In the past, I haven’t been a huge fan of Swedish meatballs. The only rendition I’d had of them was from a frozen microwavable meal, and certainly left something to be desired. A couple of years ago, while we were on travel with my husband in DC, Andrew and I were looking for something to do. We’d been to the museums, the National Zoo, and all the upscale grocery stores in the “big city” to stock up on provisions to take home with us. I’d noticed that there was an Ikea about 5 minutes from the hotel, and thought that could be a fun activity to spend some time waiting for “Dad” to get out of work.
Andrew was confined to the stroller at the time, but was a trooper as I investigated ever nook and cranny of the store. I loved the bright colors and patterns of all the textiles, the organization options- a place for everything, the clean simple lines of the furniture. Oh yeah, and the Swedish Meatballs! Halfway through our journey Andrew and I stopped at the cafeteria for a bite to eat. We shared an order of the meatballs, with a side of mashed red potatoes and lingonberry jelly. A far, far cry from the dreaded microwave meals! I knew this dish had to be even better made at home as well. Their meatballs are okay, but they’re still frozen, mass-produced, and chock full of fillers.
I Googled recipes and bookmarked a few, but finally decided on Elise’s version after a recommendation from my best friend. They were absolutely delicious. The rich, beefy, creamy sauce en robes the tender bites of the beef/pork mixture. I was always of the school of the beef meatball, but I think this recipe has made me a convert. They literally melt in your mouth, a different texture completely from a beef meatball. The recipe makes a lot of meatballs. I think they’d be delightful for a party as an appetizer instead of the traditional red sauce meatballs. The meatballs and sauce would be fine in a Crock-Pot on low for a few hours. I did change the spice combination in them, as I diddn’t have cardamom, and had no problems. I stock up on Lingonberry jelly (and the drink concentrate too!) when I’m at Ikea, but if you can’t find it then I think boysenberry jam or cranberry jelly would be a good alternative.
Swedish Meatballs
For the meatballs:
1 large yellow or white onion, peeled, grated (through a cheese grater)
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup milk
4-5 slices of bread, crusts removed, bread cut into pieces
2 eggs
1 pound ground pork
1 1/2 pounds ground beef (80/20)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons black pepper
For the sauce:
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup flour
1 quart beef stock
3/4 cup sour cream
Salt
2 to 4 Tbsp of Lingonberry, cranberry, or boysenberry jelly, more or less to taste (optional)
Sauté the grated onion in the butter over medium-high heat until the onions soften and turn translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
In a medium bowl, mix the bread pieces with the milk. Set aside for 15-20 minutes, or until the bread soaks up all the milk. When it does, pulverize the bread in a food processor and pour it into a large bowl.
Add the cooled onions to the bowl of milk and bread. Add the rest of the meatball ingredients—eggs, ground pork, ground beef, salt, nutmeg, allspice, pepper. Using your (clean) hands, mix well for about 2 minutes until the ingredients are well combined. Use a tablespoon to measure out the meat for the meatballs. As you form the meatballs, set each one aside on a sheet pan or plate. You should get 40 to 50 meatballs.
Heat 6 tablespoons of butter for the sauce in a large sauté pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted, reduce the heat to medium and add some of the meatballs. Do not crowd the pan. Work in batches, browning them slowly on all sides. Be gentle when you turn them so they don’t break apart. Do not cook the meatballs all the way through, only brown them at this stage. Once browned, use a slotted spoon to remove them from the pan, setting them aside so you can make the sauce with the remaining pan butter.
Start the sauce. (Check the pan butter to see if it has burned. If the butter tastes burnt, discard the butter and replace with new 6 tablespoons.) Heat the pan butter on medium until hot. Slowly whisk in the flour. Stirring often, let the flour cook until it is the color of coffee-with-cream; this is a classic roux.
