Article may contain Amazon & affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.
Jump to Recipe Pin Recipe
This is hands down the best Swedish meatballs recipe you’ll find! Made the traditional way, these easy Swedish meatballs use ingredients you probably already have on hand!
Swedish meatballs recipe
When it comes to dinner recipes, I tend to favor the quick, fairly easy ones. However I don’t want to sacrifice flavor for convenience, I want the best of both worlds. This recipe for the best Swedish meatballs is just that! A thirty-ish minute meal perfect for hectic weeknights but so jam-packed with flavors everyone will love and rave about it.
Similar recipes you will love:
- Healthy baked meatballs
- Marinated meatballs
- Baked meatballs in sauce
- Meatballs soup recipe
- Ground beef and potato stew
- Slow cooker meatballs
How to make Swedish meatballs
These meatballs are just like Italian meatballs, but they are softer and tender. The secret to making perfectly tender meatballs at home (and therefore making the best Swedish meatballs), is adding some bread soaked in milk to the mixture. I prefer to use day-old sandwich bread heavily soaked in milk until soft. The stale bread will retain all the moisture of you meatballs when cooking resulting is super tender and juicy little balls of meat.
Swedish meatballs sauce
The other thing that makes these simple meatballs different from any other meatball? The sauce! The Swedish sauce is basically a quick pan sauce made with the juices remaining from frying the meatballs, a bit of flour, some stock a teaspoon of mustard and a splash of heavy cream. That’s it! Simple and cozy.
I like to cook the meatballs in the sauce for a couple of minutes but that’s completely optional. In my opinion, meatballs get even more tender and juicy (and flavorful if that’s possible) when simmered with the sauce.
What to serve with Swedish meatballs
Simply put, they go great with everything! They are amazing over pasta, served with rice and even with a salad on the side. However, the most traditional way is to serve them with mashed potatoes or boiled potatoes. Swedes usually also serve the recipe with some lingonberry jam on the side.
Best Swedish Meatballs
To make these tasty Swedish meatballs you’ll need ground beef, bread, milk, egg, red onion, allspice, salt and pepper, olive oil, flour, beef and heavy cream.
In a bowl combine bread and milk. Let it set for around 5 minutes or until bread has completely soaked up the milk. Mix to combine.
In another bowl combine ground beef, red onion, egg, soaked bread and spices. Mix until everything is well incorporated.
With the help of your hands shape small balls.
Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add meatballs and cook for 3 minutes per side or until golden brown and fully cooked.
Transfer to a plate.
In the same pan add flour and cook for 3 minutes or until golden.
Add stock and mix until everything is well incorporated. Mix in heavy cream and bring to a soft simmer for around 2 minutes.
Add meatballs and cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from fire.
Print the recipe
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate this Recipe
Best Swedish metaballs
This is hands down the best Swedish meatballs recipe you’ll find! Made the traditional way these easy Swedish meatballs use ingredients you probably already have on hand!
Prep Time5 minutes mins
Cook Time30 minutes mins
Total Time40 minutes mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Swedish
Keyword: best swedish meatballs, easy swedish meatballs, simple swedish meatballs, swedish meatballs recipe, tasty swedish meatballs
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 1 Pound ground beef
- ½ Cup bread
- ½ Cup milk
- 1 Egg
- ⅓ Red onion chopped
- 1 Tsp allspice
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 Tbsp flour
- 1 ¼ Cup beef stock
- ¼ Cup heavy cream
Instructions
In a bowl combine bread and milk. Let it set for around 5 minutes or until bread has completely soaked up the milk. Mix to combine.
In another bowl combine ground beef, red onion, egg, soaked bread and spices. Mix until everything is well incorporated.
With the help of your hands shape small balls.
Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add meatballs and cook for 3 minutes per side or until golden brown and fully cooked. Transfer to a plate.
In the same pan add flour and cook for 3 minutes or until golden. Add stock and mix until everything is well incorporated.
Add heavy cream and bring to a soft simmer for around 2 minutes. Add meatballs and cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from fire.
Pin to save for later
Most popular recipes:
- Easy French cream puffs
- Spiced herb roasted sweet potato wedges
- Buttermilk fried chicken
FAQs
The sauce for Swedish Meatballs is a creamy gravy that is made with butter, beef broth/stock, thickened with flour and made creamy with cream. But the most important flavour for the a really good creamy gravy is the pan drippings after searing the meatballs.
How do you keep Swedish meatballs from falling apart? ›
Add a lightly beaten egg, but not too much. Egg acts as a binder for the ingredients, but you only need a small amount. One small egg will do for one pound of minced meat. Alternatively, if you're following an egg-free diet, you could soak fresh bread in milk, squeezing out any excess milk, to use as a binder.
