When I asked my husband what he thought of these Turkey Reuben Sandwiches he said, “I thought it tasted like something you would like.” 🙂 He was right! I loved these! I get that not everyone is into Reuben sandwiches. I will never be one of those people. I haven’t had a Reuben sandwich in a long time, but the other day I decided to try to plug a few things into the Weight Watchers recipe builder, and I found a way to make these sandwiches 6 WW FreeStyle Smart Points.
Ways to keep the smart point value per Reuben sandwich down.
Use a bread that is just 1 smart point per slice.
Typical bread is usually 2 smart points per slice. Light bread is usually 1 smart point per slice. For ideas of what breads are light breads you can check out our List of Low Smart Point Bread and Buns.
Spray bread with cooking spray instead of coating the bread with butter.
I was taught to make grilled cheese sandwiches by spreading butter onto the bread so it would grill nice and brown. What I have learned since then is that spraying the pan (and the top piece of bread) with cooking spray works just as well as using butter. You won’t even notice a difference in the taste of the sandwiches.
Use slices of low smart point Swiss cheese.
I recommend using thin-sliced cheese if possible, as it does keep the points down. Not all cheese is the same when it comes to points. For a few examples take a look at this graphic here:
Weight Watchers smart points comparisons
for sliced Swiss cheese:
- Kraft Natural Big Swiss Cheese Slices – 3 SP per slice
- Market Pantry (Target brand) Reduced Fat Swiss Cheese Slices – 2 SP per slice
- Horizon Organic Swiss Cheese Slices – 2 SP per slice
- Sargento Reduced Fat Swiss Cheese Slices – 2 SP per slice
- Sargento Ultra Thin Baby Swiss Cheese Slices (this is the one I used) – 1 SP per slice
So, there you have it. Sargento Ultra-Thin sliced Swiss cheese is the winner when it comes to smart points, and honestly, you won’t even feel like you are skimping at all! I promise.
Low Weight Watchers Smart Point Reuben Sandwiches.
If you prepare the sandwich as described below, the sandwiches are 6 WW FreeStyle smart points each.
I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!
Here is what you need:
8 slices reduced-calorie rye bread
4 ultra (or extra) thin slices Swiss cheese
8 oz. deli-smoked turkey, thinly sliced
2/3 c. sauerkraut, rinsed and drained
1/4 c. fat-free Thousand Island dressing
Cooking spray
Here is what you do:
Preheat your sauté or grill pan to medium heat. Spray your pan with cooking spray.
Place four slices of bread on the pan.
Top each brad slice with 2 ounces of sliced turkey.
Then 2-1/2 tablespoons sauerkraut.
Then 1 slice of cheese. (I used 1-1/2 slices on each because my bread slices were big.)
Spread 1 tablespoon of Thousand Island dressing on the other four slices of rye bread.
Top the sandwiches that are grilling with the slices of bread that have Thousand Island dressing on them. Spray the tops of the bread with cooking spray.
At this point, the bottoms of the bread should be grilled. Flip the sandwiches and allow the other side to grill for approximately 3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the bread is lightly browned. I used my double burner grill pan so I could do them all at once. If you have a small pan, just repeat all of the steps with each sandwich, cooking one at a time.
Cut sandwiches in half and serve warm.
Makes 4 sandwiches.
One sandwich is 6 Green, 6 Blue, and 6 Purple points.
- 8 slices reduced-calorie rye bread
- 4 Ultra (or extra) thin slices Swiss cheese
- 8 oz. deli-smoked turkey, thinly sliced
- 2/3 c. sauerkraut, rinsed and drained
- 1/4 c. fat-free Thousand Island dressing
- Cooking spray
- Preheat your sauté or grill pan to medium heat. Spray your pan with cooking spray.
- Place 4 slices of bread on the pan.
- Top each 2 ounces sliced turkey.
- Then 2-1/2 tablespoons sauerkraut.
- Then 1 slice cheese. (I used 1-1/2 slices on each because my bread slices were big)
- Spread 1 tablespoon Thousand Island on the other four slices of rye bread.
- Top sandwiches that are grilling with the slices of bread with Thousand Island dressing on them. Spray the tops of the bread with cooking spray.
- At this point the bottoms of the bread should be grilled. Flip the sandwiches and allow the other side to grill for approximately 3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the bread is lightly browned. I used my double burner grill pan so I could do them all at once. If you have a small pan just repeat all of them steps with each sandwich, cooking one at a time.
- Cut sandwiches in half and serve warm.
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Pat says
Using my WW calculator, this comes out to 13 smart points per sandwich.
Alisha Hughes says
Hi Pat, It’s possible that you are using the WW “Calculator” and I am using the WW “Recipe builder”. The recipe builder allows you to plug in each ingredient, the amounts of each ingredient, and the number of servings the recipe is worth. Then it does the math for you so you have an accurate # of smart points per serving for the recipe. When you use the recipe builder, it factors in things like zero point produce and low point lean meat, so the numbers do not usually come out the same, but often times are close. This one is not close, so you are right to question. Weight Watchers suggests using the recipe builder when creating recipes, so that it what I do on here. Thanks for the question.
Shannon says
I notice that a lot of recipes from the WW 5 ingredients or 15 minutes cookbooks are not same point value now with the new smartpoint.. Freestyle. One would say 4 points if you put the value in the new WW app. Its 6 points. Just an FYI.. I got the 3 points.. Bread 2 cheese 1.. Where are the other 3 points. Is than in your meat and dressing? Thanks! I love Rubens.. Can’t wait to try this one..
Alisha Hughes says
Yes, there are still some of our older recipes that have not been updated to the FreeStyle Smart Points. Thanks for your patience with us on that. As far as this particular recipe goes, the points are in the all of the ingredients except for the sauerkraut. Dressing=4, Cheese=5, cooking spray=1, Bread=10, and turkey=3. (Then, divide that by 4 sandwiches to get 6 SP each)