A deconstructed Reuben Sandwich: A baked potato topped with corned beef and bacon fried cabbage, smothered with Russian dressing, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and dill pickles.

I was introduced to Corned Beef and Cabbage on my first St. Patrick’s Day as a married woman. It was a tradition in my husband’s home and became a tradition in my new home. However, it wasn’t a favorite of mine. I endured it once a year. Then, after 20 years, my husband and I visited NYC and ate a Reuben Sandwich at the famous Carnegie Deli. My viewpoint on corned beef was changed forever!

This year for St. Patrick’s Day, I wanted to recreate the Reuben Sandwich I loved so much, but it is traditionally served on rye bread. Could there be a gluten-free option? What about a marriage between two traditional meals: a Reuben Sandwich and Corned Beef and Cabbage. Ta da! Presenting the Corned Beef Reuben Baked Potato: a stacked baked potato with swiss cheese, Russian dressing, corned beef, cabbage, bacon, sauerkraut, and dill pickles.

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in a new way! Or turn your corned beef and cabbage left-overs into an amazing next day meal!

Ingredients for Corned Beef Reuben Baked Potato

Corned Beef Brisket: I discovered that Costco sells the best corned beef. It’s lean and flavorful and the texture isn’t mushy. You are looking for fat just on one side of the brisket. At the store, press the brisket, does it feel firm like real meat does? That is important.
Apple Cider or Apple Juice: An unusual ingredient for cooking the corned beef. It brings an amazing depth of flavor when added to the beef broth.
Pickling Spices: You can find these in the spice section of your grocery store. It is an unusual spice, but stores, such as Harmons near me, carry it in their specialty spice section. Amazon also has a big selection to choose from. I like using real pickling spices instead of the packet that comes with the Corned Beef Brisket because it’s a little more concentrated and I can add an extra tablespoon of spice for more flavor.
Spices for the Corned Beef: minced garlic, chopped dried onion, bay leaves
Russet or Golden Potatoes
Mayonnaise, Dijon Mustard, and Chile Sauce for the Russian Dressing: My favorite chile sauce is “Homemade Chile Sauce.” You find it in the condiment section of the grocery store or at Amazon. It’s a round jar (like a ball) with a white metal top. The flavor is amazing! (I am not affiliated with them, but really love the product!)
Spices for the Russian Dressing: minced green onions, minced dill pickles, dried parsley
Worcestershire Sauce and Horseradish: You may not like horseradish very much, but it is an essential ingredient. However, it is not the star of the show! It just really adds to the overall flavor and I think you would miss it.
Green cabbage
Bacon
Spices for the Bacon Fried Cabbage: onion, salt and pepper, oregano, smoked paprika, minced garlic
Swiss Cheese
Sauerkraut
Dill Pickles

How to Prepare the Corned Beef Reuben Baked Potato

There are several steps to complete, but many of them happen while the corned beef brisket is cooking and the baked potatoes are baking. The total time from the start of the instant pot corned beef brisket to serving time is 2 hours 10 minutes. Of course, the brisket can cook while you are at work or going about your day, so you just need to start baking potatoes 80 minutes before you are ready to eat. Then, prepare the Bacon Fried Cabbage and Russian Dressing, chop the dill pickles and shred the Swiss cheese.

The Instant Pot Corned Beef Brisket

You may have left-over corned beef to use for this recipe, but if you need or want to cook it from scratch for the Corned Beef Reuben Baked Potato, it can be done the day of the meal or the day before.

Rinse the brisket and place it fat side down in your instant pot.
Cover the brisket with the beef broth, apple cider, and spices.
Use manual high pressure setting for: 75 minutes for 2 pound brisket / 80 minutes for 3 pound brisket / 85 minutes for 4 pound brisket / 90 minutes for 5 pound brisket
Natural release for 15-20 minutes, then quick release
Slice thin or shred immediately. Or store as a whole brisket in refrigerator and slice cold. It slices so easily when it’s cold.

The Baked Potato

80 minutes before you are ready to eat, prepare and bake the potatoes.

Dissolve 1 Tablespoon salt in ½ cup warm water in a bowl that will fit a potato.
Wash the potatoes and prick each potato with a fork in six places.
Dip each potato in the salt water and roll it around a few times until moistened. If you choose not to salt your potato, still get it moistened with fresh water.
Place each salted potato on a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet.
Bake the potatoes until a thermometer placed in the center of the largest potato registers 203° F. This will take about 45 minutes, to an hour.
Remove the potatoes from the oven when they reach temperature and use a pastry brush to apply oil on each side of the potato.
Return potatoes to the oven to bake for another 10 minutes.
Remove potatoes from the oven.
A great way to cut the potatoes open: use a paring knife to make 2 slits, forming an X, in the top half of each potato. Use a clean dish cloth or hot pad to hold the ends of the potato and squeeze slightly to push the flesh up and out.

Russian Dressing

Mince the green onions and the dill pickle. This is a chunky dressing, so don’t worry if not all the green onion minces well.
Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until well incorporated.

Bacon Fried Cabbage

Chop the bacon crosswise into 1” pieces. The easiest way to do this is to keep the bacon slices connected, the way they came from the store. Then, use a sharp knife to cut crosswise every 1” until all the bacon is cut into small pieces.
Put the bacon in a fry pan at medium-high heat. Separate the bacon pieces with a spatula as you are cooking the bacon. A lid on the fry pan helps keep the grease splatters to a minimum.
Drain the cooked bacon on several sheets of paper towel and discard all but 2 Tablespoons of the bacon grease.
While the bacon is cooking, core and chop the cabbage into small pieces. Also, chop the onion finely.
Cook the onion in the bacon grease at medium-high heat until soft. Add the cabbage and spices.
Toss and cook until the cabbage is tender, but still a little crispy. Depending on the heat of your stove, this could be faster or slower than 5 minutes.
Add garlic and bacon last. Toss and continue cooking until heated through.
Turn off stove and prepare to assemble your Corned Beef Reuben Baked Potato.

Stacking your Corned Beef Reuben Baked Potato

Start with your hot baked potato—opened and pressed. Add butter if desired.
Top the potato with grated Swiss cheese so it gets melty. Heat it in the microwave, if needed, to melt the cheese.
Next, distribute evenly a half cup of the Bacon Fried Cabbage on top of the cheesy potato.
Drizzle a bit of the Russian Dressing, to your liking.
Add thinly sliced, chunked or shredded corned beef next.
Top with sauerkraut and chopped pickles.
Drizzle more Russian Dressing over everything.

You are ready for this new twist on an old tradition: Corned Beef and Cabbage and the Reuben Sandwich stacked on a baked potato. Enjoy!

–Kim

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote