Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Havregröt
Warm oat porridge topped with lingonberry or blueberry and a splash of cold milk.
Swedish · easy · serves 2
prep 2 min · cook 10 min
~308 cal · 10g protein · 47g carbs · 9g fat · 5g fiber · 13g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Havregrot, oat porridge, is the quiet backbone of the Swedish breakfast, and of Nordic mornings generally. Rolled oats are simmered with water or milk and a pinch of salt until thick and creamy, a plain start that has fed Swedes through cold, dark winters.
Simple as it is, the toppings give it its Swedish character. A spoon of tart lingonberry or blueberry jam stirred through, a pour of cold milk around the edge, sometimes a scatter of cinnamon or seeds; the contrast of hot porridge and cold milk is part of the pleasure. Its festive cousin, the Christmas rice porridge, famously hides a single almond that promises marriage to whoever finds it.
It is unfussy, nourishing, everyday food, the antidote to a freezing morning, eaten before school or work without ceremony. Havregrot is Swedish breakfast at its most honest: warm, filling, and quietly comforting.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, 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 2
1 cup rolled oats (certified gluten-free if needed)
2 cups water
a pinch a pinch of salt
2 tbsp lingonberry or blueberry jam
Hard to find? cranberry sauce - the tartness is the point, not the fruit; cranberry carries it where a sweet jam does not
2 tsp butter (optional)
1/2 cup cold milk, to serve
Instructions
1
Bring the water and salt to a boil.
2
Stir in the oats and simmer, stirring, until creamy, about 6 minutes.
3
Spoon the hot porridge into bowls and drop a knob of butter into the middle of each to melt.
4
Top with lingonberry or blueberry jam.
5
Pour cold milk around the edge and serve warm.
✎ Chef’s note
Around the edge, not stirred through. Swedish porridge is eaten by taking a spoonful of the hot and dipping it into the cold milk at the rim, so every mouthful is both at once. Porridge here long predates rice: barley and oats were what Swedish households ground and boiled, and oats are still the everyday breakfast while rice belongs to Christmas.
Skåne tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Skåne. Two Scanian set pieces. Aggakaka is a thick baked egg cake eaten with fried pork and lingonberry, and spettekaka is a hollow cone built up by trickling egg and sugar batter onto a spit turning over a fire; it came north from Denmark and is mentioned in writing as early as 1642.
🗺️
Sweden. Do not call kottbullar ancient. In 2018 Sweden's own official account announced that the meatballs came from a recipe Charles the Twelfth brought back from Turkey in the early eighteenth century, which started a public row and is disputed by food historians, so the story is worth telling only as a story.
🌍
Europe. European cooking is built on the land and the seasons, wheat, butter, and cured pork in the north; olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood around the Mediterranean; preserved vegetables and hearty stews through long winters. Centuries of peasant tradition, guild craft, and royal courts refined techniques from French mother sauces to Italian fresh pasta and Central European baking. Regional identity runs remarkably deep, with a single dish often changing from one valley to the next.
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.
RäksmörgåsA lavish open sandwich piled high with cold peeled shrimp, egg, and dill mayonnaise, a Swedish lunch indulgence.
KanelbullarCardamom-scented cinnamon buns crowned with pearl sugar, the heart of the Swedish coffee ritual of fika.
Browse all Sweden recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Thickens as it sits. Reheat with extra water or milk to loosen, and keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated.
Make it a Sweden meal
Jordgubbstårta (Strawberry Cream Cake)Dessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Havregröt?
Warm oat porridge topped with lingonberry or blueberry and a splash of cold milk.
Where does Havregröt come from?
Havregröt is a Swedish dish from Skåne, Sweden.
Can Havregröt be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Havregröt 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 Havregröt 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 Havregröt take to make?
About 12 minutes total (2 minutes prep, 10 minutes cooking), serving 2.
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