Reuben Spaetzle Recipe
Fall | Food Recipes | Fusion | Irish | Main Course | Pasta | Sauces | St. Patty's Day | Winter
Reuben Sandwich Twist #29453: Reuben Spaetzle. Rye pasta with caraway seeds. Red cabbage quick kraut. Pressure cooker corned beef. And Thousand Island cream sauce. Why not just eat the freakin’t sandwich instead, you might ask. Well, your mom lost her last tooth on the rye bread when we tried.
But here’s the thing — once you experience a Reuben in spaetzle form, there’s no going back. We’re talking all the flavors you love about that deli classic — the briny bite of corned beef, the tangy kraut, that creamy, dreamy Thousand Island — wrapped up in homemade rye noodles that have just enough chew to make you feel like you actually did something with your Saturday.
Spaetzle is one of those things that sounds way more intimidating than it is. Germans have been scraping dough off a wet board into boiling water for centuries — and if their grandmothers could do it without a YouTube tutorial, so can you. The rye flour and caraway seeds in our spaetzle hit every Reuben note before a single slice of corned beef even lands on the plate.
This is a project recipe — four components, one incredible payoff. We like to start the corned beef in the Instant Pot first, then knock out the spaetzle and kraut while it’s doing its thing. Three and a half hours later, you’ll be plating the weirdest, most satisfying bowl of food you’ve ever made. Let’s get into it.
PREP TIME
1 hr 25 mins
COOK TIME
2 hrs
SERVINGS
4-6
Ingredients
Rye Spaetzle
- 1.25 cups “00” flour
- 1.25 cups rye flour
- 1.5 Tbsp caraway seeds
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 3 eggs
Red Cabbage Sauerkraut
- 3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 tsp caraway seeds
- 1 red onion, halved & thinly sliced
- 1/2 red cabbage, cored & thinly sliced
- 1 fennel bulb, thinly shaved
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp salt + more to taste, if needed
- 2 tsp pepper
- 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar, divided
Thousand Island Cream Sauce
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 Tbsp flour
- 1/4 cup freshly minced sweet gherkin pickles
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp freshly minced onion
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp freshly minced roasted red pepper
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- Salt, to taste
- Pepper, to taste
- 2 dashes cayenne
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Water (if needed to thin out sauce)
Reuben Spaetzle
- 3 lb corned beef brisket
- (1) Packet of spices that comes with corned beef (should be about 1 tsp or so)
- 3/4 tsp whole mustard seeds
- 3/4 tsp fennel seeds
- 3/4 tsp coriander seeds
- 3/4 tsp whole black peppercorns
- 3/4 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1/2 tsp dill seeds
- 1/2 tsp whole cloves
- 2 large bay leaves
- 6 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1.5 cups water
- Rye Spaetzle
- Red Cabbage Sauerkraut
- Thousand Island Cream Sauce
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:
Reuben Spaetzle
Rye Spaetzle
- In a large bowl, whisk together both flour types, caraway seed, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together water, milk, and eggs until blended.
- Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until all dry mix is absorbed and dough becomes smooth.
- Cover dough and let sit for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
- Take a small wooden cutting board and run water over it. A moistened surface will help with the spaetzle making process. Place about 1/2 cup of batter on cutting board and spread it over the surface in a thin layer.
- Run a pastry scraper under cold water and begin using it to scrape small noodle-sized slices of the batter into boiling water.
- Using a strainer spoon, remove the spaetzle as it floats to the surface of the water and set aside in a buttered dish.
- Repeat steps 5-7 until all dough is used. For best results, wet your wooden board and pastry scraper regularly.
Red Cabbage Sauerkraut
- Heat 2 Tbsp oil in pan over medium heat. Add caraway seeds and cook until fragrant (1-2 minutes).
- Add onion, cabbage, and fennel then cook until cabbage starts to wilt. Stir in 1/4 cup vinegar, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, then cook for another 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Let cool for a half hour.
- Stir in remaining 1/2 cup vinegar and 1 Tbsp oil. Serve immediately, or store in fridge.
Thousand Island Cream Sauce
- In a medium sized pan over medium heat, melt butter then whisk in flour till well-integrated. Cook for 2-3 mins.
