Food in Iceland ranges from impeccably presented plates of lamb loin to soothing bowls of fish stew. Dishes tap into the country’s rich bounty from the land and sea, complemented by centuries-old preservation techniques—canning, fermenting, salting, and drying.
Icelandic food offers a thrilling culinary discovery for travelers who enjoy trying new and interesting gastronomy on vacation. Exploring the local cuisine also offers a wonderful balance to the more active excursions, such as horseback riding, kayaking, and hiking, which you’ll experience in Iceland.
From sweet treats to nose-to-tail fare, these are the Icelandic foods to sample on vacation.
Hákarl
Hákarl
Iceland is known for its cuisine, and one of the more curious Icelandic foods you might encounter is hákarl, a delicacy known as fermented Greenland shark. This age-old food traditionally involves shark meat stored in a hole dug into the ground before being hung outside to dry for around five months.
Fermenting food has been used to preserve produce for centuries in Iceland, allowing people to stockpile produce for wintertime. Hákarl is less commonly eaten these days thanks to its somewhat putrid aroma.
Learning about it is nonetheless fascinating, though, especially on a visit to Bjarnarhöfn Shark Museum on the remote Snæfellsnes Peninsula in west Iceland. Here you can sample a slither of the shark meat on a guided tour and explore a drying house where the meat is hung to dry.
Kjötsúpa
Kjötsúpa
Kjötsúpa is a spirit-lifting lamb soup often served in homes in Iceland as a remedy for the common cold and flu.
The recipe for kjötsúpa includes a mix of vegetables, herbs, and sometimes rice, served in a broth-like soup. Exact ingredients vary, though typically it includes lamb shoulder with the meat cooked on the bone, turnips, potatoes, carrots, white cabbage, herbs, and black pepper.
You’ll find kjötsúpa on menus at pubs and restaurants around Iceland, including Cafe Loki, a venue specializing in home-cooked dishes, located across the street from Hallgrímskirkja church in downtown Reykjavik.
Skyr
Skyr
Food in Iceland that you’ll see at breakfast or brunch is skyr, pronounced “skee-er,” an Icelandic yogurt made from pasteurized skimmed milk. Originally made from sheep’s milk, skyr is more commonly made from cow’s milk today.
Eaten on its own, skyr has a slightly sharp taste so it is often balanced with fruits, nuts, and granola.
Skyr’s thick and creamy texture offers a wonderfully light meal option. This high-protein, low-fat product has been cultivated and eaten in Iceland for centuries—it was even mentioned in Viking sagas.
Plokkfiskur
Plokkfiskur
The amusingly named “plokkfiskur” is a humble fish stew. This nourishing Icelandic dish has been cooked and ladled into bowls by households for generations, featuring diced potato, flaked cod or haddock, milk, fish stock, salt, and pepper.
Naturally, there are variations, with curry powder and onion sometimes added. For an extra layer of comfort, bechamel sauce is added to the mixture and cheese is liberally melted on top. Enjoy this cozy dish accompanied with a wedge of buttered rye bread after a day of taking in spectacular waterfalls or hiking mountains.
Icelandic Lamb
Icelandic lamb
Icelandic lamb graze freely in rolling valleys and mountain pastures, feasting on a diet of fresh green grass, wild herbs, and juicy berries. Icelandic lamb is considered among the best in the world, noted for its tender texture and rich flavor.
Icelanders have a long history of lamb consumption that stretches back to the Viking era, when sheep farming on this small North Atlantic island began.
Icelandic sheep
Sheep farmers dedicate their days to the welfare of their flock and such is the importance of Icelandic lamb, it was awarded European Designation of Origin (PDO) status in 2018.
You’ll find Icelandic lamb served in many forms all over the country. In Reykjavik, it’s offered in food halls and fine-dining restaurants. At the upmarket restaurant Kol in Reykjavik, a standout dish is the charcoal-grilled lamb filet served with a style of Hasselback potato, fondant, and roasted carrot puree.
