Hot Reuben Dip showcases all the flavors of the famous deli sandwich in one easy appetizer recipe. Scoop up with toasted rye bread pieces to complete the reuben sandwich experience.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
Ingredient notes
- Corned beef: Deli corned beef is great, and so is leftover St. Patrick’s Day corned beef you make yourself (I usually buy deli meat, because this is a dip for year-round enjoyment, not just in March).
- Sauerkraut: Fermented cabbage adds texture, acidity, and flavor. I make my own sauerkraut when I have the chance, but canned works well too.
- Thousand Island dressing: Make it homemade if you want to (it’s just mayo, bread and butter pickles, ketchup, lemon juice, and garlic).
- Crackers: If you run out of crackers or are craving flavors more similar to a reuben sandwich, lightly toast rye bread and cut each slice into quarters. Melba rye chips work well too.
Step-by-step instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and lightly grease a baking dish or oven-proof skillet with nonstick cooking spray. In a bowl, mix together the corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, and salad dressing.
- Then spread it into the bottom of the skillet, smooth the top, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the dip is hot and bubbly, and the top is golden brown and crackly.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: One batch of the recipe makes enough for 8 servings as a snack. We recommend doubling it for a family; you’ll want more.
- Make ahead: Prepare the dip in the skillet up to 3 days ahead and store it in the refrigerator until it’s time to bake.
- Stove-top method: To save time, mix the the corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, and Thousand Island dressing in a saucepan on the stove. Cook over medium heat until hot, stirring occasionally so nothing burns on or sticks to the bottom of the pan.
- Slow cooker method: For a hands-off slow and low approach, combine the corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, and salad dressing in a crockpot and cook on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours or LOW for 4 to 6 hours.
- Broiler: Start the dip on the stove, transfer to a skillet, then broil until the top of the dip is golden brown.
- Corned beef vs. pastrami: Corned beef and pastrami both come from beef brisket, but different parts of the cut. Pastrami is smoked and usually rubbed with more spices during the process, though. And yes, you can and should make this delicious dip with pastrami, too.
More hearty hot dips
Appetizer Recipes
Cheesy Bacon Dip
Appetizer Recipes
Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Appetizer Recipes
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Appetizer Recipes
Hot Corn Dip
Hot Reuben Dip
Hot Reuben Dip showcases all the flavors of the famous deli sandwich in one easy appetizer recipe. Scoop up with toasted rye bread pieces to complete the reuben sandwich experience.
Ingredients
- 1 (8 ounce package) cream cheese softened
- 8 ounces deli corned beef coarsely chopped (see note 1)
- 1 cup Swiss cheese shredded
- 1/2 cup sauerkraut drained well (see note 2)
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup Thousand Island salad dressing (see note 3)
- Triscuit crackers or rye chips, for serving (see note 4)
Instructions
- To make Hot Reuben Dip in the oven, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a pie plate or oven-safe skillet with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, sour cream, and dressing and mix well. Spread into prepared pie plate and bake until hot and bubbly, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with crackers or chips.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Corned beef: Deli corned beef is great, and so is leftover St. Patrick’s Day corned beef you make yourself (I usually buy deli meat, because this is a dip for year-round enjoyment, not just in March).
- Sauerkraut: Fermented cabbage adds texture, acidity, and flavor. I make my own sauerkraut when I have the chance, but canned works well too.
- Thousand Island dressing: Make it homemade if you want to (it’s just mayo, bread and butter pickles, ketchup, lemon juice, and garlic).
- Crackers: If you run out of crackers or are craving flavors more similar to a reuben sandwich, lightly toast rye bread and cut each slice into quarters. Melba rye chips work well too.
- Yield: One batch of the recipe makes enough for 8 servings as a snack. We recommend doubling it for a family; you’ll want more.
- Make ahead: Prepare the dip in the skillet up to 3 days ahead and store it in the refrigerator until it’s time to bake.
