustard
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350f degrees. Spray 11×7-inch or 9×13-inch baking dish (casserole will be thinner with a larger dish) with nonstick cooking spray.
- Take four slices of rye bread and cut them into 2-inch cubes. Spread the cubed rye bread into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- Place remaining 2 slices of rye bread into food processor and pulse into fine breadcrumbs and set aside.
- Cover cubed rye bread evenly with half of the pastrami.
- Then evenly top with 14.5 ounce can or jar sauerkraut, drained very well, 1 cup chopped dill pickles and 1 teaspoon caraway seeds.
- Sprinkle 2 cups shredded Swiss cheese on top of sauerkraut layer.
- Next, top with remaining pastrami. Push down on all the layers to help compact it a bit.
- Sprinkle remaining 2 cups Swiss cheese and 1 teaspoon caraway seeds on top of pastrami.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 cup milk, 3 large eggs, beaten, ⅓ cup thousand island dressing and ¼ cup yellow mustard.
- Pour mixture evenly over the casserole.
- Top with the rye breadcrumbs you set aside earlier.
- Cover with foil. Bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven, let rest for 5 minutes then slice and serve.
Video
Notes
- Please refer to my FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) and ingredient list above for other substitutions or for the answers to the most common questions.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
I make this every year for a themed work potluck and just love it! Question, though, can I put it in a square crockpot on low for a few hours instead so it is served hot?
I’m not sure honestly. It could maybe work but I haven’t personally tested it & I hate to say unless I’ve tried it myself
question since I haven’t made it yet. Am planning to make aa double batch (two separate pans) for St. Patty’s party for large crowd. I need to do everything ahead of time that I can. So, to make and freeze ahead do I bake and freeze? At what temp do I reheat after thawing. I’ve never had a Rachael so might make that also.
Amazing, simple & flavorful. Made a 9×9, using 2 eggs & a little more than 1/2 the amount of milk with pickle relish, homemade thousand island & toasted panko on top. Will be definitely be making this again, thank you!
Thanks so very much Deborah!! Sure do appreciate you taking the time to comment!
5 stars for sure: I loved the Dressing Mix – out of this World, DELICIOUS!! Nothing to change on this recipe, I will make this again and again! Thank You!
Have never had Reuben casserole but served this to our family and everyone loves it so much. Thank you.
That makes me so happy to hear – thank you Sarah!
QUESTION – Just saw this recipe, and wondered if using crushed Gardetto’s Special Request Garlic Rye Crisps would work either for, or added to, the topping to add even more rye flavor?
They don’t sell those by me (I’m in a small town!) so I’m not familiar – sorry!
I made this corned beef in my slow cooker and then chunked it up in place of the pastrami. It turned out fantastic. Everyone in my pinochle group loved it!
Made this for my wife and I. We both absolutely loved it and gave leftovers to our neighbors who also really enjoyed it. Thank you very much
I made this with canned corned beef. It is so good.
Can this be made in advanced in cooked hours later?
You could but it can get a bit soggy so just keep that in mind.
I made it ahead and baked it the next day. It turned out just fine
Super yummy dish!! Best way to reheat?
I reheat this in individual portions wrapped in foil in my toaster oven or oven on low heat, around 300-325° until hot in center and open it up the last few minutes to crisp the top. I have successfully frozen portions also, tightly wrapped in 2 layers of foil and then thaw in fridge overnight and reheat as above until hot in center. It freezes beautifully!
I followed the recipe exactly ( which I don’t always do 100%). My family loved it, we all had seconds. For my 8 year to ask for seconds is rare, but she actually asked for thirds. I will definitely be doing this meal again.
Absolutely scrumptious! My husband couldn’t stop raving over how good it was. Definitely a keeper, thank you!!
I think this is my hubby’s new favorite meal! I’ve made it 4 times already since finding your recipe. Thank you!!
Can you freeze Ruben casserole before cooking it
It will get soggy
My husband and I loved this recipe…used our homemade rye bread (without the breadcrumbs) and homemade mayo/thousand island dressing. It was great even though we didn’t incorporate the dressing into the milk and egg mixture. We used it as a sauce over our portions which was wonderful in our opinion. We will definitely make this again!
We made this last night, and it was delicious! I did have to bake it about 15 minutes longer, because it wasn’t hot enough, so I uncovered it and baked it until the thermometer reached about 165° and it was delicious. I will also say that it’s salty because of the corned beef, cheese and sauerkraut. Letting it rest for 5 minutes made it easy to serve. My slices looked just like the recipe picture. Overall, this was a great success. Next time I’ll try pastrami. Thanks for this recipe I will be keeping.
Thank you for your comments. I’m making this tonight for my 88 year old mother! She loves ruebin sandwiches and doesn’t get to eat them near like she used to. I’m excited
I hope she loves this one Linda!
I cannot wait to make this recipe!!! It sounds and looks delicious!! Thanks for sharing it!!
Hope you love it as much as we do!
Excellent! Thank you for sharing w us! I can see this recipe in my fall rotation
Excited to try your other recipes now!
I made This Casserole With anxiety, My hubby is very fussy about his Rubens, We almost ate The entire Casserole. Absolutely perfect in every way possible, Thank you ❤️
Thanks so much Eunice! That is high praise indeed. I’m so glad you took a chance on it!
Scrumptious! I will be making this again and again. Thanks for this awesome recipe!
Yay!! Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and leave a review! So thrilled to hear you love this one!
Absolutely delicious!!!
The pickles really make this pop!
I just toasted the rye bread and cut it into tiny squares for our topping instead of making bread crumbs in the food processor. It worked out so well, gave the top layer a little crunch. (I did use 4 slices for the topping)
I am looking forward to trying some more of your recipes!
Fabulous! This has become one of the most frequent requests from my family!
Awesome Recipe!
Super easy to make and so delicious. Everyone loved it and then I froze the leftovers. Weeks later I reheated it and it tasted like the day I made it. This recipe is a keeper! Thank You!
Woo hoo! Thank you so very much Lala!
Instead of pastrami, i use portabella mushrooms,(saute lightly 16 oz or the huge caps around 4-5) everything else is the same.
This is a year round recipe.