Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Fiskekaker
Light pan-fried fish cakes bound with milk and potato starch, a Norwegian everyday staple served with vegetables.
Norwegian · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 15 min
~289 cal · 34g protein · 9g carbs · 13g fat · 0g fiber · 2g sugars · 7g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Fiskekaker, fish cakes, are a cornerstone of Norwegian everyday cooking, a thrifty way to eat the country's abundant white fish. Found in every supermarket and made at home along the long coast, they are pure comfort.
The key to their light, springy texture is processing the raw fish with milk and a little potato starch until smooth, a technique that traps air and moisture. Shaped into patties and pan-fried golden, they are served simply with boiled potatoes, vegetables, and often a brown or white sauce.
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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 4
1 1/2 lb white fish fillets (cod or haddock)
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
3 tbsp potato starch
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter or oil, for frying
Instructions
1
Blend the raw fish with the salt until smooth, then work in the potato starch, egg, and nutmeg.
2
Gradually beat in the cold milk until the mixture is light and holds together.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep everything cold and add the milk slowly. A cold, well-beaten paste is what gives fiskekaker their bouncy, tender texture.
3
Shape into patties and fry in butter until golden and cooked through, about 4 minutes a side.
4
Serve with boiled potatoes and vegetables.
Norwegian coastal cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Vestland (Bergen). Bergen grew rich on dried fish it never caught. Stockfish came down the coast by boat from Lofoten, and from around 1350 the Hanseatic merchants who ran the Bryggen wharf controlled its export to Catholic Europe. Those wharf buildings are still standing and carry World Heritage listing.
🗺️
Norway. Brunost is not cheese in the ordinary sense: it is whey boiled down for hours until the milk sugars caramelise into a firm brown block, sweet and faintly fudgy, shaved in thin curls onto bread with a slicer designed for the job. It is a preserving trick that turned a by-product into a national habit.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Norway
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Good to know
You’ll need: 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 Norway meal
RømmegrøtDessert
FårikålDinner
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Fiskekaker?
Light pan-fried fish cakes bound with milk and potato starch, a Norwegian everyday staple served with vegetables.
Where does Fiskekaker come from?
Fiskekaker is a Norwegian dish from Vestland (Bergen), Norway.
Can Fiskekaker be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Fiskekaker 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 Fiskekaker 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 Fiskekaker take to make?
About 35 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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