The invention relates to a process for metering fuel with a fuel injector (1), in particular an injector for fuel injection systems of internal combustion engines. The fuel injector has an actuator (14) and a valve closing body (6) which can be activated by the actuator (14) to produce a valve stroke, and the valve closing body cooperates with a valve seat face (5) to form a sealing seat. The valve closing body (6) and/or valve seat face (5) has at least one swirl element (27; 41) to produce a swirling flow. In order to vary the fuel distribution of fuel injected by the fuel injector (1), the valve stroke triggered by the actuator (14) has a variable opening speed, whereby a transition from an at least approximately swirl-free preliminary flow of the injected fuel to a swirling flow of the injected fuel is produced by varying the opening speed.