What do you get when you combine potatoes and a few common baking ingredients? A delicious morsel of Norwegian history called lefse! Lefse (pronounced “LEFF-sa”) are a lot like tortillas or flatbread, but much larger and thinner. While in years past, lefse was something of a staple food, these days it’s often served at the holidays and as an accompaniment to lutefisk (a soaked dried cod dish). But more and more people are discovering this tasty flatbread to be enjoyed any time of year.

The History of Lefse

Many stories say that lefse originated during the Viking era. However, the lefse that we know today didn’t come to be until much later. The Vikings had their own version of lefse (called Hardanger lefse) that was made with flour, not potatoes. Hardanger lefse was cooked in enormous batches then left out to dry so that it resembled a large cracker. This way, it kept for up to a year, but to eat it, you had to soak your lefse in damp cloth first.

Modern lefse came about long after the Viking age ended. Most historians agree that potatoes first arrived in Norway sometime in the 1750s, likely brought back home by traveling priests and soldiers. Shortly thereafter, potato lefse – and many other Norwegian potato dishes – started appearing.

Making Lefse At Home

Today, many people make lefse with a few common household tools – a potato ricer, a large frying pan or griddle, and a rolling pin. However, there are a few specialty tools that make the process much easier.

The first thing you’ll notice about traditional lefse is that it has a corrugated or striped texture. This is because traditional Norwegian cooks use ribbed, cloth-covered rolling pins so that they don’t have to use as much flour to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin. Instead of using a floured board to roll out the dough, many traditional cooks also use a canvas pastry cloth.

To cook the lefse, most traditional cooks use a lefse grill, which is a large, thin and flat grill that gets hotter than a frying pan. Finally, you’ll need a lefse stick. This long, thin wooden tool looks like a cross between a large spatula and a tiny boat oar. Its shape and size make it much easier to turn the lefse as you cook it.

Watch lefse preparation and cooking techniques in this video:

Traditional Norwegian Lefse Recipe

Keep the lefse warm in a cloth until ready to serve. Makes 36 pieces of lefse.

How To Eat Lefse

Use lefse as you would flatbread or tortillas to make your favorite foods taste that much better! Get creative, but here are some ideas, courtesy of the Lefse Ladies!

  • Spread with butter and sprinkle with brown sugar. This is a traditional way to eat lefse.
  • Spread with mustard and wrap around Polish sausage, brats, or hot dogs.
  • Spread with butter or cream cheese and wrap around leftover chicken, turkey, pot roast, or your favorite deli meat. Eat hot or cold.
  • Use as a wrap for salads such as egg, tuna, chicken and salmon.
  • Fill with your favorite canned fruit, warm in a microwave and serve with whipped cream.
  • Spread with your favorite jelly, jam or preserves.
  • Make “Uff Da” chips by cutting into 1” x 4” strips and deep fry until golden. Drain on a paper towel and immediately sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Or spread whole round with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, cut into 1”x4” strips, put on a cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees until crisp.
  • Use with fish tacos instead of corn tortillas.
  • Spread with cranberry sauce.
  • Spread with Nutella.
  • Wrap around warm meatballs.
  • Spread with applesauce.
  • Wrap around scrambled eggs, with or without crumbled sausage or bacon.

Amber Kanuckel is a freelance writer from rural Ohio who loves all things outdoors. She specializes in home, garden, environmental, and green living topics.

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