Pastrami or Corned Beef?
I actually enjoy both. I believe the traditional Reuben sandwich is made with corned beef. However, my understanding of them both is rudimentary and limited to Wikipedia. 😉  But my basic understanding in their difference is how they are cooked. Corned beef is boiled and pastrami is smoked. They are both brined beforehand. Additional seasoning is also put in that brine (which is basically salt, water and sugar) where it soaks for a long period of time. Then more seasoning is added to the pastrami before it is smoked. They are usually from the same cuts of beef (the brisket cut) but I also read that pastrami can come from other cuts as well. 
Big ole reuben sandwich!
When I was deciding on whether I wanted to use corned beef or pastrami in this recipe – I decided to go to the deli counter at Kroger and taste test a few. The corned beef they had was decent but the pastrami was way better (in my humble opinion.) So I went with pastrami. But, of course, you can go with whatever you enjoy in this. It all works! I absolutely love a good Reuben sandwich. This casserole is like a giant, warm Reuben sandwich that you can eat with a fork. So good!
Ingredients:
6 slices rye bread (dark or light), divided use
1 pound thinly sliced pastrami or corned beef, divided use
1 (14.5 oz.) can or jar sauerkraut, drained well
4 cups shredded Swiss cheese, divided use
2 tsp. caraway seeds, divided use
1 cup chopped dill pickles
1 cup milk
3 large Eggland’s Best eggs, beaten
â…“ cup thousand island dressing
¼ cup mustard
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350f degrees. Spray 11×7 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Take four slices of rye bread and cut them into 2-inch cubes.
Place remaining slices of rye bread into food processor and pulse into fine breadcrumbs and set aside.
Spread cubed bread into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
Cover evenly with half of the pastrami.
Then evenly top with drained sauerkraut, chopped pickles and 1 tsp. caraway seeds.
Sprinkle 2 cups of shredded Swiss cheese on top of sauerkraut layer.
Next, top with remaining pastrami. I gently push down to help compact it all a bit.
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.
Enjoy!
Baked Reuben Casserole
Ingredients
- 6 slices rye bread (dark or light) divided use
- 1 pound thinly sliced pastrami or corned beef divided use
- 1 14.5 oz can or jar sauerkraut drained well
- 4 cups shredded Swiss cheese divided use
- 2 tsp caraway seeds divided use
- 1 cup chopped dill pickles
- 1 cup milk
- 3 large eggs beaten
- â…“ cup thousand island dressing
- ¼ cup mustard
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350f degrees. Spray 11x7 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Take four slices of rye bread and cut them into 2-inch cubes.
- Place remaining slices of rye bread into food processor and pulse into fine breadcrumbs and set aside.
- Spread cubed bread into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- Cover evenly with half of the pastrami.
- Then evenly top with drained sauerkraut, chopped pickles and 1 tsp. caraway seeds.
- Sprinkle 2 cups of shredded Swiss cheese on top of sauerkraut layer.
- Next, top with remaining pastrami. I gently push down to help compact it all a bit.
- 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.
Can you make this and put in two smaller baking dishes and freeze one for future use?
This looks so good and I love Ruebens!
You absolutely could do that!
Do the breadcrumbs get crisp with it covered for the entire baking period?
Yes, they get crisp. If you like it super crispy, you could take off the foil during the last 10 minutes of baking. Or stick it under the broiler. 🙂
Don’t care for sauerkraut, what do you suggest as a replacement? Love your recipes always a hit with my family. Thank you.
I’m not sure. I suppose you could just leave it off. 🙂
Reuben means sauerkraut….you can’t leave it out and still have a Reuben…..it would be something else.
Cliff
we love Reuben casserole!
the only thing I do differently is to chop the pastrami slices so we don’t have to wrestle with whole pieces, since we often have younger eaters here when I make it ;0)
thanks for the idea of layering rye cubes on the bottom! I will do that next time I make this–which is already on my menu list for next week, thanx to you LOL
Thanks so much!! Those cubes on the bottom totally make a difference! 🙂
I do not like Thousand Island dressing so when I make reubens If anyone wants it they can put it on themselves I prefer to use a nice mild horse radish dressing it is realy good
me too
Would love to try this today. The rye I bought is an elongated loaf (all I could find). Can you provide approximate measurements for the rye bread in cups?
Seriously, just use good judgment. You can see she just covered the bottom of the dish with the bread one easy layer in cubes and covered the top not to thick. Cooking doesn’t mean exact measurements all the time., in baking maybe, but cooking no!.
I always like horseradish sause on my reuben sandwich.