Shrimp, mayonnaise and bread, twice on the same menu. Here’s which one is lunch and which is a starter, where the Danish name comes from, what the orange roe is, and what to know about the shrimp itself.
When you need this
You’re looking at a Swedish lunch menu, a café counter or a dinner card and see räksmörgås, räkmacka and Toast Skagen, and you can’t tell whether they’re the same thing. Or a sandwich has arrived that is mostly shrimp and you’re not sure whether to pick it up. Or you’re allergic to shellfish, egg or fish, or pregnant, and want to know what’s on the plate before you order.
Two dishes, side by side
Both are built from the same few ingredients, which is why visitors mix them up. The difference is the format and the place in the meal.
| Räksmörgås (räkmacka) | Toast Skagen | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Open sandwich on one slice of bread | A slice of white bread, butter-fried or toasted |
| The shrimp | Peeled shrimp piled on top, often so high the bread disappears | Folded into skagenröra: mayonnaise or crème fraîche, dill |
| Usual extras | Egg, mayonnaise, lemon; sometimes roe or caviar | Fish roe, a dill sprig, often lemon |
| When you eat it | A common lunch and buffet food | A starter |
| How you eat it | Knife and fork | Knife and fork |
| Created | 1950s, according to Swedish Wikipedia | 1950s, by the chef Tore Wretman |
Neither has a protected recipe, so every kitchen does it slightly differently. The practical rule: a full räksmörgås is a lunch in itself, so don’t order it as a starter before a main course. If you want both, share.
The räksmörgås: a shrimp sandwich you eat with a fork
Smörgås is the formal word for sandwich and macka the everyday one, so räksmörgås and räkmacka are the same dish. Swedish sandwiches are open-faced: everything sits on one slice. A proper räksmörgås is defined by excess, with so much shrimp that you can hardly see the bread, so it’s eaten with knife and fork.
The usual build is peeled cooked shrimp with egg, mayonnaise and lemon, and sometimes roe or caviar. According to Swedish Wikipedia, the earliest versions had no egg; it was added later, perhaps to make the sandwich more filling or to give the shrimp more height.
The same article says the dish arrived in the 1950s by way of the Öresund ferries, which served Danish shrimp smørrebrød, and then became a popular, rather luxurious starter in finer dining rooms. That article cites no sources for its history and we found none to confirm it, so treat it as the commonly told version. Today the räksmörgås is a common lunch and buffet food, and Arlanda airport declared 14 October räkmackans dag, shrimp sandwich day, in 2010 because it sells thousands of them a week.
It has also entered the language. Glida in på en räkmacka, “to slide in on a shrimp sandwich”, means to get something easily, without having earned it.
Toast Skagen: a Swedish starter with a Danish name
Toast Skagen is one of Sweden’s most common starters, and popular in Finland too. A slice of white bread is fried in butter or toasted, then topped with skagenröra: shrimp folded into mayonnaise, often with crème fraîche or sour cream and dill. Fish roe goes on top, with a sprig of dill and often a wedge of lemon.
The dish is credited to Tore Wretman (1916–2003), the Stockholm chef and restaurateur. The family account, told by his wife, dates it to a 1956 sailing race when his boat was becalmed off Skagen, the fishing town on the northern tip of Jutland. With the crew bored, he went below, whipped up a mayonnaise and mixed it with shrimp, roe and dill to serve on butter-fried toast. Someone on board named it after the place.
So it’s Swedish, not Danish. Whether Danes eat it is less clear: Swedish Wikipedia says it is little known in Denmark, while English Wikipedia says a version is popular in Skagen as Skagenssalat.