At Sandholt bakery, also in Reykjavik, the shredded slow-cooked lamb sandwich—served on sourdough bread with mustard, chipotle sauce, cheese, pickled cabbage, and coriander cream—is life changing.
Atlantic Cod
Atlantic cod
Of all the seafood in Iceland, cod is among the most famous. Caught in the rich waters around the country, cod has served as a meal source for centuries and is a mainstay on restaurant menus.
Atlantic cod is caught year-round, with travelers able to sample a variety of cod dishes in Iceland, from baked to pan-fried, served with fries and roast vegetables.
One of the most popular ways of cooking cod is frying it in batter. At Perlan, a revolving restaurant atop the city’s nature museum, battered cod is served with a punchy tartar sauce. Fjárhúsið Hlemmur—a food stall at the city’s Hlemmur Mathöll—serves this delicate white fish in a tempura batter with yuzu mayonnaise.
Rúgbrauð
Rúgbrauð
Rúgbrauð, or rye bread, is a kitchen staple in Iceland. Traditionally, this dark-colored bread was steamed in a wooden cask or baked in a pot buried in the ground near a geothermal geyser. Nowadays, Icelandic rye bread is baked in an oven.
Rúgbrauð is a crustless bread, a touch sweeter and much denser than regular bread, produced from a recipe of rye flour, whole-wheat flour, buttermilk, golden syrup, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Rúgbrauð
Rye bread is smothered in butter and served as an accompaniment to soups, or topped with mouthwatering fish pate, pickled herring, smoked salmon, or a combination of dill, crème fraîche, and shrimp. It’s also delightful with breakfast, beneath gooey scrambled eggs or slices of meat and cheese.
One of the best foodie experiences in Iceland involves a geothermal rye bread demonstration, where you could observe how this rich Icelandic food was traditionally made. The process involves baking bread within the earth’s surface for 24 hours. After watching a demonstration, you’ll get to sample the earth-warmed bread.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes
When you think of Icelandic food, tomatoes might not spring to mind. However, around 60 miles east of Reykjavik—close to the Golden Circle’s Gullfoss waterfall and Geysir Geothermal Area—family-run Friðheimar is a thriving tomato farm that produces around two tons of tomatoes per day.
Friðheimar grows tomatoes in greenhouses under artificial lighting, allowing the farm to produce crops year-round. Travelers can visit the subtropical-like greenhouses—filled with stalks of heirloom, plum, and piccolo plants bursting with green, yellow, and red fruits—to get a behind-the-scenes look at Friðheimar’s growing process.
Enjoy a farm-to-fork experience at Friðheimar’s greenhouse restaurant, with freshly made tomato soup and homemade bread the stars of the menu. Tomato salad, mussels cooked in a tomato and seafood sauce, and an unusual dessert—homemade tomato ice cream—also feature.
After, visit Friðheimar’s Little Tomato Shop to pick up a plethora of gourmet goods, with shelves stocked with tomato-based products, such as pasta sauce, soup, and chutneys.
Harðfiskur
Harðfiskur
One of the Icelandic foods you are likely to encounter while browsing grocery stores and gift shops is harðfiskur—which translates as “hard fish”. This Icelandic snack consists of dried cod, pollock, or haddock, packaged into chewy strips or crunch chips.
Think of harðfiskur as the fish version of beef jerky, only healthier—rich in Omega-3, high in protein, and low in fat. The process of creating harðfiskur is fascinating, with locally caught Icelandic fish salted and dried. Fish are hung to dry for up to six weeks on timber racks in windswept coastal locations to achieve quicker drying.
If you spend time exploring Iceland’s coast, you’ll likely see these weather-beaten drying racks, near lighthouses, cliff-tops, and fishing plants.
Svið
Svið
“Never did I expect to taste such a barbaric dish as a sheep’s head,” wrote U.S. journalist Lara Weber in 1995, upon experiencing svið. Though surprisingly, her conclusion was that it “wasn’t bad.”
This traditional offal dish is a symbol of nose-to-tail eating in Iceland, with every part of the animal consumed to avoid waste.
