Hot Reuben Dip
With all the great flavor of a Reuben Sandwich, this Reuben Dip blends corned beef, Swiss cheese and more into a tasty appetizer!
I love experimenting with recipes that are mash-ups. That’s when you fuse two different foods together to create a totally new dish. Like transforming an apple pie into apple pie bars (cookies). Or turning your favorite tacos into taco pizza. Yum!
If it goes well you get the best of two worlds—and have some fun besides!
And this is how I set out to make a Reuben Dip today. Since I love a good Reuben Sandwich, I was pretty confident Reuben Dip was going to be delicious too!
Of course I’m also making this in honor of St Patrick’s Day! Although, truthfully, I saw very little beef and zero corned beef back when I was a student in Ireland. But I figure it’s also an Irish American holiday and there’s corned beef a-plenty here!
What is a Reuben?
Per Wikipedia, “the Reuben sandwich is a North American grilled sandwich composed of corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing or Thousand Island dressing, grilled between slices of rye bread.”
In keeping with its origins, this Reuben Dip has all the same ingredients except the rye bread. Then it blends everything together with cream cheese.
Yes, it’s delicious–however it’s served!
Why You’ll Love This!
Easy. With just 5 ingredients that you simply mix and bake, this tasty appetizer couldn’t be much easier.
Tasty. This dip has all the great flavor of the popular sandwich. Especially if you serve it on rye bread or rye chips!
Fun & Versatile. Serve it for St Patrick’s Day–or anytime. It is sure to be popular!
What You’ll Need
Ingredient Notes
- Cream Cheese. This adds creaminess and holds the other ingredients together. You can use regular or lite.
- Corned Beef. This adds special flavor and meaty goodness. You can use leftover corned beef brisket or deli corned beef.
- Sauerkraut. This adds tartness and balances the richer flavors with an acid note.
- Thousand Island Dressing. This adds a punch of flavor. If you don’t want to buy it just for this, search online for a recipe, since you can make it yourself with typical pantry ingredients like ketchup and mayo.
- Swiss Cheese. This adds creaminess and nutrition.
- Dippers. Serve with the dippers of your choice. Consider rye chips, sliced bread, crackers, or cut vegetables. I used all of these except crakers.
Special Tools
- No special tools required!
Step by Step Directions
With a mixer, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy.
Mix in the sauerkraut, part of the cheese and thousand island dressing.
When mixed well, add the corned beef (so you don’t break it up too much).
Spoon the dip into a baking dish, then top with the remaining ½ cup of cheese.
Bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes until dip is bubbly around the edges and just starting to brown on top.
Serve with dippers of your choice.
Alternative crockpot reuben dip preparation. You can also make this by combining the ingredients in a crockpot, heating on high for about 2 hours and stirring periodically to combine as the ingredients heat up. (This didn’t actually seem easier to me).
How to Serve
I sprinkled the dip with a little chopped parsley when it came out of the oven to add a little color.
Serve with your favorite dippers like crackers, cut veggies, pretzels–the sky’s the limit. And in homage to the rye bread typically used for Reuben Sandwiches, consider serving sliced rye bread (half slices or cocktail rye) or rye chips.
Variations and Special Diets
If you’re looking for some other yummy dips, how about my Skinny Poolside Dip or 5-Ingredient Smoked Fish Dip.
And for more St Patrick’s Day fun, check out Beer Braised Corned Beef (Slow Cooker), Green Velvet Cupcakes, or Irish Soda Bread.
And if Guinness isn’t your jam, how about a nice Grasshopper Cocktail made with ice cream!
Leftovers
Cover and refrigerate leftovers and use within a few days. Reheat in short bursts in the microwave, stirring in between.
Consider serving leftovers on a rye bagel for a St Patrick’s Day breakfast! I’d get out of bed for that–even with a little too much Guinness the night before! Just make an Irish Coffee with it if you need a little “hair of the dog.”
Tips & FAQs
If you have leftover corned beef from St Patrick’s Day this is a fun way to use that up (but also consider Reuben Sandwiches—just use corned beef instead of the tempeh in my Tempeh Reuben recipe).
As far as selecting corned beef, you can use regular corned beef or deli style in this. When I went shopping the deli meat was $14.99/lb and the meat department corned beef was $4/lb.
That convinced me to nix the deli meat but ultimately the savings was not as much as I expected. Once the brisket had boiled and I trimmed off the slab of fat on top, my 3 lb roast was down to 1 ½ lbs which came out to $8/lb. But that was still a savings and as a bonus we had the extra meat for a meal of corned beef and cabbage!
Reuben Dip
Ingredients
- 8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese or regular
- 8 ounces corned beef about 1 ½ cups
- 1 cup sauerkraut drained
- ¼ cup thousand island dressing
- 2 cups shredded Swiss cheese divided (about 6 ounces)
- Dippers of your choice
Instructions
- With a mixer, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy.
- Mix in the sauerkraut, 1 ½ cups of the cheese and thousand island dressing.
- When mixed well, add the corned beef (so you don’t break it up too much).
- Spoon the dip into a baking dish, then top with the remaining ½ cup of cheese.
- Bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes until dip is bubbly around the edges and just starting to brown on top.
- Serve with dippers of your choice.
What a creative twist on a classic! This Reuben Dip sounds like the perfect appetizer for any occasion, especially St. Patrick’s Day. I love how you’ve captured all the flavors of a Reuben sandwich in a creamy, cheesy dip.
I haven’t had this dip in years. Thanks for the reminder as my husband loves a good Ruben sandwich and this dip would certainly make him happy.
What a fun thing to have for a gathering of friends. I really miss having Ruben sandwiches, but it’s very hard to find corned beef without garlic these days. (Yes, I know I can make my own… Maybe I should?)
Yep. Reubens are definitely a New York thing. But that doesn’t stop our enjoyment of it here in the USA. I definitely keep it as an option for St. Patrick’s Day.
Yum! We love reubens and I’ve had this dip out but I’ve never made it myself. Need to change that!