A savory Rueben on a crispy tortilla.
Looking for a new way to use up leftover corned beef? That’s exactly how this recipe came about. We cooked up a savory 5 pounds of stout and black pepper seasoned corned beef (it was melt-in-your-mouth perfection) and we had lots of leftovers. So we put the corned beef to good use and turned it into a quick quesadilla. Enjoy everything except the rye – corned beef, sauerkraut, thousand island, and plenty of melted swiss – all stuffed between two tortillas.
Recipe Notes: Because of how heavy and stuffed-full the quesadilla gets, baking is your best bet. Feel free to use the broiler on low for the last few minutes of cooking for extra crispiness. I also opted for spinach tortillas to add a little festiveness since we’re so close to St. Patrick’s Day. You can also get sliced deli corned beef or pastrami if you’re not up to cooking a whole thing.
This Rueben-style recipe also joins the lineup of other Rueben-inspired dishes, such as:
Time You Need
- ~10 minutes for prep
- ~20 minutes cooking
- Yields: 2 quesadillas
What You Need
- 2 cups of sauerkraut, drained and dried
- ~4 tbsp thousand island dressing (2 tbsp for each quesadilla)
- 4 large wheat or spinach tortillas
- 6 slices of swiss cheese
- 1 cup of shredded swiss
- ~4-5 thick-cut slices of corned beef, chopped into small pieces (or about 10 slices of deli-style corned beef)
- Extra thousand islands for dipping
What You Do
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Take your corned beef and slice it into small chunks, or pull it apart with forks to create pulled corned beef. Or toss on about 3-4 slices if using deli-style.
- Layout two tortillas on a clean surface. Top both tortillas with three slices of swiss cheese. Then add a layer of corned beef.
- Next, top each tortilla with sauerkraut, and then drizzle a nice layer of thousand island, about 1-2 tbsp per quesadilla.
- Finish with a topping of shredded swiss, and then add a tortilla over each of the dressed tortillas to form the quesadilla.
- Line a baking sheet with foil and grease, and then add both quesadillas on top.
- Bake for 20 minutes, until the top of the tortillas begin to develop a golden brown crispness.
- Remove, slice up, and serve with extra thousand island for dipping!