Daily Favorites: Deconstructed Reuben

I only discovered the reuben three years ago with Niraj.

It was just never the best-sounding sandwich on any menu, so I never ordered it. And it has all these weirdo ingredients that I don't eat otherwise. But together they just work. 

To construct a version under 600 calories, I've loaded up on the four main ingredients and skipping the bread. 

• corned beef
• sauerkraut
• swiss cheese
• homemade russian dressing

With three of the ingredients ready to go, the only prep is making the dressing. 

- - -

Homemade Russian Dressing

50g chobani plain nonfat greek yogurt

25g ketchup-style chili sauce 

1-2g horseradish

1-2g crystal hot sauce

2g worcestershire

sprinkle smoked paprika

pinch salt

This is easy to adjust the heat level to your liking. 

Side note: chili sauce is basically just better-flavored ketchup. Seems like this should be more popular. I blame the terrible name. It's not like chili nor is it like chile peppers.  

By using yogurt instead of mayo, I got 80 grams of russian dressing for under 55 calories. 

- - -

Now it's time for assembly. 

I layered corned beef, dressing, sauerkraut, cheese, meat, dressing, sauerkraut, cheese, dressing. 

I popped it into a 400F oven (390F for me) at 7 minutes. 

Let's look at the cals:

136g deli-sliced corned beef = 160 cals

64g thin-sliced swiss cheese = 240 cals

scoop of sauerkraut, liquid squeezed out = 5 cals

russian dressing = 55 cals

This was a filling lunch at only 460 cals.

All the flavors just go together, meaty, cheesy, tangy, Good texture contrasts. You get a lot of meat, good amount of melted cheese. Would make again for sure.

As for the name, it's not really deconstructed. Maybe reconstructed. Really it's just a reuben on a plate instead on bread. Reuben on a plate is not a bad name, I guess, but I went with deconstructed. Could have also called it a breadless reuben, low-calorie reuben, keto reuben, reuben casserole, or low-carb reuben. Call it whatever you want.