- Stove-top method: To save time, mix the the corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, and Thousand Island dressing in a saucepan on the stove. Cook over medium heat until hot, stirring occasionally so nothing burns on or sticks to the bottom of the pan.
- Slow cooker method: For a hands-off slow and low approach, combine the corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, and salad dressing in a crockpot and cook on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours or LOW for 4 to 6 hours.
- Broiler: Start the dip on the stove, transfer to a skillet, then broil until the top of the dip is golden brown.
- Corned beef vs. pastrami: Corned beef and pastrami both come from beef brisket, but different parts of the cut. Pastrami is smoked and usually rubbed with more spices during the process, though. And yes, you can and should make this delicious dip with pastrami, too.
Nutrition
Calories: 160kcalCarbohydrates: 2gProtein: 8gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 34mgSodium: 518mgPotassium: 125mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 163IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 122mgIron: 1mg
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What about half corned beef and half pastrami? I’ve heard it good. I’ve got to make this dip this weekend…
I was going to make this tomorrow in the crock pot but in the crock pot directions, it doesn’t say anything about saurkraut. I’m not sure to add it during the cooking process or after.
Hi Sandra, if you look in the steps, the sauerkraut gets added in Step #2. I thought it might be a typo but it’s there! Sorry for the confusion!
No no, I’m wrong. It’s not the crockpot directions, that IS a typo. Sorry about that. It gets added with everything being dumped in the crockpot. I’ll fix it now! So sorry about that!
Made this tonight. Doubled the corned beef for my carnivore family. Running late and microwaved the full ingredients to get it started and combined. Placed in the mini slow cooker and it was ready in an hour. Served with mini rye. All gone! This is a keeper!
Thank you!
Would this do well making it a few days ahead of time (2days) and then baking?
Made this for our Christmas house party. It was awesome. I am sure glad I listened to my husband and made a double batch. Will definitely be making it again.
Thank you so much Diane! It’s pretty much the best dip ever in my opinion. Double-batch it always! Thanks for letting me know and take care! :D
I am excited to try this recipe. My family are huge corned need beef fans. I’ll just make 2 since 1 disappears like piranha’s on a platter. Chop it up and save in portioned bags in the freezer so I always have it on hand. I am this certain it will be a hit. I will let you know in a month. Thanks for the recipe 🤗
Thanks for the freezer ideas, Beth! Brilliant. Nothing in there would suffer from the freezer, that’s for sure. Piranhas, ha ha ha! :)
Did not have corned beef but did have left over smoked ham. So I chopped that up then followed the rest of the recipe & no one knew the difference! It was a Super Bowl hit! Thank you for the inspiration!
YES!!!! I think that packaged Budig beef would probably work here too. Good call, I love your creativity! I am definitely going to try that the next time I have leftover ham. :) So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you Marcia!
Hello,
This sounds delicious. Do you just leave the sauerkraut out and let people add that on top of their cracker if they choose? It isn’t mentioned in the instructions and since I’ve never had sauerkraut I don’t know if heating it with everything else would ruin the taste or not.
Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Maureen, that was a big ol’ typo! Sorry about that. The sauerkraut gets stirred in after the Swiss cheese. It definitely doesn’t ruin the taste (provided you like the taste of sauerkraut, of course) and it’s an essential component of a Reuben sandwich. If you pick some up, feel free to try it straight out the jar to make sure you like it first! if not, you could definitely leave it out of the recipe. Thanks for your comment and sorry for the confusion!
Hot dips fascinate me a bit, because they’re not a British thing AT ALL! I’m not sure a Brit would know what to do with it if one was put in front of them.
Despite this, I think they sound AMAZING, and maybe I should make it my mission to get it introduced here! That’s what I love about your blog – always introducing me to new and delicious things!
Got to check out that homemade Thousand Island, too. Now that IS something we know here!
Your hot Reuben dip is AMAZING! I love the crunch from the sour kraut, and the flavor of the cheeses, meat and dressing blend so well together. I’ll need to make two batches next time. And eating them with RYE crackers?! Genius! It’s the perfect replica of the sandwhich in dip form.