Danish Recipes

Danish Recipes – Denmark is known for its awesome restaurants. Not only did they in 2021 has the world’s best restaurant Noma, but they also had the world’s second-best restaurant Geranium. For a small country like Denmark with around 5 million citizens that is pretty amazing.

Here you will get a view of some of the more traditional danish recipes and dishes. And even though restaurants like Noma and Geranium are inspired by Nordic Ingredients and traditions, you shouldn’t expect to get served any of the dishes below as they are way too traditional to their modern approach to dining.

Recipes with pork

Denmark is famous for its pigs and the high quality of meat the Danish pigs provide. If you noted that there were 5 million citizens in Denmark you might be amazed to learn that there are over 13 million pigs in Denmark. So when Denmark has a lot of dishes with pork there is over 13 million reasons why!

Biksemad – This traditional dish from Denmark is a bit similar to the Swedish Pytt i Panna, and whether the Pytt i Panna or the Biksemad was first invented will most likely be one of the things Danes and Swedes never will agree on. Both versions consist of sliced pork, potatoes and are served with fried eggs.

Brændende kærlighed is a Danish meal based on mashed potatoes, bacon, and onions. Directly translated brændende kærlighed means burning love, so this dish is certainly something you need to handle with care. Here you get the original recipe for brændende kærlighed and a few suggestions to how to spice it up!

Frikadeller – Danish meatballs – They are a bit like köttbullar – Swedish meatballs – but bigger. You can find the recipe on the Danish meatballs frikadeller here. Minced pork is a central ingredient in frikadeller.

Æbleflæsk – Apple Pork – Traditional danish pork recipe, where pork, apples, and onions have been mixed together in holy harmony. Æbleflæsk is mostly served at Christmas lunch or julefrokost, which is the danish name for this tradition. Here you get the recipe for æbleflæsk – apple pork.

More will follow here.

Danish Pastry

Danish Pastry is a mix of cakes and brownies. There are a lot of Danish Christmas Sweets among the Danish Pastry. You can see some of the dishes and recipes below.

Brunkager – Danish gingerbread – Directly translated brunkager means brown cakes. These small cakes are served in at Christmas time. Brunkager is often served together with klejner and vaniljekranse which you also can find here on Almost Nordic.

Havregrynskugler – Directly translated havregrynskugler means oatballs. It might sound healthy but the name doesn’t name all the butter and the chocolate. Havregrynskugler is not healthy but they are very very tasty 🙂

Klejner – Some call klejner for Danish fried twists, well even though there might be some truth to that, then I prefer just to call them klejner like the christmas pastry is named in Denmark. Here you get the recipe for klejner as well as a small video showing you how to make them.

Pebernødder – Danish Peppernuts – Pebernødder literally means Peppernuts, and that is one of the biggest mysteries in Danish Cuisine. Pebernødder barely has any pepper in it and in some Danish recipes no pepper at all is used for Danish Peppernuts. Here you get our original recipe for pebernødder with just a pinch of pepper in it.

Danish Christmas Recipes (non-pastry)

Brunede kartofler – Danish caramelized potatoes – Brunede kartofler is a danish delicacy and by some known as Danish potatoes. Here you get the recipe for making brunede kartofler and tips on how to avoid that caramelized potatoes are getting burnt.

Ris A La Mande – Danish Rice Pudding Dessert – This dish is made out of risengrød (see below), cream and almonds, and it is almost only served on Christmas Eve. To Ris A La Mande or risalamande belongs an almost sacred danish tradition. All the almonds in the pudding are chopped, and just before the ris a la mande is served there is dropped a whole almond into the pudding. The one who finds it get the mandelgave – almond present. But only if you didn’t bite it over – the whole almond should be shown as a whole when found!

Risengrød – Danish Rice Pudding – Risengrød is a traditional Danish Christmas meal. It is most popular amongst children and of course Santas Helpers. Risengrød – the Danish Rice Pudding – is a central part of the Danish Christmas traditions.

Smørrebrød

Smørrebrød is a central part of the Danish kitchen. Smørrebrød is open-faced sandwiches that most often are built on rugbrød – Danish dark rye bread.

Dyrlægens natmad – This traditional danish smørrebrøds recipe is almost as Danish as it can be. Based on rugbrød – dark rye bread, filled with a spread of butter, seasoned fat and leverpostej – Danish variant of liver paté – and topped by cubes of sky – a danish variant of aspic and red onion rings.

More Danish Recipes

Agurkesalat – Danish Cucumber Salad – It is one of those things you have to have when you are having a traditional Danish lunch. It goes well with almost all rye bread dishes. Also, agurkesalat is kind of mandatory for Danes when having their local version of Hot Dogs.

Fastelavnsboller – Here you get a traditional recipe for a local carnival held in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. The carnival is called Fastelavn. Fastelavnsboller is a certain traditional kind of buns served for Fastelavn. It is loved by almost all children. Here you get our recipe on danish fastelavnsboller.

Flødeboller – This is a kind of Cream Buns – but there is way more cream than buns in flødeboller. Flødeboller is a speciality often served at kids birthday parties and events with kids. There is a similar adult version of flødeboller named Sarah Bernhardt Cake – which is also Danish but named after the famous French singer and actor. Here you get the recipe for flødeboller.

Flødekartofler – Danish people love potatoes and flødekartofler is another Danish recipe on potatoes or kartofler as it is called in Danish. Flødekartofler is a side dish served to all kinds of steaks. It is made in the oven and the basic ingredients are cream and potatoes. Here you get the classical recipe on flødekartofler.

Knækbrød – Danish crisp flatbread – This special dish – knækbrød – is often served as a part of a snack in the afternoon, or when there is served cheese table. In these modern times when brunch has become a normal part of Danes eating habits, knækbrød fits perfectly here.

Pandekager – Danish pancakes – Unlike their American cousins Danish Pancakes – pandekager – are thin and often fill out an entire plate. Well at least until the pandekager has been rolled to a roll with stuffings like jam, sugar, chocolate spread, ice cream, you name it. Danish pancakes are flat as flatbread but not crisp. Here you get the recipe for Danish Pancakes – Pandekager.

Pariserbøf – Parisian Steak – Despite the French name Pariserbøf is entirely Danish. The origin of the name Pariserbøf is actually kind of a mystery. Here you get the traditional danish recipe on Pariserbøf.