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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
What makes Swedish meatballs different from regular meatballs? ›
Swedish meatballs are slightly smaller than traditional meatballs — think the size of a golf ball — so that they can be easily picked up by a toothpick and popped into your mouth. As for the sauce, Swedish meatballs are cooked in a rich, creamy gravy that is most often created from bone broth and cream.
What is the difference between Swedish style and Italian style meatballs? ›
American meatballs are the biggest in size, with Italian and Swedish meatballs following on the depth chart. Italian meatballs call for seasonings like grated parmesan and oregano, while Swedish ones use seasonings like nutmeg and allspice. While it doesn't sound like a huge distinction, you'll notice it in the taste!
What is the secret to firm meatballs? ›
Massage your meat
Get your hands into your mixing bowl and combine the ingredients for your meatballs using your fingers. The heat from your hands will help release the proteins in the meat which will in turn help the mixture stick together when it cooks. Don't overmix, just a few minutes will do.
What is typically served with Swedish meatballs? ›
Traditional Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and lingonberries | Visit Sweden. Sweden has become globally renowned for its delicious meatballs. They are traditionally served in a brown sauce, with mashed potato and lingonberry jam on the side.
Why do Swedish meatballs taste so good? ›
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.
How do you keep Swedish meatballs from falling apart? ›
Eggs: Eggs help bind the meatballs together so they don't fall apart. They also help keep the meatballs soft and tender. Bread crumbs: Bread crumbs are almost always used in meatball recipes because they absorb the fat and, along with the eggs, serve as a binder.
What do you put in meatballs so they don't fall apart? ›
What soaking the bread does is add moisture to the meatball as well as bread for a binder. In today's recipe, I used a mixture of fresh bread crumbs and soaked bread. The combination of both turned out to be a winner. Another general rule when forming meatballs is to work quickly and handle them as little as possible.
What is the difference between stroganoff and Swedish meatballs? ›
While Beef Stroganoff is a creamy dish perfect for those who love rich, mushroom-based sauces, Swedish Meatballs come with a spiced, hearty flavor complemented by sweet lingonberries and creamy gravy.
What are Sicilian meatballs made of? ›
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of your favorite ground meat, or combination of. This may include beef, veal, and/or pork.
- 2 ½ cups of bread crumbs.
- 1 cup of milk.
- 1 ¼ cup Parmigiano and Romano cheeses.
- Freshly chopped parsley.
- 2 minced garlic cloves.
- 2 lightly beaten eggs.
- 1 tablespoon olive oil.
Swedish meatballs, the national dish of Sweden, have been revealed to have originated from another country - Turkey.
What meat are IKEA Swedish meatballs made of? ›
Meatballs. Combine ground beef and ground pork in a bowl and break it up with your fingers to get rid of lumps. Add chopped onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, egg and mix together. Add milk and season with salt and pepper.
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.
Baking soda, otherwise known as sodium bicarbonate, appears often in köfte recipes. It raises the PH level of the meat, making it harder for the meat's protein molecules to bond. This in turn allows the meat to retain water as it cooks. And more water means a moist meatball.
What is the secret of a tender meatball? ›
Egg and breadcrumbs are common mix-ins to add moisture and tenderness. Another binder option that people swear by is a panade, which is fresh or dry breadcrumbs that have been soaked in milk. “The soaked breadcrumbs help keep the proteins in the meat from shrinking,” as food writer Tara Holland explained in the Kitchn.
Is Swedish meatball sauce the same as stroganoff? ›
While Beef Stroganoff is a creamy dish perfect for those who love rich, mushroom-based sauces, Swedish Meatballs come with a spiced, hearty flavor complemented by sweet lingonberries and creamy gravy. The journey of distinguishing Beef Stroganoff vs Swedish Meatballs is full of delightful discoveries.
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.
