A vegan Reuben with beets is a rye-bread sandwich built exactly like the classic: quick-pickled or roasted beets standing in for corned beef, sauerkraut for the sour punch, slices of meltable vegan cheese, and a creamy Thousand Island-style dressing. From jarred beets it takes about 20 minutes. From fresh beets with a homemade beet pastrami rub, budget 45. Everything happens in a skillet and on a cutting board.
The part that trips most people up is not the flavor, it is the structure. Beet juice is aggressive, and the moment it reaches bread, the sandwich goes soft and magenta. Everything below is built around keeping that juice where it belongs.
| Prep time | 15 minutes with jarred beets, 30 minutes with fresh |
|---|---|
| Cook time | 25 minutes (roast or simmer), 0 minutes if the beets are already cooked |
| Total time | 20 minutes to 45 minutes |
| Yield | 2 sandwiches |
| Difficulty | Easy. The only real skill is squeezing sauerkraut dry. |
Table of Contents
- What You Need
- The beet layer
- The homemade vegan Thousand Island dressing
- For assembly
- Which beet method should you use?
- Step-by-Step: How to Make Vegan Reuben with Beets
- Prepare the Beets
- Build the Reuben Layers
- Toast and Serve the Sandwich
- Common Mistakes
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I use canned beets for a vegan reuben?
- What is the best vegan cheese for a reuben?
- Do I need rye bread for a vegan reuben?
- How do I keep a reuben from becoming soggy?
- What are the ingredients in vegan reuben dressing?
- What is a dirty reuben sandwich?
- Conclusion
What You Need
Equipment is minimal: a skillet or grill press, a sheet pan with a wire rack if you are roasting, a mandoline or sharp knife for the beets, and a jar or bowl for the sauerkraut. A paper towel comes in surprisingly handy later.
The beet layer
- 3 medium beets, or one 8-ounce jar of cooked beets, or 1 cup quick-pickled beets
- 1 teaspoon pickling spice, or a pinch of caraway seed, coriander and mustard seed
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 or 3 drops liquid smoke, optional
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Apple cider vinegar, salt and black pepper
The homemade vegan Thousand Island dressing
- 1/3 cup vegan mayo, which is often sold as veganaise
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish, or 2 chopped dill pickle spears
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce, or sriracha
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- Pinch of smoked paprika and garlic powder
Check the ketchup label. A lot of standard ketchup is sweetened with honey, which quietly makes the whole dressing off-limits for a vegan Reuben. The same goes for any premade Thousand Island dressing, which usually leans on sour cream or honey.
For assembly
- 4 slices rye bread, or seeded sourdough, or gluten-free rye
- 4 slices meltable vegan cheese, smoked or provolone style
- 3/4 cup sauerkraut, drained and squeezed dry
- 2 slices tempeh bacon, optional but good for extra protein
Which beet method should you use?
| Method | Time | Texture | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jarred cooked beets | 5 minutes | Soft, clean, mild | Weeknight lunches and testing the recipe |
| Quick-pickled | 25 minutes | Firm-tender, sour | The sharpest, most classic Reuben flavor |
| Roasted beet pastrami | 40 minutes | Sticky edges, savory depth | Weekends and anyone who wants a real centerpiece |
Step-by-Step: How to Make Vegan Reuben with Beets
Seven steps, in order: season and cook the beets, squeeze the sauerkraut dry, whisk the dressing, toast the cheese, build the layers, griddle the sandwich, slice and serve. Detail on each one follows.
Prepare the Beets
Roast them for the deepest flavor. Peel the beets and slice them 3 to 4 millimeters thin, a little thicker than a paper. Toss with the pickling spice, smoked paprika, oil, a splash of cider vinegar, salt and pepper.
Spread them on a sheet pan in a single layer, not touching. Crowding steams them, and steamed beets stay wet, which is exactly what you do not want. Roast at 400°F for 25 to 30 minutes, turning once, until the edges look dry and slightly curled and a knife slides through with no resistance.
A teaspoon of liquid smoke in the rub pushes it toward actual pastrami territory. It is one ingredient, it does not taste like barbecue, and it is the difference between beets and corned beef in about half the recipes I have made.
Quick-pickle them for the sourest result. Slice the beets thin, put them in a small saucepan with 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup water, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon pickling spice and a pinch of salt.
Bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 20 to 25 minutes until a knife meets no resistance. Drain and let them cool for 10 minutes. The vinegar keeps them snappy and bright, which balances the richness of the cheese.
Or open a jar. Slice jarred cooked beets, squeeze out the brine with your fingers, blot them on a paper towel and move on. That single squeeze is the whole trick to a non-soggy sandwich, and it takes ten seconds.
Build the Reuben Layers
Squeeze the sauerkraut properly. Put it in a strainer and press it with the back of a spoon until the brine stops running, then wring it in a clean towel. Sauerkraut carries a surprising amount of water and salt, and that liquid is what turns rye into paste.
Season it with a pinch of black pepper and, if you like, a teaspoon of caraway seed or a few drops of hot sauce. Taste it. If it is sour enough to make you wince, hold back on the extra vinegar in the dressing.
Season the beets. Roasted beets need salt at the end. Quick-pickled beets rarely do. Add a grind of pepper and a small drizzle of olive oil to the roasted ones so they do not taste flat once they have been steamed inside the sandwich.
Whisk the dressing. Combine the vegan mayo, ketchup, relish, Dijon, hot sauce, vinegar, smoked paprika and garlic powder in a small bowl. Stir until the color is even.
