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Rosolli (Finnish Beetroot and Herring Salad)
Diced beetroot, potato, carrot, gherkin, apple and onion layered with pickled herring and egg, served cold with a pink dressing of whipped cream tinted with beetroot vinegar, from the Finnish Christmas table.
Finnish · easy · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 50 min · plus 1 h hands-off time
~337 cal · 13g protein · 31g carbs · 19g fat · 5g fiber · 10g sugars · 9g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Rosolli is a salad of cooked root vegetables that belongs to the Finnish Christmas table, joulupöytä. Beetroot, potato and carrot are boiled in their skins, cooled, peeled and cut into small, even dice, then mixed or layered with pickled cucumber, apple and a little raw onion. The name is usually traced to the Russian word rassol, brine, and similar beetroot salads are made from the Low Countries to Russia, where the nearest relative is vinegret.
What makes it Finnish is the dressing: cream whipped until just thick, sharpened with vinegar or a spoonful of the beetroot pickling liquid and seasoned with a little sugar and salt, which turns it a soft pink. It is served in a separate bowl or spooned over the top.
In its plain form rosolli is a side dish for the Christmas ham. When pickled herring and chopped hard-boiled egg are added, as in this version, it becomes a dish to serve as a starter, and some families call that version sillisalaatti, herring salad.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 4 medium (about 500 g) beetroots, unpeeled
- 3 medium waxy potatoes, unpeeled
- 3 medium carrots, unpeeled
- 3 pickled cucumbers (gherkins), diced
- 1 tart apple, peeled, cored and diced
- 1 small onion, very finely chopped
- 200 g pickled herring fillets, drained and cut in small pieces
- 2 eggs, hard-boiled and chopped
- to taste salt
- to taste white pepper
- 200 ml whipping cream (for the dressing)
- 1 tbsp white vinegar or beetroot pickling liquid
- 1/2 tsp sugar
Instructions
- 1Boil the beetroots, potatoes and carrots in their skins, each in its own pot of salted water: the beetroots for 40 to 50 minutes, the potatoes for about 20 minutes and the carrots for about 15 minutes, until just tender. Drain and leave to cool.✎ Chef’s noteCook the beetroot separately or everything turns red.
- 2Peel the cooled vegetables and cut them all into small, even dice, about 1 cm.
- 3Layer the potato, carrot, gherkin, apple and onion in a serving bowl with a little salt and white pepper on each layer, starting and finishing with beetroot. Scatter the herring and chopped egg over the top. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.
- 4For the dressing, whip the cream until it just holds soft peaks, then fold in the vinegar or beetroot liquid, sugar and a pinch of salt. It turns pale pink.
- 5Serve the rosolli cold as a starter, with the dressing in a separate bowl, or mix a little dressing through just before serving.
Finnish Christmas table tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
North Karelia. North Karelia is the Finnish remainder of Karelia, the region that gave the country the karjalanpiirakka, a thin rye crust folded around rice or barley porridge and spread with egg butter; it spread nationwide with the Karelians displaced in the Second World War and now carries EU protected-name status. Its wider kitchen leans on rye, lake fish, forest mushrooms and berries, and slow oven-baked stews from the long dark winter.
🗺️
Finland. Finnish food is clean and forest-driven, rye bread, lake fish, game, wild berries, and mushrooms. Karelian pies, creamy salmon soup, and a deep culture of foraging and preserving define the Nordic table.
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Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Finland
Karjalanpiirakka (Karelian Pies)Little rye-crusted boats filled with creamy rice porridge, brushed with butter and topped with egg butter.
Hernekeitto (Finnish Pea Soup)A thick, slow-simmered soup of dried peas and smoked pork seasoned with marjoram, Finland's traditional Thursday soup, served with mustard.
Pannukakku (Finnish Oven Pancake)A single thick, custardy pancake baked in a hot buttered pan until puffed and golden, cut in squares and eaten with jam and berries.
Browse all Finland recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Best assembled just before serving. Prep the components ahead and dress at the last moment so it stays crisp.
Make it a Finland meal
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MustikkapiirakkaDessert
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Rosolli (Finnish Beetroot and Herring Salad)?
Diced beetroot, potato, carrot, gherkin, apple and onion layered with pickled herring and egg, served cold with a pink dressing of whipped cream tinted with beetroot vinegar, from the Finnish Christmas table.
Where does Rosolli (Finnish Beetroot and Herring Salad) come from?
Rosolli (Finnish Beetroot and Herring Salad) is a Finnish dish from North Karelia, Finland.
Can Rosolli (Finnish Beetroot and Herring Salad) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Rosolli (Finnish Beetroot and Herring Salad) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Rosolli (Finnish Beetroot and Herring Salad) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Rosolli (Finnish Beetroot and Herring Salad) take to make?
About 2 h 20 min in all: 30 minutes prep and 50 minutes cooking, plus 1 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 6.
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