Variations you’ll meet:
- Crab or crab sticks instead of shrimp, more common in the July–October crab season
- Crème fraîche instead of mayonnaise, sometimes with chives as well as dill
- Different roe, from luxury vendace roe to cheaper lumpfish roe (next section)
The roe on top: löjrom, Kalix Löjrom and stenbitsrom
The orange or black dots on top of a Toast Skagen are not all the same product, and the menu wording tells you which you’re getting.
| Menu word | What it is | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| löjrom | Roe of vendace, a small freshwater-and-brackish fish | The popular premium choice |
| Kalix Löjrom | Vendace roe from a defined area of the Bothnian Bay | EU protected designation of origin since 2010; only additive is 4.0% salt |
| stenbitsrom | Lumpfish roe | The cheaper common alternative |
Kalix Löjrom comes from the far north, roughly the coast between Piteå and Haparanda. The fishery lasts about five weeks, starting on a Sunday around 20 September, and the roe is salted and then frozen. Fresh löjrom is an autumn treat; the rest of the year it comes from the freezer. Only roe that meets the protected specification may carry the name, so “löjrom” on a menu without “Kalix” can come from elsewhere.
Whose shrimp is it? Quotas and WWF’s rating
The shrimp in both dishes is northern shrimp, nordhavsräka (Pandalus borealis), the species sold as ordinary shrimp in Swedish shops. The local stock in Skagerrak and Kattegat, off Sweden’s west coast, is shared with Denmark and Norway and fished under an EU–Norway quota that runs from 1 July to 30 June.
This is where many pages are out of date. After years of cuts, including 12% for 2025/26, the EU and Norway agreed on 16 June 2026 to raise the quota by 15% to 4,612 tonnes for 2026/27, in line with scientific advice, because the stock has grown. It is still at a low level, so local supply remains small.
WWF Sweden’s consumer fish guide has not moved with it. It rates bottom-trawled northern shrimp from Skagerrak, Kattegat and the North Sea “låt bli”, don’t eat. It rates shrimp from Iceland, Svalbard and Greenland “avoid”, meaning eat it at most three or four times a year, and has no green rating for northern shrimp at all. That’s an NGO’s advice, not a rule, but it means “Swedish shrimp” on a menu is a statement about origin, not sustainability.
If origin matters to you, ask whether they’re svenska räkor. For buying cooked shrimp straight off the boats, see the west coast seafood guide.
Allergies, pregnancy and party platters
Allergies. One plate can hold six of the fourteen allergen groups that EU law requires to be declared: crustaceans (shrimp, crab), eggs (mayonnaise, sliced egg), fish (roe), milk (sour cream, crème fraîche, butter), mustard (often in mayonnaise) and cereals containing gluten (the bread). A café or restaurant must be able to tell you which allergens a dish contains, not just which it doesn’t. Ask about the mayonnaise and the roe, not only the shrimp you can see. More in eating out with food allergies.
Pregnancy. Livsmedelsverket, the Swedish Food Agency, tells pregnant women to avoid smoked and cured fish, cold cuts, mould and washed-rind cheeses, and cold pre-packed sandwiches containing them. Its list doesn’t single out cooked shrimp or roe. The agency’s general principle is that listeria grows in chilled ready-to-eat food that sits in the fridge for weeks, and the fresher the product, the lower the risk. In practice that favours a sandwich made in front of you over a long-life pre-packed one.
Party platters. If you make skagenröra or shrimp sandwiches for a gathering, Livsmedelsverket’s standing-time limits for chilled food apply. Bring them out in batches rather than leaving them on the table all afternoon.
| Room temperature | Maximum time out of the fridge |
|---|---|
| Up to 20 °C | 4 hours |
| Up to 25 °C | 3 hours |
| 26–30 °C | 2 hours |
Keep the fridge at 4 °C.