The sheep’s head is cut in half, and the fur, ears, and brain are removed. The head is then boiled, sometimes cured. Though there are certainly prettier foods in Iceland, svið is incredibly flavorful, with the cheek meat especially tender and delicious.
Svið is often served at Þorrablót, a mid-winter feast that usually occurs in January. The dish is served on a platter alongside a buffet of other celebratory dishes—blood pudding and smoked meat—followed by singing, dancing, and traditional games.
Hot Dogs From Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur
Hot dog
Tasty and inexpensive, Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur is a popular hot dog vendor in the center of Reykjavík. Translated as “the town’s best sausages,” Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur has been in continuous operations since 1937 and is run by Guðrún Kristmundsdóttir, the granddaughter of the founder.
It’s estimated that Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur sells around 1,000 hot dogs every day, with the sausages used incorporating a unique mix of pork and lamb meat. The hot dogs are topped with raw and crispy fried onions, mustard, ketchup, and remoulade.
Order from the iconic red and white stand on Tryggvagata, close by the Icelandic Phallological Museum and Harpa Concert Hall. Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur has several locations in Reykjavík and an outpost at Keflavík International Airport.
Read: Best Things to Do in Reykjavik
Flatkaka
Flatkaka
Flatkaka, also sometimes called flatbrauð, is a soft, flat rye bread that’s popular in Iceland as a savory snack or as part of a light meal. Flatkaka is round, similar to the Indian-style roti bread in appearance, and typically baked in a cast-iron pan, though it was traditionally baked on hot stones or directly over an open fire.
This satisfying bread is served in homes, delis, and cafes, topped with cured meat, sliced cheese, smoked or pickled fish, or a fish pate.
The origins of flatkaka can be traced back to the 9th century, and the settlement of Iceland, using a simple recipe of rye flour and water. Variations of the recipe also include milk, salt, whole flour, white flour, and baking soda, and is a must-try food in Iceland.
Hangikjöt
Hangikjöt
Unusual food in Iceland includes hangikjöt. Although it translates as ham, hangikjöt is typically lamb leg, mutton, or occasionally horse meat that has been hung and smoked in a smokehouse. This Icelandic food is usually eaten around the holidays when families celebrate with hearty feasts.
You’ll mostly find hangikjöt boiled and sliced—the same as a cold-cut ham is served—often with boiled potatoes, a creamy béchamel sauce, and vegetables such as peas and cabbage. Usually, the meat features a thick layer of fat around it, which helps preserve a rich flavor while cooking.
Hangikjöt is also a delectable sandwich filling—or served topped with pickles on flatkaka. You’ll encounter hangikjöt stocked in the deli section of grocery stores and in bakeries around Iceland.
Arctic Char
Arctic char
Another popular fish dish is Arctic char, a common freshwater fish in Iceland. This delicate fish has a light pink hue, similar to salmon and trout, with a mild, sweet flavor, and is often served pan-fried with potatoes.
At Skál, a hip restaurant with a lightness of touch in Reykjavik, Arctic char is served with potato puree, red beets, smoked butter, onion, and capers. At Brut, another high-brow city restaurant, Arctic char is presented with butternut squash, smoked jalapeno, and a kohlrabi salad. For a simple take on Arctic char, head to Reykjavik Fish Restaurant where it’s drizzled in garlic butter.
Hjónabandssæla
Hjónabandssæla is a toothsome cake with a jammy rhubarb base, though other seasonal fruits are sometimes used, such as blueberry or raspberry, with a baked oatmeal top. This sugary cake is baked until golden and is best enjoyed with a generous dollop of whipped cream. The name is roughly translated as Marital Bliss and you’ll find the cake served in cafés all over Iceland.
The story goes that if you eat a slice of hjónabandssæla, you will have a happy marriage. Regardless of your marital status, hjónabandssæla is a palate-pleasing cake to savor in Iceland.
Read: Best Things to Do in Iceland
Restaurant in Reykjavik
Iceland offers a richly rewarding culinary odyssey for inquisitive palates. Explore Celebrity’s cruises to Iceland and book your next vacation to experience the country’s awe-inspiring nature and remarkable gourmet scene.
