Nordic pickled herring
July 8, 2026 · 2 min read
Pickled herring — sill in Swedish, sild in Danish and Norwegian — is the most Nordic food there is. It appears at every traditional holiday table, in every grocery store deli counter, and on every piece of rye bread that has any claim to being a serious lunch. If the Nordic diet has a mascot fish, this is it.
The good news is that making it at home is mostly a matter of assembly. The brine is sugar, vinegar, and a few spices; the herring goes in a jar with onion and dill; time does the rest. Two days later you have something better than most store-bought versions.
Ingredients
- 1 lb salt herring fillets (or 2 tins of herring in brine, drained)
- 1 cup white wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon whole allspice
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- Fresh dill sprigs
- For mustard sauce version: 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon honey or sugar, 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 3 tablespoons neutral oil, 2 tablespoons chopped dill
Steps
- If using salt herring, soak the fillets in cold water for 12–24 hours, changing the water once or twice, until the saltiness is mild. Drain and pat dry. Tinned herring in brine skips this step.
- Bring the vinegar, water, and sugar to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the allspice, peppercorns, and bay leaves and simmer 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
- Cut the herring fillets into 1-inch pieces. Layer them in a clean glass jar with the sliced onion and dill sprigs, alternating as you go.
- Pour the cooled brine over the herring, making sure everything is submerged. Seal and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before eating, 48 hours for better flavor.
- For mustard sauce: whisk mustard, honey, and vinegar together, then stream in the oil whisking constantly until emulsified. Stir in the dill. Serve in a small bowl alongside the pickled herring, or toss drained herring pieces in the sauce.
Two classic versions
The recipe above gives you the onion brine version — clean, sharp, and vinegary, which is the Swedish inlagd sill template. The mustard sauce in step 5 makes the mustard herring variation, where you drain the brined pieces and toss them in a Dijon-dill sauce. Both are worth knowing.
A third classic is cream herring (gräddfil-sill), made by draining brined pieces and folding them into a sauce of sour cream or crème fraîche with dill and a touch of mustard. That's a Christmas-table version and worth a try.
Serving it
Pickled herring is at its best on dark rye crispbread or rye bread with a few rings of raw onion and some fresh dill. It's also a natural companion on smørrebrød, alongside boiled eggs, or as part of a Nordic board with cured fish, cheeses, and crispbread.
Herring a couple of times a week is one of the habits that most defines the Nordic fish pattern — see fish on the Nordic diet for the wider picture. Tell Nordic Diet Companion "pickled herring on rye" and it reflects how the fish meal fits the week's pattern.