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Pickled Herring substitute

Best substitute

Jarred Pickled Mackerel or Sprats

Use the same amount by weight as the pickled herring you are replacing

Best for smorrebrod

Close match

The same oily northern fish given the same vinegar cure, so it slices, drapes and tastes the closest of anything you can buy.

Other pickled herring substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

Substitutes for Pickled Herring with ratios

  1. 2Marinated White Anchovies (Boquerones)

    Taste and texture differ

    Use the same amount by weight, but taste before you commit

    Vinegar-cured rather than salt-packed anchovies deliver the same salt-and-acid hit that makes herring work against rye bread and potatoes.

    What changes
    Best for
    open sandwiches, potato salads, canapes, egg dishes

    Noticeably sharper and saltier bite for bite, and the fillets are thin, so a sandwich topped with them tastes acidic and lean rather than rich. Rinse them, pat dry, and add a spoonful of sour cream or creme fraiche to restore the fatty body.

  2. 3Smoked Mackerel + Vinegar and Sugar

    Taste and texture differ

    Use the same amount by weight, plus 1 tsp white wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar per 100 g

    Widely available, cheap, and the right kind of fatty fish.

    What changes

    The vinegar and sugar fake the marinade.

    Best for
    salads, rye bread, dips, potato dishes

    Rich and flaky rather than sliceable, and the smoke sits where the pickle tang should be, so the dish tastes campfire-savoury instead of clean and sour. Works well in a creamy herring salad, less well on a bare slice of rye.

  3. 4Gravlax or Cold-Smoked Salmon

    Taste and texture differ

    Use the same amount by weight

    This is the substitute to reach for when the problem is not availability but taste, because pickled herring is a genuinely acquired flavour and nobody should be miserable at their own dinner.

    What changes
    Best for
    Christmas and Easter platters, smorrebrod, canapes, brunch

    It does the same job on the plate, which is cured oily fish with salt and fat, but it is sweeter, silkier and has no vinegar bite at all. Serve it with a sharp mustard-dill sauce or a squeeze of lemon so the acid the herring would have brought is still there.

  4. 5Sardines in Oil, Drained and Quickly Dressed

    Different taste

    Use the same amount by weight, dressed with 1 tsp vinegar and a pinch of sugar per 100 g

    The pantry version.

    What changes

    Sardines have the oily depth and soft texture, and just need the acid added.

    Best for
    sandwiches, salads, quick canapes

    Similar richness and softness, but the flavour is more mineral and meaty and the acid never fully penetrates, so it tastes dressed rather than cured. Drain them well or the dish turns oily.

  5. 6No Fish at All: Beetroot, Egg and Caper Salad

    Taste and texture differ

    Use Replace the herring entirely: cooked beetroot, hard-boiled egg, dill and sour cream, with 1 tbsp chopped capers or cornichons for every 200 g beetroot

    For sillsalad or sursild salad when nobody at the table will eat herring, the capers and cornichons take over the salty-sour role the fish was playing.

    What changes
    Best for
    herring salad, beetroot salad, vegetarian platters

    Be honest about what you have made: it is a very good Nordic beetroot salad, not herring salad. You keep the sweet-sour-creamy balance and the colour, and lose the oily savour completely, so lean harder on dill, mustard and black pepper.

What is Pickled Herring?

Pickled Herring is oily herring fillet that has been salted and then cured in a vinegar, sugar and spice brine, sold in jars either plain (inlagd sill, sursild) or in a mustard, dill, onion, curry or sour cream sauce.

Cooking tips

  • Plain vinegar herring (inlagd sill, sursild), matjes herring and rollmops are not straight swaps for each other. Matjes is matured, sweeter and much more tender, so if a recipe asks for matjes and you have plain vinegar herring, stir a teaspoon of sugar into the dish.
  • Drain the jar and taste the fish before you season anything else. Commercial brines swing wildly in salt and sugar, and a herring salad is very easy to over-salt after the fact.
  • If the fish tastes too aggressive, rinse the fillets briefly under cold water and pat them dry. You lose a little of the spice but the dish becomes far more approachable for anyone new to herring.
  • If you are making your own pickled herring, do not adjust the vinegar, salt or sugar in a tested recipe. Those ratios control safety in a cured raw fish, not just flavour, and the National Center for Home Food Preservation is the place to check before improvising.
  • Dress anything creamy close to serving time. Sour cream and creme fraiche thin out and weep once they sit against a vinegar brine for an hour or more.
  • Serve it cold but let it stand out of the fridge for ten minutes first. Fridge-cold herring tastes mostly of salt and vinegar; slightly cool herring tastes of the fish and the spices.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the pickled herring out?

On a mixed platter, yes, nobody will miss one jar among the cheeses, eggs and breads. In sillsalad, sursild salad or a herring-and-potato dish it is the main ingredient, so you need to replace it with pickled mackerel or sprats, or rebuild the dish around beetroot, egg and capers and accept that it is a different salad.

What is the best substitute if I simply do not like herring?

Gravlax or cold-smoked salmon, used measure for measure. Both are cured oily fish that fill the same slot on a Nordic table without herring's strong, slightly fermented tang. Smoked mackerel or smoked trout are cheaper and work the same way in a salad, though they are much stronger, so use about a third less.

Can I use fresh herring instead of pickled herring?

No, not directly. Fresh herring is raw and unseasoned, and pickled herring's flavour comes entirely from days in a salt and vinegar cure. You would have to pickle it first, and that is not something to improvise, because the salt and acid levels in a curing recipe are there for food safety. Buy a jar, or use pickled mackerel.

Is matjes herring the same as pickled herring?

They are relatives. Matjes herring is cured with more sugar and spice and matured, so it is softer, sweeter and less sharply acidic than plain vinegar-pickled sill. Rollmops are the same kind of vinegar-cured herring rolled around onion or pickle. You can swap between them in most dishes if you adjust the sugar to taste.

Can I substitute canned herring in tomato sauce?

Only in cooked or heavily dressed dishes. Herring in tomato sauce is cooked rather than vinegar-cured, so it is soft, sweet and tomato-forward, and it will not behave like a sliced pickled fillet on a piece of rye. Rinse it, break it into flakes, and use it in a creamy salad rather than on a sandwich.

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