Baked Reuben Chicken

Everything you love about Reuben sandwiches is stacked high on budget-friendly chicken thighs for an unfussy dinner in less than 30 minutes.

I’m not sure who invented the Reuben sandwich, but it’s brilliant. Corned beef, sauerkraut, Thousand Island dressing, and heavy on the Swiss cheese, please, grilled between two slices of marbled rye bread. It’s one of my favorite deli sandwiches, but it’s a bear to make when you’re tight on time for lunch or dinner, or on a tight budget.

My Baked Reuben Chicken, however, solves all that by stacking all of those favorite flavors onto one of my other (more affordable) favorites, chicken thighs. Deli corned beef can be unpredictably expensive, but this recipe uses less than a half of a pound—just enough for that corned beef flavor.

Here’s A Video With More Great Chicken Stack Variations:

Making Baked Reuben Chicken

While the oven is preheating, the entire recipe can be prepped.

The seasoned panko bread crumbs are added last but made first, and they’re super simple to make. Once you get this technique down, it can be used for just about any recipe that calls for bread crumbs, too.

In a small bowl, mix together the panko, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and for this recipe, caraway seeds. Because rye bread is such a big flavor in a Reuben, thanks in part to caraway seeds, the seeds will help recreate that flavor in this simple stack. 

At first, it will seem like there isn’t enough olive oil to coat the panko, but keep stirring and it will distribute itself nicely. 

Next, line a sheet pan with parchment or a non-stick, silicone mat; this is going to get a little messy, but in the best way. Fold each piece of corned beef in half so that it’s about the size of the chicken thighs, and then place two pieces on the sheet pan, slightly overlapping to again, match the size of the chicken thigh. Repeat this with the remaining corned beef.

Now, for the stacking. 

Unroll each chicken thigh so that it’s as flat as it can be, and place one on each of the corned beef bundles. Slather Thousand Island dressing on top of each chicken thigh, and top that with (and this is important!) very well-drained sauerkraut. If the sauerkraut isn’t drained well, the liquid will drip onto the bottom of the sheet pan and make everything soggy.

Add a slice of Swiss cheese on top of the sauerkraut, and sprinkle the seasoned panko crumbs on top. Pop this into the preheated oven for 25 minutes, and dinner is ready. When this comes out of the oven, you’ll have this magnificent, ooey, gooey, messy, flavorful stack with the best, crispy bread crumbs on top.

I often serve this Reuben Chicken with potato wedges for dinner or potato chips for lunch. A simple side salad goes well with this, too.

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