Practical information
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| Price of either dish | Varies by venue, town, shrimp origin and roe; check the menu |
| VAT, takeaway / eaten at the table | 6% / 12%, 1 April 2026 – 31 December 2027; some cafés price the two differently |
| Shrimp quota, Skagerrak and North Sea, 2026/27 | 4,612 tonnes (+15%), 1 July 2026 – 30 June 2027 |
| WWF rating, Skagerrak and Kattegat shrimp | Låt bli (don’t eat) |
| Kalix Löjrom season | About five weeks from a Sunday around 20 September; frozen the rest of the year |
| Shrimp sandwich day | Räkmackans dag, 14 October; not a holiday |
| Typical allergens | Crustaceans, eggs, fish, milk, mustard, cereals containing gluten |
FAQ
What is a räksmörgås?
A räksmörgås, or räkmacka, is a Swedish open sandwich piled with peeled cooked shrimp, usually with egg, mayonnaise and lemon, sometimes with roe or caviar. A proper one carries so much shrimp that the bread is hard to see, so you eat it with knife and fork. It began as a luxury starter in the 1950s and is now a common lunch and buffet food.
What is Toast Skagen?
Toast Skagen is a Swedish starter: a slice of white bread fried in butter or toasted, topped with skagenröra, a mix of shrimp, mayonnaise or crème fraîche and dill, then finished with fish roe, a dill sprig and often lemon. It was created by the chef and restaurateur Tore Wretman in the 1950s and is one of Sweden’s most common starters.
Is Toast Skagen Danish?
No. It is named after Skagen, the town at the northern tip of Denmark, but it was created in Sweden by Tore Wretman. The family story says he invented it in 1956 when his racing yacht was becalmed off Skagen. Swedish Wikipedia says the dish is little known in Denmark, while English Wikipedia reports a Danish version, so accounts differ.
Is the shrimp in a Swedish shrimp sandwich Swedish?
Not necessarily. It is northern shrimp, and the local Skagerrak and Kattegat stock is low: the EU–Norway quota was cut 12% for 2025/26 and raised 15% to 4,612 tonnes for 2026/27. WWF’s Swedish fish guide also rates shrimp from Iceland, Svalbard, Greenland and Canada. Ask for svenska räkor if origin matters, and note that WWF advises against Skagerrak shrimp.
What roe is on Toast Skagen?
Usually either löjrom, the small orange roe of vendace, or the cheaper lumpfish roe called stenbitsrom. The finest löjrom is Kalix Löjrom, an EU protected designation of origin from the Bothnian Bay, salted with 4% salt and nothing else. Its fishery runs about five weeks from late September, so it is fresh only in autumn.
Can I eat a shrimp sandwich when pregnant?
Livsmedelsverket’s list of foods for pregnant women to avoid names smoked and cured fish, cold cuts and mould or washed-rind cheeses, including cold packaged sandwiches containing them. It does not single out cooked shrimp or roe. Its general advice is that listeria grows in chilled ready-to-eat food stored for weeks, so a freshly made sandwich is the safer choice.
When is shrimp sandwich day in Sweden?
Räkmackans dag, the shrimp sandwich day, is 14 October. It was started in 2010 by Arlanda airport, which sells thousands of shrimp sandwiches each week, as a tribute to classic airport food. It is a marketing day rather than an old tradition, and it is not a public holiday, so nothing closes.
Related guides
- West coast seafood — buying cooked shrimp at the harbor, plus oysters and lobster season
- Smörgåstårta, the sandwich cake — the party dish that borrows the same shrimp, egg and mayonnaise
- Eating out with food allergies — how to ask about shellfish, fish, egg and mustard
- Dagens lunch — Sweden’s set lunch, where a shrimp sandwich often turns up
- Swedish food: the complete visitor’s guide — the wider kitchen around these two classics
Facts verified 2026-10-15. Sources: Livsmedelsverket, Havs- och vattenmyndigheten, Skatteverket, EU Regulation 1169/2011, the EU’s Kalix Löjrom specification, WWF Sweden, The Local, Dagens PS, Baird Maritime, and Swedish and English reference works for the history — full register in this topic’s source file. The origin stories are reported as accounts, not settled fact. No restaurant names, prices or recipes are published here. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.