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Silkė su Grybais (Lithuanian Herring with Mushrooms)
Pieces of marinated herring layered with dried forest mushrooms and onions fried in oil, left to stand until the flavours meet, one of the herring dishes that open the Lithuanian Christmas Eve supper.
Lithuanian · easy · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 35 min · plus 3 h hands-off time
~249 cal · 14g protein · 5g carbs · 19g fat · 1g fiber · 3g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Herring is the fish Lithuanians cannot imagine Kūčios without. Kūčios, Christmas Eve, is the most important family meal of the Lithuanian year, a supper of twelve meatless dishes of fish, vegetables, mushrooms, grains and berries, and the table almost always carries several kinds of herring: with onions, in tomato sauce, with beetroot, and with mushrooms.
Silkė su grybais, herring with mushrooms, pairs the fish with the other great Lithuanian larder of the forest. Dried forest mushrooms are soaked and boiled until tender, sliced and fried with onions in oil, then layered with pieces of skinned herring fillet, or spooned over them, and left to stand for a few hours so the salty fish and the earthy mushrooms flavour each other. Some cooks add a leek, a splash of white wine or a little vinegar and sugar.
It is served cold with dark rye bread and boiled potatoes, and herring dishes like it are served as appetizers on festive tables through the rest of the year too.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- 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
- 400 g marinated or lightly salted herring fillets, skinned, if using whole salted herring, soak it overnight in cold water first
- 30 g dried boletus or other forest mushrooms
- 2 onions, sliced into thin rings
- 4 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- to taste black pepper
- a pinch salt, only if needed; the herring is salty
- 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley or dill, chopped
Instructions
- 1Rinse the dried mushrooms and soak them in 500 ml warm water for at least 1 hour. Then simmer them in their soaking water for about 20 minutes, until tender. Drain (keep the liquid for soup if you like) and slice finely.
- 2Cut the herring fillets into pieces about 3 cm wide and arrange half of them in a shallow serving dish.
- 3Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onions over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until soft and lightly golden. Add the mushrooms and fry for 5 minutes more. Stir in the vinegar, sugar and pepper, and a pinch of salt only if needed. Leave to cool.
- 4Spread half the mushroom mixture over the herring, add the rest of the herring and finish with the rest of the mushrooms and their oil.
- 5Cover and leave in the fridge for at least 3 hours so the flavours blend. Scatter with parsley or dill and serve cold with dark rye bread and boiled potatoes.
Lithuanian Kūčios (Christmas Eve) tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Vilnius. Vilnius serves summer cold and pink, in saltibarsciai, a chilled beet and kefir soup poured over dill and boiled egg with hot potatoes on the side. Rye bread, cured pork, mushrooms, and the potato dumpling cepelinai carry the rest of the year.
🗺️
Lithuania. Lithuanian cooking is hearty and cool-climate, cepelinai potato dumplings, cold beet soup (šaltibarščiai) glowing pink, and dark rye bread. Potato, pork, dairy, and foraged mushrooms anchor the Baltic table.
🌍
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 Lithuania
Šaltibarščiai (Cold Beet Soup)A shocking-pink chilled soup of beets, kefir, cucumber, and dill, Lithuania’s summer in a bowl, with hot potatoes on the side.
Kugelis (Baked Potato Pudding)A dense baked pudding of finely grated raw potato bound with egg, milk, onion and smoked bacon, browned on top and served with sour cream.
CepelinaiZeppelin-shaped potato dumplings stuffed with meat, served with bacon-onion sauce and sour cream.
Browse all Lithuania recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan, Blender.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Lithuania meal
Krupnikas (Lithuanian Honey Spice Liqueur)Drink
TinginysDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Silkė su Grybais (Lithuanian Herring with Mushrooms)?
Pieces of marinated herring layered with dried forest mushrooms and onions fried in oil, left to stand until the flavours meet, one of the herring dishes that open the Lithuanian Christmas Eve supper.
Where does Silkė su Grybais (Lithuanian Herring with Mushrooms) come from?
Silkė su Grybais (Lithuanian Herring with Mushrooms) is a Lithuanian dish from Vilnius, Lithuania.
Can Silkė su Grybais (Lithuanian Herring with Mushrooms) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Silkė su Grybais (Lithuanian Herring with Mushrooms) 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 Silkė su Grybais (Lithuanian Herring with Mushrooms) 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 Silkė su Grybais (Lithuanian Herring with Mushrooms) take to make?
About 3 h 55 min in all: 20 minutes prep and 35 minutes cooking, plus 3 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 6.
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