Vegan Mushroom Reuben

You asked for it, and here it is. Marinated mushrooms, tangy 1000 island dressing, creamy vegan cheese sauce, and fresh sauerkraut make this Vegan Mushroom Reuben one of my new favorite sandwiches!

In a recent Facebook Livestream, I asked my followers what comfort food recipe they would like me to make for them (that I haven’t already), and the overwhelming response was REUBENS.

I love a good Reuben, so why not! A tasty, dark rye bread, some tangy sauerkraut, oozing with dressing….yum!

I already have a Vegan 1000 Island Dressing recipe, and sauerkraut is still easy enough to find in the store, plus my cheese sauce is always handy…. all I needed was a replacement for the corned beef.

If you look up Vegan Reubens, you see that Tempeh is a popular substitute, but I haven’t been able to find Tempeh in the stores for weeks now, so I could cross that one off the list.

Another popular substitute is Seitan, but since so many of you are intolerant to gluten, AND the fact not everyone is going to have access to Vital Wheat Gluten (the key ingredient to Seitan), I crossed that one off too.

Tofu? Maybe, but it IS higher in fat and I’ve been trying to keep my total fat intake to a minimum…. plus I already have tofu in the dressing, so…. cross a line through that one.

Which left me really with just two choices. Ingredients that are still easy to find, and that could replace the meat of a sandwich.

Mushrooms or carrots.

Carrots?

Sure! If you remember my Vegan Chipped Beef on Toast recipe (good ole SOS), carrots can make a pretty good replacement. But, they do take a long time to marinate…. so the clear winner here was going to be mushrooms.

And Vegans have been using big, beefy Portobellos for a meat replacement for years now, so I know they will work, they take a marinade well, and should still be easy enough to find in most grocery stores.

Does it taste exactly like a corned beef reuben? Of course not. But with so many flavors going on here, between the sauerkraut and the dressing, it still reminded me of a Reuben Sandwich.

And, I got two enthusiastic thumbs up from both my wife and my daughter. So, I know it’s good.

Are you excited yet? Let’s do this.

Vegan Mushroom Reuben

The Marinade

I started by making the marinade for this recipe because I wanted to give those mushrooms plenty of time to soak up all those flavors.

I used a small jar and just added all the marinade ingredients. Attach a lid and shake, shake, shake.

Then slice your mushrooms as thinly as you can, and layer them in a shallow dish. I used a package of 3 Portobello Caps (8 oz) and that made enough for the 3 of us. Pour the marinade over them and seal with plastic wrap. Every now and then, give them a shake or stir.

Let the mushrooms marinate at least 1 hour, but the longer the better.

The Dressing

With the ‘shrooms happily soaking in their marinade, I started making my Vegan Thousand Island.

Simply toss everything into your blender and let it go.

Note: I did use EXTRA FIRM Tofu (because I always do), and I DID drain it first – but did NOT press it.

Blend until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides if necessary.

Again, I used a quart-sized jar to store it in which makes it super handy to keep in the fridge. The recipe makes about 3 cups, so you will have extra that you can use for veggie dip, salad dressing, whatever.

The Cheese

Traditionally, a Reuben has SWISS cheese, so I guess if you wanted to – you could use one of those store-bought Vegan cheeses. But I like my simple Vegan Cheese Sauce instead, and always have some in the fridge.

If you don’t – now would be a good time to whip up a batch. If you have an Instant Pot, it only takes about 20 minutes.

The Bread

Again, traditionally Reubens are served on Rye Bread. But, since I have never found an oil-free Rye Bread in the store, I used the Ezekiel brand’s English Muffins instead. Feel free to use whatever bread/muffin you like.

And now, since I am a huge Sci-Fi/Marvel Comics nerd….. In my best Captain America voice that I can muster…..

Reubens…..Assemble!
(ok, that was bad).

Now is finally time to dump those mushrooms into a large, non-stick skillet. Pour in the marinade too!

Now heat over medium heat until the mushrooms have reduced in size and most of the marinade has evaporated.

To make the sandwich, toast your bread first if you wish, then slather on some cheese sauce, followed by some mushrooms, a good-sized helping of sauerkraut, and then some of that yummy 1000 island dressing.

As you can see in the pic, a dill pickle always goes good with a great sandwich, as well as these Homemade Fat-Free Potato Chips you can whip up in your microwave.

My job here is done 🙂

You guys told me what you wanted…..I made it…..then I ate it. (I know, it’s a tough job but somebody has to do it)

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! And thanks for the awesome suggestion.

Y’all have a good week and stay safe.

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