🥙 LUNCH
Pyttipanna (Swedish Hash with Fried Egg)
Small cubes of potato, onion and leftover meat fried crisp in butter, topped with a fried egg and served with pickled beetroot; in Skåne it is finished with cream and marjoram.
Swedish · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 25 min
~797 cal · 41g protein · 56g carbs · 45g fat · 8g fiber · 10g sugars · 22g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Pyttipanna, or pytt i panna, means "small pieces in a pan", and that is exactly what it is: boiled potatoes, onion and whatever meat is left over, cut into neat cubes and fried in butter until crisp. It began as the thrifty way to use up the Sunday roast and is now one of the most familiar lunches in Sweden, with close cousins across the Nordic countries, from Danish biksemad to Finnish pyttipannu.
The classic plate never changes: a fried egg on top with its yolk still runny, and slices of pickled beetroot at the side, the sweet-sour beet cutting through the fat. Ham, sausage, roast pork and beef all go in; the fancier krögarpytt, "innkeeper's hash", cuts everything extra fine.
In Skåne, Sweden's farm-rich south, cooks often stir in a splash of cream and a pinch of marjoram just before serving, the gräddstuvad style that turns the hash soft and saucy instead of dry and crisp.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten- and nut-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 kg waxy potatoes, boiled, cooled and cut into 1 cm cubes
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 200 g smoked ham or leftover roast pork, cut into 1 cm cubes
- 200 g leftover roast or boiled beef, cut into 1 cm cubes
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 4 eggs, to fry
- 200 g pickled beets (inlagda rödbetor), sliced
- 150 ml whipping cream (the Skåne finish, optional)
- 1/2 tsp dried marjoram, stirred in with the cream
- 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- to taste salt and black pepper
Instructions
- 1Heat 2 tbsp of the butter with the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry the potato cubes in a single layer, turning only now and then, for about 12 minutes until golden and crisp. Tip them onto a plate.✎ Chef’s noteDo not crowd the pan or stir constantly, or the potatoes steam instead of browning. Fry in two batches if needed.
- 2Add the remaining butter to the pan and fry the onion for 4 to 5 minutes until soft and lightly coloured, then add the ham and beef and fry until browned at the edges.
- 3Return the potatoes, fold everything together gently so the cubes keep their shape, and season with salt and pepper.
- 4For the Skåne version, pour in the cream with the marjoram and let it bubble for 2 minutes until it coats the hash. Otherwise leave it dry and crisp.
- 5Meanwhile fry the eggs in a separate pan so the whites set and the yolks stay runny.
- 6Serve the hash with an egg on top, pickled beetroot at the side and a scattering of parsley.
Swedish husmanskost tradition, with the Skåne cream finish.
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🌏 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. Swedish food balances comfort and thrift, meatballs with lingonberry, cured and pickled herring, crispbread, and the ritual of fika (coffee and cake). Preserving, foraging, and a love of the seasons shape the Nordic 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 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: Skillet or frying pan.
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.
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Pyttipanna (Swedish Hash with Fried Egg)?
Small cubes of potato, onion and leftover meat fried crisp in butter, topped with a fried egg and served with pickled beetroot; in Skåne it is finished with cream and marjoram.
Where does Pyttipanna (Swedish Hash with Fried Egg) come from?
Pyttipanna (Swedish Hash with Fried Egg) is a Swedish dish from Skåne, Sweden.
Can Pyttipanna (Swedish Hash with Fried Egg) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pyttipanna (Swedish Hash with Fried Egg) 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 Pyttipanna (Swedish Hash with Fried Egg) 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 Pyttipanna (Swedish Hash with Fried Egg) take to make?
About 45 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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