- Stir in pickles, onion, and roasted red pepper. Cook for another 1-2 mins. Stir in lemon juice, sugar, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne, and heavy cream. Bring to light simmer. Reduce until desired thickness. If sauce becomes too thick, integrate water 1/4 cup at a time to thin. Serve immediately.
Reuben Spaetzle
- Place corned beef brisket and rest of ingredients in Instant Pot. Pressure cook for 90 mins on high (or 30 mins per pound), then allow a completely natural steam release (this will take up to an hour or more).
- Remove corned beef from Instant Pot and let cool for a few minutes until able to handle. Slice in long thick strips. Set aside.
- To plate Reuben Spaetzle: first place a layer of Rye Spaetzle on the plate. Then top Spaetzle with Red Cabbage Sauerkraut to taste, 3 or 4 slices of Corned Beef, and Thousand Island Cream Sauce to taste. Enjoy!
Tips for Making Spaetzle Without Losing Your Mind
The wetter the board, the better your spaetzle. This is the rule above all rules. A wet cutting board is what allows you to spread the batter thin and scrape it cleanly into the water — if your board is dry, the dough will stick and clump instead of releasing into those perfect little irregular noodles. We run ours under the tap between every single batch. Same goes for the pastry scraper.
Your batter should be thick but pourable — think pancake batter that just barely drips off a spoon. Too thick and you’ll be wrestling with it on the board; too thin and you get soup instead of spaetzle. If your batter feels stiff after mixing, add water a tablespoon at a time. The 30-minute rest softens the dough significantly and makes it much easier to work with.
Don’t overcrowd the pot. Work in small batches — about 1/2 cup of batter per round. The spaetzle are done when they float to the surface (usually 1-2 minutes). Scoop them out immediately into a buttered dish or they’ll clump together into one sad, starchy mass.
The rye-to-“00” flour ratio is doing serious heavy lifting here. Pure rye flour would make the dough gummy and hard to work with — the “00” flour keeps things light while the rye brings that earthy, slightly bitter Reuben-bread flavor to every bite. Don’t swap it out unless you absolutely have to.
Make-Ahead Tips for This Multi-Component Recipe
The corned beef is your biggest time investment — and it’s 100% better made ahead. Pressure cook it the day before, let it cool completely in the fridge overnight, then slice it right before serving. Cold corned beef slices cleaner and thicker than warm. Reheat the slices in a pan with a little bit of the cooking liquid while you’re plating everything else.
The red cabbage sauerkraut actually improves with time. The vinegar continues to break down the cabbage as it sits, so making it a day or two ahead means deeper flavor and better texture. Store it in a sealed jar or container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Spaetzle is best fresh, but it stores fine for a couple of days. Store cooked spaetzle in a buttered container in the fridge and reheat in a dry skillet with a little butter to bring it back to life — it’ll get slightly crispy edges, which is honestly even better.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make Reuben Spaetzle without an Instant Pot?
Absolutely. You can braise the corned beef on the stovetop in a large Dutch oven — just cover with water and simmer low and slow for 3-4 hours, or until it’s tender enough to slice. The Instant Pot just compresses the timeline significantly.
What if I can’t find “00” flour?
All-purpose flour works as a 1:1 substitute for the “00” flour in the spaetzle batter. You’ll lose a tiny bit of the silkiness in the noodle texture, but the difference is subtle. The rye flour is the non-negotiable character flour here — don’t skip that one.
How do I know when the spaetzle is cooked through?
Spaetzle is done when it floats to the top of your boiling water — usually within 1-2 minutes of hitting the water. Unlike dried pasta, there’s no guesswork: floating = done. Pull them out immediately with a slotted spoon or you’ll overcook them.
How long do leftovers keep?
Each component stores separately and keeps for 3-4 days in the fridge. The corned beef can also be frozen. For the best leftover experience, reheat everything individually and assemble fresh rather than microwaving the whole bowl — the spaetzle especially benefits from a quick pan reheat.
PAIRINGS:
Reuben Spaetzle
Zinfandel
Dry Irish Stout
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