Baked Reuben Sliders
The perfect sandwich made into the perfect starter.
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I am of the opinion that the Reuben sandwich is a miracle. I don’t like any of the ingredients separately all that much but somehow, when they’re combined, it’s one of my favorite things on earth. Miracle. It’s an indulgent and hearty thing, but it’s so well balanced, you know? It’s meaty and rich but there’s plenty of sweetness and tang too. (And of course that singular caraway flavor.) That combo translates incredibly well to party sliders, which coincidentally are also one of my favorite things on earth, so that works out incredibly well!
The nice thing about a party slider is that you can prep them ahead, store them in the fridge, and then bake them when it’s party time. It’s a great make ahead option and everyone loves them. Here’s how you go about it:
Basically, you need all the usual Reuben ingredients: corned beef or pastrami, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, thousand island (or Russian) dressing, and of course, some bread. The bread is where this differs a bit. Since these are party sliders, you want a pack of Hawaiian or soft dinner rolls and those don’t really come in rye flavor. But we get around that by topping the rolls with melted butter flavored with caraway seeds, poppy seeds, minced onion, and a little salt and pepper. (More on that in a second.)
You want to slice the rolls in half, but keep them attached to each other so you have a slab of bottom rolls and a slab of the tops, more or less. Then, you’ll slather each half with thousand island and layer the bottom rolls with the meat, the cheese, and the ‘kraut. Once the top rolls are on, you’ll brush them with that butter mixture I mentioned before.
At this point, they’re ready to bake or ready to refrigerate, but either way you’ll cover them with foil first. They bake, covered, for fifteen minutes and then five minutes uncovered to brown them up a bit.
They’ll come out of the oven hot with irresistibly melty cheese and that perfect Reuben flavor. One of the best things is you can just set these out and let people pull off their servings. Such an easy app, and such a delicious one too.
Baked Reuben Sliders
Ingredients
- 12 soft dinner rolls or Hawaiian rolls
- 1/2 cup thousand island dressing
- 1/2 lb corned beef or pastrami, thinly sliced
- 1/2 lb Swiss cheese, sliced
- 1 lb sauerkraut, drained
For the topping:
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 teaspoon poppy seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon dried minced onion
- 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish with butter.
- Slice rolls in half, keeping the bottoms attached and the tops attached. Place the bottom half of the rolls in the prepared baking dish.
- Spread half of the thousand island dressing on the bottom half of the rolls.
- Layer with corned beef or pastrami, followed by the sauerkraut, followed by the Swiss cheese.
- Spread remaining thousand island dressing on the other half of the rolls then place on top of the Swiss cheese.
- In a small bowl, whisk together melted butter, poppy seeds, minced onion, caraway seeds, and salt and brush over the top of the rolls.
- Cover dish with foil and bake 15 minutes, until cheese has melted. Remove foil and continue baking until tops are lightly golden, about 5 more minutes. Serve warm and enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Real Housemoms.