What is the difference between Swedish meatballs and regular meatballs? ›
While both varieties include ingredients such as grated onion and panade (milk-soaked bread) or bread crumbs, plus the usual salt and pepper, Swedish meatballs traditionally use spices like allspice, nutmeg, white pepper, and sometimes ground ginger as flavoring.
How do you make meatballs not rubbery? ›
You asked: What's the secret to tender meatballs?
- Don't overmix. When meatballs are tough, it's often because they've been overworked. ...
- Check the fat content. Leaner meat can easily result in dry meatballs, which need to be fully cooked to be served safely. ...
- Consider the other ingredients. ...
- Choose the right cooking method.
They're made with all-natural ingredients
The Ikea website lists the ingredients of their meatballs (which Ikea calls ALLEMANSRÄTTEN), and the rundown is surprisingly simple: Meat (a combination of pork and beef, for texture, flavor, and juiciness), onion, breadcrumbs, egg, water, salt, and pepper.
What do Swedish people eat with meatballs? ›
Traditional Swedish way: Do not make the cream sauce at all. Serve meatballs over plain or stewed macaroni, plain or mashed potatoes, and lingenberry jam (optional)
What not to do when making meatballs? ›
5 Mistakes to Avoid When Making Meatballs
- Not seasoning the meat.
- Not adding any moisture to the meat.
- Over-mixing the meat.
- Not shaping the meatballs correctly.
- Not forming evenly-sized meatballs.
Using the wrong amount of bread crumbs (or flour)
Bread crumbs are another popular binder for meatballs that can become problematic if used incorrectly. Adding too many bread crumbs to the mix will cause your meatballs to become loose and fall apart.
How do you make meatballs stick better? ›
A binder is like the glue that helps hold meatballs together and keep their shape. Breadcrumbs and eggs are the most common binder to use for meatballs. Bread soaked in milk (called a panade) is another traditional type of binder. Without a binder, the meat is likely to fall apart like you're finding.
Why is my Swedish meatball sauce not thickening? ›
How to Thicken Swedish Meatball Sauce. The all-purpose flour in this recipe should do the trick to thicken your Swedish meatball sauce to the right consistency. But if it doesn't, you can add a cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 2 tablespoons of water) to thicken it up.
However, in moderation, for the average healthy person, foods that are salted often and are salted well will be perfectly fine. That's the trick to IKEA's meatballs - they're seasoned as they would be when made fresh at a restaurant which is why all of those individual flavors come galavanting through.
What ethnicity is Swedish meatballs? ›
Swedish meatballs, the signature national dish, are really Turkish. The country's national Twitter account made the announcement in a tweet this week. “Swedish meatballs are actually based on a recipe King Charles XII brought home from Turkey in the early 18th century,” the tweet said.
What is the secret of a tender meatball? ›
They are super flavorful but what makes them so so tender and moist is this: Plain Greek Yogurt. The lactic acid from the yogurt tenderizes the meat while adding subtle flavor. The addition of egg and parmesan cheese help keep the meat together so that you get delicious weeknight meatballs in minutes.
Is it better to bake meatballs at 350 or 400? ›
For 1-2 inches of beef, pork, or turkey meatballs without any pre-cooking, use these guidelines for your wall oven:
- 350°F wall oven:
- 8–14 minutes for 1-inch meatballs.
- 14–18 minutes for 2-inch meatballs.
- 400°F wall oven:
- 6–10 minutes for 1-inch meatballs.
- 10–14 minutes for 2-inch meatballs.
- 425°F wall oven:
Chill your meatballs: refrigerating your meatballs an hour before cooking helps them hold their shape throughout the cooking process. They can chill in the fridge for up to 24 hours before cooking, making meatballs a great make-ahead dish, too.
What is Ikea meatball sauce made of? ›
Iconic Swedish cream sauce: Melt 40g of butter in a pan. Whisk in 40g of plain flour and stir for 2 mins. Add 300ml of bouillon (or consommé) and continue to stir. Add 150ml double cream, 2 tsp of soy sauce and 1 tsp of (Dijon) mustard.
Is meatball sauce the same as Bolognese sauce? ›
Meatballs are not a sauce, they are balls of meat. A sauce has to be runny, or at least flowing. Done correctly, a bolognese sauce isn't particularly meaty. The meat is meant to be finely ground and incorporated into a standard spaghetti sauce, and the meat so fine it should stick onto the pasta in little specks.
Do Swedish meatballs contain sour cream? ›
It's All About the Sauce
Flavored with nutmeg and cardamom, these little beef-and-pork meatballs are best served with a Swedish meatball sauce—a rich roux-based and beef stock gravy, spiked with sour cream and a little lingonberry jelly.
What's the difference between Swedish and Finnish meatballs? ›
"Finnish meatballs are meatier and bigger than Swedish meatballs. They are also served with lingonberry jam and boiled/mashed potatoes, and a gravy, but they are juicier and yummier.
