Seed oils in Iceland
Of the 5 chains we track in Iceland, none use real fats in the fryer and 2 use seed oils. That leaves 3 with something in between, no fryer or no answer. Below: what they fry in, how people cook there, how to read a label and what to say to ask about the oil.
What the chains fry in
These are the 5 chains we track in Iceland, with what each one fries in according to our records. Open any chain for its full report card. See the full country index.
- Real fats: beef tallow, lard, butter, olive oil or coconut oil.
- In between: palm or peanut oil, a high-oleic grade, or a mix of real fat and seed oil.
- Seed oils: canola (rapeseed), soybean, sunflower or corn, or a "vegetable oil" blend.
- No fryer: the chain does not deep fry. It can still cook with oil elsewhere in the kitchen.
- Unknown: our records do not say what the chain fries in.
(estimated) means our note on that chain is hedged, so read the oil as a good guess rather than a confirmed fact. How we read these notes.
Cleanest picks
None of the 5 chains we track in Iceland names a real fat in its fryer, so here the best move is to ask. The phrases further down are written for that.
All 5 chains
How people cook in Iceland
Rapeseed oil (repjuolía, also called canola) is the frying oil named in the English-language reports we found: a 2024 food-site article calls it Iceland's fry oil of choice for fish and chips, and a 2015 Reykjavik Grapevine review says one Reykjavik shop, Icelandic Fish & Chips, fries its fish in rapeseed oil and serves baked chips.
Butter (smjör) and tallow (tólg, made from cattle or sheep fat) are the traditional fats, and tallow is used for frying. Fried treats like kleinur (twisted doughnuts) and laufabrauð (fried leaf bread) are fried in oil or tallow, depending on the cook. We found no published list of what the big fast food chains fry in, and it varies by restaurant, so ask.
Reading labels
Iceland applies EU Regulation 1169/2011 through its regulation 1294/2014, so refined vegetable oils must name their plant: either each oil by name, or grouped as 'vegetable oils' followed immediately by the plants (for example palm, rapeseed). Hydrogenated oils must say 'fully' or 'partly hydrogenated'.
Labels may be in Icelandic, English or another Nordic language except Finnish.
Say it in Icelandic
Read these out loud or show your phone to your server. The first two rows are the questions to ask. The rest are the oil names you will see on menus and labels.
Language: Icelandic (English is widely spoken)
| You want to say | Say it like this |
|---|---|
| Ask the kitchen | |
| What oil do you fry with? | Í hvaða olíu steikið þið þetta? |
| Can you cook it in butter or olive oil? | Getið þið steikt þetta upp úr smjöri eða ólífuolíu í staðinn? |
| Seed oils to watch for | |
| Sunflower oil | sólblómaolía |
| Canola oil | repjuolía (canola) |
| Soybean oil | sojaolía |
| Vegetable oil (often a seed oil blend) | jurtaolía (plural jurtaolíur) |
| Fats to ask for | |
| Olive oil | ólífuolía |
| Butter | smjör |
| Lard | svínafeiti |
| Beef tallow | nautatólg (plain tólg can be beef or sheep tallow) |
| In between | |
| Palm oil | pálmaolía |
Tips for eating out in Iceland
- At fish and chips shops, ask which oil they use. One Reykjavik shop was reported to fry its fish in rapeseed oil and bake its chips, but other places may deep fry the chips too. Pan-fried fish is often on menus, and you can ask for it cooked in butter (upp úr smjöri).
- The classic hot dog 'ein með öllu' (one with everything) comes with crispy fried onions, usually a packaged topping fried in vegetable oil. To skip them, ask for it 'með öllu nema steiktum lauk' (with everything except the fried onions).
- On packaged food, oils are named one by one (pálmaolía, repjuolía, sólblómaolía) or grouped as 'jurtaolíur' (vegetable oils) with the plants in brackets. Labels can be in Icelandic, English or another Nordic language such as Danish or Swedish.
Use the app on your trip
Seed Oil Tracker has local menus for 5 chains in Iceland. Switch your country in Settings before you go.
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Free to download. Want the full tour first? See what the app does.
Sources
The cooking, label and tip sections come from these pages. The chain fryer oils come from our own records.
- Reglugerð nr. 1294/2014 on food information to consumers (island.is; applies EU 1169/2011 in Iceland, language rule)
- Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 (official text on EUR-Lex; oil naming is in Annex VII Part A, wording checked in the copy below)
- Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 Annex VII as published on legislation.gov.uk (entries 8 and 9 on vegetable oils and fats)
- The Takeout: Icelandic vs British fish and chips (26 Dec 2024)
- Reykjavik Grapevine: review of Icelandic Fish & Chips (12 Jun 2015; one restaurant that may no longer operate)
- Icelandic cuisine (Wikipedia, background only for butter, tallow and fried treats)
More countries
Menus, recipes and rules change, so treat this page as a starting point and check the label or ask in the moment. Need a refresher on what counts? See what seed oils are and the full list. Back home, the eating out playbook covers restaurants in the U.S.