Updated on February 15th, 2021
Iceland is known for some pretty strange food. Fermented shark, horse, puffin, and even (controversially) whale are all found on menus in Iceland. We ate well on our Iceland Ring Road Trip and had a meal that was added to our “best ever” list at Grillmarkadurinn in Reykjavik on our last night, but my favorite culinary treats were the Icelandic junk food!
I love grocery shopping. Love it. During our eight-day stay in Iceland, I went to the grocery store five times. Overkill? Yes, but I did it all for that sweet, salty, crunchy, creamy research required to write this post. This is the must-try list for Icelandic junk food.
Lakkris
Lakkris or Licorice is probably the most popular Icelandic junk food. They have licorice everything: licorice ice cream, licorice salt, licorice powder, licorice liqueur, licorice yogurt, and even licorice lozenges The very best is chocolate covered licorice. It is that perfect balance of sweet and salty with just a slight bitter. I am not typically a licorice lover but cover it in chocolate and I can’t get enough. I tested about 20 different types of chocolate covered licorice and my favorites were Þristur and Noa Sirius Lakkris Bar.
Appelsin
Egils Appelsin is Iceland’s most popular soda and for good reason. This is the best orange soda I have ever had. It very sweet and is something between Fanta and Orangina but no pulp. The bubbles are different than typical orange soda. It pairs very well with a chocolate-covered licorice bar.
Ris Buff
Ris Buffs are my favorite Icelandic junk food. Misshapen and a little ugly, don’t let their looks fool you. Inside is a marshmallow and rice puff combo that is glorious. It’s like a Charleston Chew and a Crunch bar had a delicious baby. I bought three boxes at the airport and only one box made it home. Oops!
Gifflar
While Pagen Gifflar cinnamon rolls are technically a Swedish product but they are everywhere in Iceland. A perfect on the go breakfast; they are bit size, not overly sweet, and great with coffee! They come in cinnamon and vanilla. I preferred the cinnamon!
Pizza
I may have actually rolled my eyes when the very nice girl at our first guesthouse told us we had to try the cheese pizza at the local restaurant. Pizza? In Iceland? And she is recommending the cheese pizza to boot? Oh, how naive I was.
Icelandic cheese pizza usually consists of four kinds of cheese: mozzarella (normal), blue (interesting but not unheard of), pepper cheese (getting more interesting) and finally camembert (WHAT?!?). To top it all off they serve it with red currant jelly. Sweet, salty, creamy, a little spicy, and just a little funky this pizza is everything you could want in a meal. We also tried a langoustine pizza at Ishusid Pizzeria in Höfn which was amazing!
Hot Dogs
Hot dogs or Pylsur are the national food of Iceland. I could not figure out what could possibly be so special about a meat tube. I had two hot dogs while in Iceland. The first was at a gas station in the Eastern Fjords. It was good, easily the best gas station hot dog of my life. The second dog was at the world-famous Baejarins Beztu Pylsur in Reykjavik. There is a reason they are famous. The hot dogs were perfectly cooked and snapped a little when you bit into it. The crispy onions were clearly fresh, and the condiments (ketchup, mustard, and remoulade) mixed perfectly together. I am now a believer that there is something special about Icelandic hot dogs.
Kokteilsosa
The king of the Icelandic condiment has to be Icelandic cocktail sauce. It is life-changing. I never want to eat fries without it again. That is what it is for, french fries, but I could probably eat it on anything. French fries, sweet potato fries, burgers, sandwiches, fried fish and it was great on all of it. I didn’t even discover it until day four of our trip so there were a lot of missed opportunities!
I am not sure of the exact ingredients but I think it has to be something like mayo, sour cream, a little ketchup, a little mustard, and a sprinkle of pixie dust. This stuff is magical.
I loved Icelandic junk food. I cannot wait to go back to Iceland and eat more Ris Buff!
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