🥔 Jansson's temptation

Name: Jansson's temptation
Total time: 75 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Sweden · Scandinavia
Ingredients: 1 kg waxy potatoes, cut into thin matchsticks; 2 onions, thinly sliced; 125 g tinned Swedish-style anchovy fillets (ansjovis), with some brine; 300 ml cream; 3 tbsp breadcrumbs; 1 tbsp oil; Black pepper

Origin: Sweden · Scandinavia

412kcal

per serving · 250 g

165kcal

per 100 g

12 gProtein5 g / 100 g

25 gFat10 g / 100 g

32 gCarbs13 g / 100 g

Jansson's temptation is a Swedish gratin of thin potato matchsticks layered with soft-fried onion and salty Swedish-style anchovies, covered in cream and baked under a crisp breadcrumb top. The potatoes turn tender and creamy while the fish melts into the sauce, adding a deep, briny flavour. It is a fixture of the Christmas smorgasbord and also appears at Easter and midsummer.

Diets

✓

No pork

Not vegetarianbecause of: anchovy

Not veganbecause of: anchovy, cream

Contains glutenbecause of: breadcrumbs

Contains dairybecause of: cream

Not keto13 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Fish ⚠ Milk

What it is made of

potatoanchovycreamonionbreadcrumbs

Recipe

6 servings75 min

Ingredients

1 kg waxy potatoes, cut into thin matchsticks
2 onions, thinly sliced
125 g tinned Swedish-style anchovy fillets (ansjovis), with some brine
300 ml cream
3 tbsp breadcrumbs
1 tbsp oil
Black pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 200 °C. Fry the onions gently in the oil until soft but not browned.
Layer half the potatoes in an oiled baking dish, then the onions and anchovies, and finish with the remaining potatoes.
Mix the cream with 2 tbsp of the anchovy brine and pour it over. Season with pepper.
Scatter the breadcrumbs on top and bake for 45–50 minutes until the potatoes are tender and the top is golden.

How to make it lighter

Cream carries most of the fat, so pour in a little less and add a splash of the potato cooking water instead.
Serve a modest spoonful as a side next to a green salad rather than as the main dish.
Use the thinnest layer of breadcrumbs that still gives a crisp top.

History

The dish became popular in Sweden in the early twentieth century. The name is usually said to come from a 1928 Swedish film called Janssons frestelse, though another story credits a nineteenth-century opera singer, Pelle Janzon, and neither is certain.

Count it in one photo

Point your camera at the table — Me Nutrition recognises Jansson's temptation and every other dish, with calories and macros for each. Ate only half? Slide it.

Download on the App Store

Similar dishes

Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →