This post was updated in 2020 – original post date was in 2017. Enjoy!
Does it ever sometimes hit you just how much you miss bread? I know that I can make paleo versions of bread, but it’s just not quite the same for the most part. Sometimes you just want to bite into a cream cheese slathered bagel or the soft bread wrapped around a BLT. More recently, I’ve been craving the crispy, toasty rye bread that envelops the perfect Reuben sandwich.

Of course this craving was not made any better when my well-meaning mom texted me a picture of the Reuben she was eating for lunch one day. She is lucky I already had this casserole in the oven otherwise that conversation could have taken a different turn.
Keto Reuben Recipe

The thing that really makes this casserole taste so close to the real sandwich is the addition of the caraway seeds, to mimic the flavor of the rye bread. Or maybe it’s the homemade 1000 island dressing? Or the sauerkraut? Probably all of it, actually.

I love to make my own sauerkraut and will often just add the caraway seeds right in there. Other times I leave them out and sprinkle the seeds right on top of the casserole. If you’re using sauerkraut that has caraway in it already, you could probably just omit them from the recipe or cut the amount in half.

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing
And of course, save some 1000 island to drizzle over your own serving, because it is SO good, you’ll want more than what’s baked in to the casserole, I guarantee it.

Reuben Casserole {keto, low-carb}
Ingredients
Casserole
- 1 lb Corned Beef, already cooked
- 1 cup Sauerkraut
- 6 slices Swiss Cheese, or enough shredded to cover the top
- 1/2 tsp Caraway Seeds, see notes
Thousand Island Dressing
- 3/4 cup Paleo Lime Mayo
- 2 Tbsp Tomato Sauce
- 2 Kosher Dill Pickles, finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp White Vinegar
- 1/8 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Combine all the 'Thousand Island Dressing' ingredients in a glass jar, put a lid on it and seal it tightly, and shake real good until everything is combined. Set aside.
- Strain any extra liquid out of the sauerkraut and squeeze dry with paper towels. Set aside.
- Carve up the corned beef into bite-sized pieces. Try not to eat it all before it makes it into the casserole dish. Place the corned beef pieces in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
- Evenly distribute the sauerkraut over the corned beef and drizzle about half of the Thousand Island Dressing over that. Cover the top with the Swiss cheese and sprinkle on the caraway seeds, if using.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until the top is bubbly and slightly golden. Remove from oven and serve hot with an additional drizzle of the remaining Thousand Island Dressing.
Notes
- If your sauerkraut has caraway seeds in it already, use less in the casserole topping.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1 gAmount Per Serving: Calories: 338Total Fat: 30gSaturated Fat: 8gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 1009mgCarbohydrates: 2gSugar: 1gProtein: 14g
Nutrition is calculated by a third party and may not be 100% accurate

12 comments
I just made this. I had to sub turkey pastrami for the corned beef and didnt have any caraway seed, oh and used mozarella instead of swiss. Lol; next time I’ll make sure I have all the right ingredients. It still was so easy and yummy. I loved the thousand island dressing on it too. Thanks for the great recipe!
Fabulous!!! Sandwiches were the hardest thing to give up when I decided to cut my carbs and reubens are one of my favorites! This hit the spot!
I even featured it on my blog post – ode to sandwiches!
I made exactly as recipe directed. We love it. However 1/8 of the recipe was not enough food for us.
I find it hard to believe that this recipe is written for 8 servings. Considering that is 2 oz of meat this is not going to serve 8.
In the recipe, next to the corned beef it says “see notes”. But, I see no notes regarding the corned beef. Please explain.
I was wondering the same exact thing….
I’m not sure why the “see notes” wording is on that ingredient, it shouldn’t be. I’ve removed it. Sorry for the confusion.
It also looks like there are potatoes in that picture in a bowl..
My fiancé and I have been fiending for ruebens and this is the perfect way to enjoy it on Keto. Can’t wait to try this for our Sunday dinner. Thanks for the recipe!
Where do you buy already cooked corned beef? Are you talking about deli style corned beef?
This recipe sounds delicious but corned beef is quite a process to make so I too would like to know if you use deli corned beef. Thanks
I think this looks really good but with the cheese it isn’t paleo. Is there a paleo version of this recipe or do you know of something to substitute?