It should be the consistency of thick cream. If it pours like milk, add another tablespoon of vegan mayo. If it sits in a mound, loosen it with a teaspoon of vinegar or water. Most store-bought vegan Thousand Island dressing tastes overly sweet, which is exactly why this one takes two minutes.
Build in this order. On one slice of bread, spread the dressing. Add one slice of cheese. Layer the beets. Add the sauerkraut on one side only, not spread across the whole sandwich. Add the second slice of cheese, a thin drizzle of dressing, and close with the second slice of bread.
The dressing goes on the bread, not the filling. That keeps moisture against the toasted surface where it does less damage, and it means every bite tastes dressed rather than only the center.
Toast and Serve the Sandwich
Melt the cheese first. Lay the slices of cheese on a baking sheet and put them under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes, or in a 400°F oven for 4 minutes, until the edges bubble and brown slightly. Melted cheese layered cold inside a sandwich melts unevenly. This one extra step is the difference between a Reuben and a pile of vegetables between bread.
Griddle it. Set the assembled sandwich in a cold nonstick skillet, then turn the heat to medium. Cook 3 to 4 minutes a side, weighting it with a second pan, until the bread is golden brown and the interior is hot through.
Start with a cold pan. It buys you four minutes of gentle heating before the outside burns, which is enough time for the middle to heat properly.
A panini press works the same way at about 375°F for 6 to 8 minutes, and a toaster oven at 400°F for 8 to 10 minutes does the job with no supervision. Pressing down a couple of times helps the cheese stick to the bread instead of the beet slices.
Rest, then slice. Let it sit on the board for 2 minutes. The filling is hot enough to melt through everything else, and the bread firms up slightly as it cools.
Cut on the diagonal with a serrated knife. Serve it with sweet potato fries, a vinegar-based slaw, or a bowl of dill pickles, and a brown ale or stout alongside if you are pouring.
Common Mistakes
Watery beets. Drain them in a strainer, then blot every slice with a paper towel. For roasted beets, spread them on the pan with space between them so they roast instead of steam, and pull them at 25 minutes rather than 30 if your slices are thin.
Soggy bread. Three fixes, all needed together: squeeze the sauerkraut, blot the beets, and dress the bread instead of the filling. Assemble within about 10 minutes of toasting and serve immediately.
Bland filling. Season every layer separately. Salt the roasted beets, pepper the sauerkraut, and make sure the dressing has both acid and heat in it. A pinch of smoked paprika and a few drops of hot sauce fix most flat sandwiches.
Dressing that is too thick. Add vinegar or water a teaspoon at a time until it ribbons off the spoon. Dressing too thin is easier to fix, so start conservative.
Vegan cheese that clumps instead of melting. Cheese that stays in one rubbery sheet is usually a high-fat slice that needs a wet heat rather than dry heat. Broil it, or grate it and let the residual heat of the griddled bread do the work. Provolone-style and smoked-style slices melt more reliably than cheddar-style ones.
Beet juice bleeding across the plate. Skip jarred beets straight from the can, blot cooked beets properly, and keep the sauerkraut on one half of the sandwich rather than in the middle. Soggy red bread is the single most common complaint about beet Reubens, and it is entirely preventable.
On vegetarian versions, fermented cashew cheese with a bit of lemon juice works well as a cool, tangy counterpoint, and marinated tempeh or tempeh bacon adds the chew that corned beef provides. Both are easy additions to the same assembly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use canned beets for a vegan reuben?
Yes. Canned cooked or roasted beets work well, but drain them thoroughly and pat them dry before assembling the sandwich. Fresh roasted beets give a more intense, earthy flavor, and pickled beets bring more acid. Avoid beets packed in plain water if you can, since those tend to wash out the seasoning.
What is the best vegan cheese for a reuben?
A smoked-style or provolone-style vegan cheese works best, because both melt into a creamy layer instead of staying firm. Look for slices that brown at the edges under a broiler. Avoid cheddar-style slices for this sandwich; they often turn rubbery rather than melty. Two slices per sandwich is the right amount.
Do I need rye bread for a vegan reuben?
Rye bread is traditional and gives the sandwich its earthy, slightly sweet flavor, but seeded sourdough or whole-grain bread works too. Choose sturdy bread that will not fall apart when griddled. A gluten-free rye loaf from a bakery works, though it browns faster, so check it a minute early and keep the heat on medium.
How do I keep a reuben from becoming soggy?
Drain and squeeze the sauerkraut dry, blot the beet slices on a paper towel, and spread the dressing lightly on the bread rather than generously on the filling. Keep the sauerkraut on one half instead of the middle. Toast the sandwich just before serving, and slice it with a serrated knife so the cut stays clean.
What are the ingredients in vegan reuben dressing?
A homemade vegan version uses vegan mayo, ketchup, sweet pickle relish or chopped dill pickles, Dijon mustard, hot sauce, and a splash of cider vinegar or lemon juice, with smoked paprika and garlic powder for depth. Check that the ketchup is not honey-sweetened, and skip any premade dressing containing sour cream or dairy, since those are not vegan.
What is a dirty reuben sandwich?
A dirty Reuben is a Reuben served with the griddled meat and melted cheese on the side, dipped or dragged through the dressing at the table instead of having the sauce added during assembly. It is a deli-counter habit rather than a different recipe. A vegan dirty Reuben is just this sandwich built without the dressing, which keeps the bread crisp.
Conclusion
Three things decide whether this sandwich works, and none of them are hard. Drain the beets properly, season each layer on its own, and toast the assembled sandwich right before you eat it.
Start with jarred beets and store-bought sauerkraut for a first attempt, then move to roasted beets with your own dressing once you know how you like the proportions. Both are good. The second one is better.
