Swedish Meatballs:
Mouthwatering, homemade, Swedish meatballs smothered in a decadent sauce; these beat IKEA every time!
Oh my goodness you guys, I hate to admit this, but the first time I had Swedish meatballs I was an adult. This was not something I grew up eating, and not something I had even heard of before I became an IKEA addict. And now I love them. I knew I needed a recipe for them on my site. And so I went in search.
I tried several. I tried just making the gravy and using frozen meatballs. I tried all beef meatballs. I tried it all. And this is my favorite version. It is adapted from a recipe I found on AllRecipes.com and tweaked to my preference. And I am happy to say the whole family enjoys this recipe. It is also a super easy to adapt recipe.
The creamy gravy is delicious and simple to make, and the meatballs could stand alone because they have great flavor. In fact, if I am making a big pot of my homemade spaghetti sauce, I often make a batch of these meatballs to go with it, without the gravy.
Swedish Meatball Adaptations:
- