Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Janssons Frestelse (Jansson’s Temptation)
A creamy gratin of matchstick potatoes layered with sweet onions and Swedish spiced sprats, baked in cream and milk until golden.
Swedish · easy · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 55 min
~581 cal · 9g protein · 53g carbs · 37g fat · 6g fiber · 10g sugars · 23g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Janssons frestelse, "Jansson’s temptation", is a creamy potato gratin that no Swedish julbord (Christmas buffet) is complete without. The recipe was first published around 1940 and quickly became a classic; there are competing stories about who the Jansson of the name was, an opera singer or a silent film, but none is settled.
The one thing every Swede will correct you on is the fish. Recipes translated into English often call for anchovies, but the Swedish ansjovis are actually sprats, in a sweet-and-spicy brine rather than the sharp salt of Mediterranean anchovies. Using true anchovies makes the dish far too salty; the spiced sprats give it its characteristic gentle, savoury sweetness, and their brine goes into the dish too.
It is built in layers: matchstick potatoes, softened onions and the sprats, covered in cream and milk, topped with breadcrumbs and dotted with butter, then baked until the top is golden and the potatoes are meltingly soft. It is often served at Christmas as a side, sometimes with schnapps, but is rich enough to make a meal with a salad.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally egg-, 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 4
900 g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into fine matchsticks
2 onions, thinly sliced
40 g butter
2 x 125 g tins Swedish ansjovis (spice- sprats), with their brine
300 ml double cream
200 ml whole milk
3 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
to taste salt and white pepper
Instructions
1
Heat the oven to 200C (400F) and butter an ovenproof dish. Cook the sliced onions gently in some of the butter for 12-15 minutes until soft and sweet, not browned.
2
Layer a third of the potato matchsticks in the dish, then half the onions and half the sprats, seasoning as you go. Repeat, then top with a final layer of potatoes.
✎ Chef’s note
Use spice-cured Swedish sprats, not Mediterranean anchovies, which are far too salty for this dish.
3
Stir the cream and milk together with the brine from the sprats and pour over, pressing the potatoes down so they are just covered.
4
Scatter over the breadcrumbs and dot with the remaining butter.
5
Bake for about 45-55 minutes, until deeply golden and the potatoes are tender to a knife. Rest 5 minutes before serving.
Swedish julbord classic, first published c.1940.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Skåne. Skane was Danish until 1658 and the kitchen still shows it. Saint Martin's Day on 10 November is kept here with roast goose and svartsoppa in a way the rest of Sweden does not bother with, and the east coast was long known as the eel coast, though that fishery is now tightly restricted.
🗺️
Sweden. Two Swedish rituals are more distinctive than the meatball. The kraftskiva, the August crayfish party, comes with paper hats, schnapps and singing, and is timed to a season that was once legally enforced. Surstromming is fermented Baltic herring, sold in tins that bulge from the pressure inside, and is opened outdoors by anyone with sense.
🌍
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 Sweden
Köttbullar (Swedish Meatballs)Small allspice-scented meatballs in cream gravy with potatoes and lingonberries, Sweden’s definitive comfort plate.
HavregrötWarm oat porridge topped with lingonberry or blueberry and a splash of cold milk.
RäksmörgåsA lavish open sandwich piled high with cold peeled shrimp, egg, and dill mayonnaise, a Swedish lunch indulgence.
Browse all Sweden recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and reheats covered in the oven. Most bakes can be assembled a day ahead and baked when needed.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Janssons Frestelse (Jansson’s Temptation)?
A creamy gratin of matchstick potatoes layered with sweet onions and Swedish spiced sprats, baked in cream and milk until golden.
Where does Janssons Frestelse (Jansson’s Temptation) come from?
Janssons Frestelse (Jansson’s Temptation) is a Swedish dish from Skåne, Sweden.
Can Janssons Frestelse (Jansson’s Temptation) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Janssons Frestelse (Jansson’s Temptation) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Janssons Frestelse (Jansson’s Temptation) 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 count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), 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 Janssons Frestelse (Jansson’s Temptation) take to make?
About 80 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 55 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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