As the roux is cooking, heat the beef stock in another pot until it simmers. When the roux has cooked until the color of coffee-with-cream, slowly add the hot beef stock a little at a time. Everything will sputter at first, and the sauce will seize up and solidify. Keep stirring and adding stock slowly, and it will loosen up and become silky.
To finish, remove the meatballs from the sauce. Add the sour cream and mix well. Either add the lingonberry jelly to the sauce or serve it on the side if you like. Add the meatballs to the sauce and turn the heat down to low. Cover the pot and cook on low heat for 15 minutes. Remove to serving dish and serve immediately.
Source: adapted from Simply Recipes
18 Comments
Hi Laura! I’m so glad to have found your blog, and a fellow Eastern Shore native too! I grew up on a farm in Cordova and have been itching to get back ever since. Your beautiful boys are very lucky to grow up there! Anyway, thanks for sharing this yummy recipe… I’ve always wanted to try Swedish meatballs and will definitely be giving this a go.
I love Swedish meatballs! Your looks delicious! Nice blog and beautiful pictures!
This looks like a great recipe! I’ve never tried swedish meatballs because I was always turned off to the premade frozen kind. Thanks for sharing. I can’t wait to try them!
I was not aware that there was a cafeteria at Ikea that serves Swedish Meatballs and Lingonberry jelly. Who knew???:-)
These sound absolutely delicious and your picture looks mouthwatering! I love swedish meatballs and have only had them about once or twice in my life. Yum!
I have Swedish friends that come over every other year for a vacation. Perhaps I can keep this recipe and prepare this when they go on vacation, so they wont be missing home that bad. =)
I have been craving these and haven’t found a recipe that didn’t call for canned soups and things, so this sounds perfect. I’m going to try it tomorrow night. Thanks for sharing!
You know, I’m not sure I’ve ever had a Swedish meatball but they sound pretty good and you’re making me want to try them!
Hi! Just an FYI, Ikea Meatballs are NOT “Chock full of Fillers” …. In fact, Serious Eats did a post on them and stated that the ingredients did not contain anything a home cook would not put in their own meatballs. I bought a frozen package of them the last time I was at Ikea, and sure enough, the ingredients are very similar to yours up there, and there are no “fillers” or anything like that.
That’s awesome to know, Jady! Ikea rocks.
Hi I found your recipe and can’t wait to try it thanks for sharing. It looks so good. I’m from Mount Washington, KY.
Thank you,
Ginny
Loved this recipe! I’m too lazy to stand and cook meatballs though, so I baked them. They whole dish was wonderful! Thank you!
Made this for dinner last night and scored major points with the family. I can still smell them in the kitchen this morning. Too bad I froze the left-overs, but another greal meal to look forward to. Fabulous recipe.
Very excited to try these…we looove Ikea meatballs, but we recently discovered 2 out of four in our family our gluten sensitive…and alas Ikea’s meatballs have wheat! Thanks!
My grandmother us to make these.
I have made them from memory and knew there was something missing.
So thank you for pinning this it’s the closest one to my grandmother I’ve ever found. My grandfather was from Sweden and he’s the one who gave us the recipe from what he could remember from his mother.
Linda, thanks so much for sharing that. I’m so glad you loved them!
I followed this recipe exactly but my gravy did not thicken. Any suggestions?
You can always thicken sauces up at the end if they seem too “loose” by making a cornstarch slurry – about 1 tbsp cornstarch to 1 tsp cold water. Id’ say you probably just didn’t let it cook long enough though. Flour takes longer to thicken the finished product than most thickening agents.
My grandparents came from Sweden and these are tradition in my house, passed to my mom, down to me. Your recipe looks very close to what we use. The only thing I see missing is cinnamon. It’s amazing the difference it makes. It doesn’t take much.
I’ve heard rumor that we’re getting an Ikea in my area in the next year or so, so I’m very excited about this. I’m so glad you found what they’re supposed to taste like, because the frozen stuff is sacriledge!!!