Rye Recipes

John Kernick

You're most likely to find rye in either bread or whiskey. Rye gives pumpernickel its distinctive brown color and slightly tangy flavor. At home, the rye-related ingredients you might cook with will probably be rye flour or berries. Here, our best recipes featuring rye.

Start Slideshow

1 of 14

Blueberry Pie with Rye Crust

Go to Recipe

This sensational blueberry pie has small circles cut out of the rye crust, which not only looks dramatic but also allows moisture to evaporate from the fruit filling as it cooks, deepening the flavor.

2 of 14

Layman's Rye Bread

Go to Recipe

Baker Peter Endriss makes his rye with a wild yeast starter that gives the bread a wonderfully tangy and complex flavor and aroma. For home cooks, he suggests using cornichon or pickle juice instead. The idea was inspired by a recipe for Cucumber Pickle Juice Rye Loaf from Dan Lepard, author of The Handmade Loaf.

3 of 14

Rye Crisps with Tomatoes and Sardines

CON POULOS

Go to Recipe

This recipe from Food & Wine's Justin Chapple makes the most of canned sardines. Chapple prepares a bright herb mayo to spread on rye crisps, then tops them with a cherry tomato salad and good-quality sardines. The juices from the tomatoes soften the rye crisps ever so slightly.

4 of 14

Kale Caesar with Rye Croutons and Farro

Go to Recipe

This reimagined Caesar salad substitutes kale for romaine, rye bread for the croutons and tofu for raw egg in the garlicky dressing.

5 of 14

Scandinavian Rye Bread

Go to Recipe

Master baker Lionel Vatinet makes this dense, super-flavorful bread with locally milled rye flour.

6 of 14

Creamy Reuben Chowder with Rye Croutons

Go to Recipe

This tangy chowder is like a Reuben sandwich on a spoon, with smoky sausage, sauerkraut and rye croutons.

7 of 14

Cucumber-Rye Tea Sandwiches

Go to Recipe

Little slices of party rye are a Southern favorite for tea sandwiches: "You don't see regular rye down here every day," Martha Hall Foose says. If party rye isn't available, use a cookie cutter to create rounds from regular bread slices.

8 of 14

Pickled Fried Fish with Danish Rye Bread and Crème Fraîche

Go to Recipe

Scandinavians brought the technique of pickling delicately fried seafood (a form of escabeche) to Minnesota and swapped the Midwest's freshwater catch for North Sea herring. Seasoning the fish with vinegar, sugar and spices adds great flavor and firms up the texture; it's an overnight process, so plan ahead.

9 of 14

Rye Berry Bread

Go to Recipe

Thinly sliced, toasted or not, this dense, hearty whole-grain bread is wonderful topped with smoked salmon, sour cream and chopped onions, or with bitter orange marmalade. Allow time for the sponge to sit overnight.

10 of 14

Apple Rye Turnovers with Celery Seeds

Go to Recipe

Jerry Traunfeld has been experimenting with rye flour for years; he loves the way it gives dough flavor and body. As these pastries illustrate, he has also been exploring ways to use celery seed in desserts. "It really complements the apple and rye," he says.

11 of 14

Banana-Rye Muffins

Go to Recipe

These muffins are extremely tender, mildly earthy from the rye flour, and are intensely perfumed with banana. Light or dark rye will work in this recipe; the dark type will impart a deeper and nuttier flavor.

12 of 14

Caramelized-Apple Custard Tart with a Rye Crust

Go to Recipe

This tart features silky-smooth, rich custard and caramelized apples in a tender, earthy rye-flour pastry crust.

13 of 14

Raisin Rye Bread

Go to Recipe

Lionel Vatinet developed this hearty bread--a good source of fiber--to satisfy his Eastern European customers.

14 of 14

Rye and Crème Fraîche Strata with Smoked Salmon 

John Kernick

Go to Recipe

In this playful riff on a bagel with cream cheese and lox, Food & Wine’s Justin Chapple makes a custardy rye bread pudding with capers, then tops it with smoked salmon and red onion. It’s warm, comforting and a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.

Replay gallery

Your Profile

Rye Recipes

1 of 14

Blueberry Pie with Rye Crust

1 of 14

2 of 14

Layman's Rye Bread

2 of 14

3 of 14

Rye Crisps with Tomatoes and Sardines

3 of 14

4 of 14

Kale Caesar with Rye Croutons and Farro

4 of 14

5 of 14

Scandinavian Rye Bread

5 of 14

6 of 14

Creamy Reuben Chowder with Rye Croutons

6 of 14

7 of 14

Cucumber-Rye Tea Sandwiches

7 of 14

8 of 14

Pickled Fried Fish with Danish Rye Bread and Crème Fraîche

8 of 14

9 of 14

Rye Berry Bread

9 of 14

10 of 14

Apple Rye Turnovers with Celery Seeds

10 of 14

11 of 14

Banana-Rye Muffins

11 of 14

12 of 14

Caramelized-Apple Custard Tart with a Rye Crust

12 of 14

13 of 14

Raisin Rye Bread

13 of 14

14 of 14

Rye and Crème Fraîche Strata with Smoked Salmon

14 of 14

Share the Gallery

Up Next

Share the Gallery

Rye and Crème Fraîche Strata with Smoked Salmon 