Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Gravlax (Gravad Lax)
Salmon dry-cured for a couple of days in salt, sugar, dill and white pepper, sliced paper-thin and served with a sweet mustard-dill sauce.
Swedish · easy · serves 10
prep 20 min · cook 0 min
~380 cal · 20g protein · 13g carbs · 27g fat · 0g fiber · 13g sugars · 5g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Gravlax, or gravad lax, is salmon with nothing more than salt, sugar, dill and time. The name literally means "buried salmon": the technique goes back centuries in Sweden, when fishermen preserved their catch by salting it and burying it, letting it in the cool ground. The modern dry-cure version, milder and silky, developed as fermentation gave way to salting.
The method could not be simpler and needs no cooking. A side of salmon is rubbed with a mix of salt, sugar and crushed white pepper, packed with plenty of chopped dill, weighted down and left in the fridge for one to two days, turned occasionally. The salt and sugar draw out moisture and firm the flesh so it can be sliced very thinly on the diagonal.
It is a fixture of the Swedish smörgåsbord and holiday table, almost always served with hovmästarsås, a sweet mustard-and-dill sauce, on bread or with potatoes. Because the fish is not cooked, freeze it first if there is any doubt about it being sashimi-grade, to be safe from parasites.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, 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 10
1 kg side of salmon, skin on, pin-boned
75 g coarse sea salt
100 g caster sugar
1 tbsp white peppercorns, crushed
1 large bunch (about 100 g) fresh dill, chopped (stalks included)
3-4 tbsp Swedish or Dijon mustard (for the sauce)
2 tbsp sugar (for the sauce)
1 tbsp white wine vinegar (for the sauce)
150 ml such as sunflower or rapeseed (for the sauce)
3 tbsp chopped dill (for the sauce)
Instructions
1
If the salmon is not sashimi-grade, freeze it for at least three days first, then thaw, to be safe from parasites. Pat dry and check for pin bones.
2
Mix the salt, sugar and crushed white peppercorns. Lay the salmon skin-side down on a bed of half the dill and rub the cure well into the flesh, then cover with the rest of the dill.
3
Wrap tightly, set in a dish, weight it down with something heavy, and refrigerate for 1-2 days, turning every 12 hours and spooning off the liquid that draws out.
4
For the sauce, whisk the mustard, sugar and vinegar, then slowly whisk in the oil until thick and creamy. Stir in the chopped dill.
✎ Chef’s note
The mustard-dill sauce, hovmästarsås, is traditional and improves after a day in the fridge.
5
Scrape the cure and dill off the salmon, then slice very thinly on the diagonal, pulling each slice away from the skin. Serve with the sauce.
Swedish smörgåsbord tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 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: 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 a Sweden meal
Jordgubbstårta (Strawberry Cream Cake)Dessert
Janssons Frestelse (Jansson’s Temptation)Dinner
Similar dishes from around the world
Antiguan Chop-UpAntigua and Barbuda
Chingri Malaikari (Prawn Coconut Curry)Bangladesh
Moules-FritesBelgium
MatabaComoros
M'tsolola (Fish, Plantain and Coconut Stew)Comoros
FumbwaRepublic of the Congo
Cuisine
Diet
Gluten-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Nut-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Gluten-Free Lunches from Around the World
Dairy-Free Lunches from Around the World
Nut-Free Lunches from Around the World
Egg-Free Lunches from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Gravlax (Gravad Lax)?
Salmon dry-cured for a couple of days in salt, sugar, dill and white pepper, sliced paper-thin and served with a sweet mustard-dill sauce.
Where does Gravlax (Gravad Lax) come from?
Gravlax (Gravad Lax) is a Swedish dish from Skåne, Sweden.
Can Gravlax (Gravad Lax) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Gravlax (Gravad Lax) 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 Gravlax (Gravad Lax) 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 Gravlax (Gravad Lax) take to make?
About 20 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 10.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.