Swedish Shrimp Salad (Skagenröra)
Swedish shrimp salad (skagenröra) recipe is a favorite savory sandwich mix that is common on sandwich tables (smörgåsbord) grocery stores and cafes throughout Sweden.
It’s an extremely tempting dish that seems to call your name as you walk by, in many of the cafes and grocery stores in Sweden.
It’s very popular and for good reason. It is simple to make, sophisticated and has a savory element from the cold water shrimp and creamy dressing that you’ll crave again and again.
It is versatile and you can put it on your favorite style of bread. It’s popular on buns, rolls, baguettes, and on regular bread or toast, called toast skagen. We like to use low carb and gluten free bread such as Carbonaut bread.
You can serve it anytime, for everyday and extra special occasions, like New Year’s eve.
It’s perfect for a special brunch or lunch, excellent as an open faced sandwich and also on canapé style appetizers.
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Swedish Shrimp Salad Skagenröra Recipe Ingredients
- Cold Water Shrimp — delectable cold water shrimp are the perfect choice for this shrimp sandwich mix. You can purchase them in IKEA’s supermarket or in the frozen seafood aisle at well stocked grocery stores.
- Labneh — traditionally, skagenrora is made with crème fraiche, but we like to substitute labneh yogurt cheese, similar to cream cheese. We do this in most of our recipes, to get a satisfying creaminess with fewer calories. You can use crème fraiche if you’d rather, though.
- Sour Cream — we add a little sour cream for the tang and when mixed with labneh provides a similar consistency to crème fraiche. You can sub dahi, a plain yogurt with a tang, if you have it.
- Dill — fresh dill, finely chopped.
- Caviar — you can use caviar or a fish roe substitute like IKEA seaweed pearls. You can use the red or black seaweed pearls.
- Lemon — freshly squeezed lemon juice.
- Hot Sauce — It’s optional, but we like to include a little Frank’s Red Hot or similar hot sauce. It is not a traditional ingredient, but we like the extra little kick that it provides.
- Pepper — black pepper, freshly ground. You can sub white pepper if you prefer.
- Salt — Himalayan pink salt.
How To Make Swedish Shrimp Salad (Skagenröra) Recipe
This is a simple mix to make, with few steps.
First, you’ll need to thaw out your cold water shrimp. You can do this by placing the frozen shrimp in the refrigerator overnight. Or you can rinse and drain them well in cold water, using a strainer.
You can choose to keep the cold water shrimp whole or chop them into smaller pieces (about half size).
Place the shrimp inside a medium bowl and add the remaining ingredients to the same bowl.
Mix well to thoroughly combine all ingredients.
Keep the container covered and store in your refrigerator until ready to use.
Serve as open faced sandwiches or as canape style appetizers.
You can also use this mix as one layer of a seafood sandwich cake (smörgåstårta).
Optional garnishes include dill sprigs, lemon slices and caviar (or as a fish roe substitute try red or black seaweed pearls).
What To Serve With Swedish Shrimp Salad Skagenröra Recipe
Typically Skagenröra is enjoyed atop of a Toast Skagen sandwich.
We love Swedish shrimp salad sandwiches along with IKEA style smoked salmon gravlax salad.
You can also serve it with more Swedish café style sandwiches like Swedish meatball sandwich with creamy pickled beet salad (köttebullemacka).
Best Uses For Leftover Skagenröra
Is there such a thing as leftover Skagenröra?
I’ve never seen any. 🙂
But if you have some, you can try it in these amazing shrimp sushi roll uramaki that are Toast Skagen inspired.
It’s easy to make a homemade sushi dinner, with Foolproof Instant Pot Sushi Rice.
You can also mix up a quick batch of spicy sriracha sushi dipping sauce to serve with your favorite sushi!
Storage and Preparation Tips
Keep prepared Swedish shrimp salad Skagenröra tightly covered in your fridge for up to three days. It’s best to enjoy it at it’s freshest, within a day or two after it’s made.
Although unopened bags of cold water shrimp can be frozen for several months, we don’t advise freezing prepared Skagenröra as the texture and flavor will change upon thawing.
More Swedish Sandwiches Without Mayo
These are all protein rich and can be made lower carb with low carb bread such as Carbonaut. With regular bread, you can reduce the carbs by serving many of these as an open faced sandwich on one slice of bread only.
The following are easy and delicious ways to incorporate more seafood into your diet, as they are full of health benefits from vitamins, minerals and omegas.
- Smoked Salmon Salad (Laxröra)
- Canned Salmon Salad (Laxsallad)
- Tuna Salad
- Crab Salad
- Shrimp Salad (Räkröra)
- Swedish Meatball and Creamy Pickled Beet (Köttbullemacka) — shown below.
- Lobster Salad (Hummersallad)
- IKEA Shrimp Sandwich
- Egg and Anchovy Mix (Gubbröra) — this is a delightful mix of anchovy, egg, potato and caviar (optional). Especially if you are a fan of Jansson’s Temptation Frestelse, you should give this a try! Make it even more tempting when you serve gubbrora on top of buttered toast just as in this toast Skagen recipe.
- Clam Salad Sandwich
- Lobster Sandwich Cake (Lyxig smorgastarta) — for your most special occasions, this sandwich cake is the perfect option when you want to go all out for your seafood loving guests. Shrimp salad skagenröra is an excellent choice to use as one layer of this sandwich.
If you’re a serious seafood lover you will surely love our easy and healthy seafood pita pizzas. Try clam melt, clam red sauce, tuna melt, crab melt, mackerel in tomato sauce, sardine in tomato sauce and more!
These healthy pita pizzas are life savers anytime you want to avoid unhealthy take out or boxed grocery store pizzas. They take only a few minutes to prepare and are loaded with flavor. Simple to make and although they follow similar preparation, are different enough to keep your taste buds on their toes.
Just stock a few shelf stable cans of seafood and you’ll be well on your way to a satisfying pizza chock full of vitamins and minerals.
You’ll Also Love
Swedish meatball sandwich with creamy pickled beet salad (köttbullemacka) made with Instant Pot IKEA Swedish meatballs.
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Swedish Shrimp Salad (Skagenröra)
Ingredients
- 12 oz Shrimp, Cold water shrimp, cooked
- ¼ Cup Labneh
- ¼ Cup Sour Cream
- ¼ Cup Dill, chopped fine
- 1.5 tablespoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
- ½ teaspoon Hot Sauce, Frank's
- ½ teaspoon Salt, Himalayan pink salt
- ¼ teaspoon Pepper, black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 tablespoon Seaweed Pearls, or fish roe caviar
Instructions
- Thaw a package of cold water shrimp. Rinse and drain well and pat dry with a clean towel if necessary. You can keep them whole or roughly chop into about halves. Place the shrimp into a medium sized bowl.
- Add the remaining ingredients.
- Mix well. Serve atop of canapé style appetizers or open faced sandwiches. The mix can also be enjoyed as one layer of a seafood sandwich cake.
Nutrition
Note
The above nutritional values are estimates and should only be used as a guide. If you are following a specific diet or have dietary restrictions, please use your preferred nutritional calculator. If you have a food allergy please ensure that none of the listed ingredients are part of your restrictions. As well, always use a food thermometer to ensure safe cooking temperature of the food items.
