Our Ultimate Guide To Making Danish Smørrebrød

What is Smørrebrød?

Smørrebrød is, in fact, the national dish of Denmark! It translates directly to “butter bread,” which is a pretty accurate name, as the first step to making delicious smørrebrød is usually to butter your bread. But really, if we were to translate it in a way that makes more sense, it refers to Danish open-faced sandwiches. These are such a staple of Danish cuisine, and not just the fancy smørrebrød you get in restaurants in Copenhagen. No, Danes everywhere eat simple and delicious smørrebrød every single day! And we always eat it on hearty rugbrød, or rye bread, which serves as a perfect base for all the beautiful and yummy toppings we love. While today’s versions of smørrebrød have been influenced by restaurants and gastronomes over the years, the origin can be traced back to working people using leftovers on a hearty piece of bread to ensure that they had a nutritious meal.

A rye bread open faced sandwich topped with mackerel in tomato sauce, cucumber, chives, and micro greens.

Danish open faced sandwiches on a platter.

Our Ultimate Guide: Nine Variations on Smørrebrød

Today, we have chosen to highlight nine of our favorite smørrebrød, narrowed down to three main categories: fish, meat, and vegetarian. There are countless ways for you to put together a sandwich. You can try whatever combination you like – these are just suggestions! That being said, they are well thought out in terms of flavors and textures, so you should definitely give them a try. If you want to make them, check out our recipe post which includes a list of all the ingredients you will need!

Important Note: For all sandwiches, the first step is always to butter your bread or spread with lard! This is the Danish way – it is of course optional, but we would recommend it.

Fish Sandwiches

A rye bread open faced sandwich topped with herring, onion, radish, and micro greens.

Sild (Herring)

Pickled herring is a staple of Danish food and it makes the most amazing topping for a sandwich. Our smørrebrød includes a layer of herring and then some radishes, which add a lovely crunch and sharpness. We then add some onion, which is a classic partner to pickled herring. Finally, we garnish with some microgreens to make it look as beautiful as possible!

Makrel (Mackerel)

This is one of our favorites because we ate it all the time growing up! Canned mackerel in tomato sauce is something that most Danes grow up eating, and kids even take it to school for lunch. It is super delicious, with a nice balance of sweetness and savoriness from the tomato sauce. We love to top it with fresh cucumber, chives, and microgreens, which just add a lovely freshness to the fatty fish. Alternatively, some people like to add mayo to their mackerel smørrebrød!

A rye bread open faced sandwich topped with cucumber, smoked salmon, onion, lemon, and dill.

Laks (Smoked Salmon)

The first step to making your smoked salmon smørrebrød is buttering your slice of rugbrød. Then, we like to add a layer of cucumbers between the bread and salmon. Next, pile on the smoked salmon, some pickled onions, fresh dill, and a slice of lemon. You can also use cured salmon (gravlax) instead of smoked salmon! You can’t go wrong with this combination – it’s an absolute classic!

A rye bread open faced sandwich topped with lettuce, avocado, baby shrimp, dill, and lemon.

Rejer (Shrimp)

Each Christmas, we start off our big julefrokost with this sandwich. These little shrimp are such a delicious topping for smørrebrød and they are so cute too! We love combining them with avocado, lettuce, fresh dill, and lemon on our sandwich. An optional layer of butter or mayo on your bread is recommended as well. If you can get your hand on these little shrimp, then try out making this sandwich – it is just so delicious!

Meat Sandwiches

A rye bread open faced sandwich topped with danish meatballs, cucumber, radish, onion, and micro greens.

Frikadelle (Meatball)

Frikadeller are one of our favorite Danish dishes in general. We already have a recipe up for these delicious Danish meatballs, which you can find here. You can serve them as a main dish alongside potatoes and some vegetables; or, you can use them to make smørrebrød! We like to add some freshness and sharpness to the meaty base, so we use cucumbers, radishes, and onions to cut through the savoriness of the meatballs. We also add microgreens (of course), but these are optional!

A rye bread open faced sandwich topped with liver pate, pickled beets, and fried onions.

Leverpostej (Liver Pate)

Here is another one of our childhood favorites, leverpostej! We have a recipe for homemade leverpostej here. This is also a staple in many Danish kitchens, as liver pate in Denmark is super easy to find and reasonably cheap. We love to top our leverpostej with pickled beets, chives, and crispy fried onions. This adds yummy acidity, freshness, and texture to the smooth pate. You can also top leverpostej with cucumber (another favorite combination in Denmark).

Roast Beef

This is not a sandwich that we frequently make in our family, but it is certainly beloved by many people! You can either buy roast beef or make your own – it doesn’t really matter – and then assemble your smørrebrød. Butter goes on the bottom (of course), followed by a piece of lettuce, layers of roast beef, some Danish remoulade, radishes, and microgreens. The creaminess of the remoulade as well as the sharpness of the radishes balances perfectly with the flavor of the roast beef.

Vegetarian Sandwiches

A rye bread open faced sandwich topped with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, sliced egg, and micro greens.

Æg (Egg)

If you are a lover of medium- or hard-boiled eggs, then this is the smørrebrød for you! We love to add lots of fresh vegetables alongside our sliced up egg, including cucumber, tomato, and lettuce. You could also add some avocado if that’s up your street! Chives add great flavor but you could also add pickled beets or onions for more acidity. Whatever you choose, make sure to butter your bread and add salt and pepper on your egg and it will be absolutely delicious!

A rye bread open faced sandwich topped with lettuce, potato, sour cream, chives, and fried onion.

Kartoffel (Potato)

The humble potato is a widely beloved part of Danish cuisine, so of course we had to include it in our smørrebrød selection. The process is super simple: butter your bread (as always), layer on a beautiful piece of lettuce, add sliced boiled potatoes, a nice amount of sour cream (or mayonnaise), chives, and fried onions. This is the perfect combination for a hearty smørrebrød and it will quickly become one of your favorites!

Make Your Next Dinner Party Smørrebrød Themed!

We hope you enjoyed this deep dive into our favorite open-faced sandwiches. And we certainly hope you get the chance to try it out! It’s always a great time to get friends and family together around a table to eat amazing food. If you’re interested in putting your own Danish lunch table together, we’ve put together a list of ingredients and a step by step assembly for each sandwich in our recipe post here. Let us know in the comments what your favorite toppings are!