This Cheese Pie (Västerbottenostpaj) from Sweden is a staple of Midsummer festivities. Creamy, nutty, and simply delicious — and don’t worry, you can easily make it home!

An overhead shot of Swedish Cheese Pie, with a slice cut, ready for serving.

Västerbottenost is, hands down, my favorite Swedish cheese.

Nutty, not too salty, and slightly bitter at the end.

But don’t worry if you cannot find it in your part of the world — Gruyere is an excellent substitute for it.

This Swedish cheese pie works with both kinds of cheese because they balance the creaminess without turning it into a heavy dish.

FOR MORE AUTHENTIC SWEDISH RECIPES, CHECK OUT THESE POSTS!

Ingredients

Flour – you need all-purpose flour for preparing the cheese pie pastry.

Butter – unsalted and chilled for the pastry as well.

Eggs – three eggs for the filling of the cheese pie.

Cream – you can use either light cream (half & half) or heavy cream (double cream); it’s up to you.

I use whatever I have on hand. But if you want the cheese pie to be really creamy, you should use heavy cream instead.

Ground black pepper – for seasoning.

Cheese – I am fully aware that Västerbottenost is hard to find outside the Nordics, but don’t you worry, Gruyere will work great for this recipe as well.

I often used both interchangeably.

Chives – you only need this for garnishing your Swedish cheese pie.

An overhead shot of a freshly baked Swedish Cheese Pie.

Preparation

Start making your Västerbottenostpaj by preparing the pastry dough.

Combine flour, chilled butter, and one tablespoon of cold water.

You can do this manually or by using a food processor.

Combining all the cheese pie crust ingredients in a food processor to make a dough.

Mix until they’re just barely combined, and form the dough into a disc.

Wrap the disc in plastic and place in the refrigerator to chill for thirty minutes.

Cheese pie crust dough needs to be wrapped and chilled for a few minutes before prebaking.

Roll and place the dough in an 8-inch pie tin.

Place the tin in the freezer for thirty minutes.

While the dough is still in the freezer, preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F).

Take the pie tin out of the freezer and use a fork to make holes in the dough.

Place pie tin in the oven for twelve to fifteen minutes. Set aside to cool.

Adjust the oven temperature to 200°C (375°F).

Using a large mixing bowl, combine grated cheese, pepper, eggs, and cream.

Combining all the ingredients for the filling of Swedish cheese pie in a bowl.

Mix until they’re evenly combined.

Mixing all the ingredients for the filling of Swedish cheese pie.

Pour the cheese mixture into the cooled, prebaked pastry.

Pouring the cheesy filling into the prebaked crust for Swedish cheese pie.

This amount of filling is perfect for an 8-inch pie pan.

Cheese pie filling ready in the prebaked crust and for the last step of baking.

Place you Swedish cheese pie in the oven for forty to forty-five minutes or until the cheese mixture has solidified.

Set aside to cool down for at least twenty minutes.

Garnish with chopped chives and serve.

An overhead shot of a slice of Swedish Cheese Pie, served on a plate, with chives on top.

Helpful tips

You can replace the pastry dough with your favorite one, but do NOT skip the prebaking.

It’s an important step to prevent the Västerbottenostpaj pastry from getting mushy once we add the mixture.

Use a whisk to mix the cheese mixture; it makes combining it easier. However, you will not whip the cream; just combine it evenly with the cheese and eggs.

A 9-inch pie tin will also work for this cheese pie recipe, but a 10-inch pie form is not advisable. You will end up with a Västerbottenostpaj filling that’s a bit too thin.