🍽️ DINNER
Plokkfiskur
Iceland’s "plucked fish": cod and potatoes folded into a warm, oniony white sauce, served with dark rye and butter.
Icelandic · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 30 min
~474 cal · 37g protein · 43g carbs · 16g fat · 5g fiber · 9g sugars · 10g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Plokkfiskur began, like so much good food, as thrift. Its name means roughly "plucked fish", and it was a way to use up yesterday's boiled fish and potatoes: the leftovers pulled apart by hand and reheated in a simple white sauce until they melt into a soft, savoury mash. Out of frugality came one of Iceland's most cherished comfort dishes.
In a country where fish meant survival and little could be wasted, that resourcefulness runs deep, and plokkfiskur is the dish many Icelanders will tell you their grandmother makes best. Modern versions might fold in onion, a little curry powder, or cheese, but the heart of it, flaked white fish and potato in a gentle bechamel, stays the same.
It is almost always eaten with rugbraud, the dense, dark, faintly sweet Icelandic rye traditionally baked slowly with geothermal heat. Harbourside cafes in Reykjavik serve the pairing to this day, a warm bowl and dark bread against the North Atlantic wind.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally 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 4
- 1.25 lbs cod or haddock fillets
- 1.5 lbs potatoes, boiled and chunked
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 4 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp flour
- 2 cups milk, warmed
- generous white pepper
- 2 tbsp chives
- thick slices dark rye bread, to serve
- to spread butter, to serve
Instructions
- 1Poach the fish in barely simmering salted water 6 minutes (or warm the beans and palm hearts in kombu milk); flake into big pieces.
- 2Soften the onion in butter; add flour and cook 2 minutes.
- 3Whisk in the warm milk into a thick, gentle sauce.
- 4Fold in the fish and potatoes, plucking them apart roughly, rustic, chunky, never smooth. Warm through.
- 5Season hard with white pepper, shower with chives, and serve with buttered dark rye. Weather improves immediately.
Reykjavík harbor tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Reykjavík. Reykjavik's harbour kitchens turn the day's catch into comfort: cod and haddock, salted, dried, and stewed into plokkfiskur with potato and butter. Lamb grazed on wild herbs, skyr, and dense dark rye baked slowly in the ground complete the Icelandic table.
🗺️
Iceland. Iceland's cuisine is forged by a harsh North Atlantic, lamb, skyr (thick cultured dairy), and abundant fish, historically preserved by drying, smoking, and fermenting. Rye bread baked in geothermal heat is a local marvel.
🌍
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 Iceland
Hafragrautur (Icelandic Oat Porridge)Creamy stovetop oat porridge simmered with a pinch of salt, served the Icelandic way with a spoon of skyr, brown sugar, and butter.
PylsurIceland's lamb-based hot dog with crispy and raw onions, remoulade, and a sweet-brown mustard, a Reykjavik institution.
VínartertaA striped layer cake of thin cardamom shortbread and spiced prune filling, an Icelandic Christmas heirloom.
Browse all Iceland recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Whisk.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it an Iceland meal
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VínartertaDessert
PylsurLunch
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Plokkfiskur?
Iceland’s "plucked fish": cod and potatoes folded into a warm, oniony white sauce, served with dark rye and butter.
Where does Plokkfiskur come from?
Plokkfiskur is an Icelandic dish from Reykjavík, Iceland.
Can Plokkfiskur be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Plokkfiskur 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 Plokkfiskur 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 Plokkfiskur take to make?
About 45 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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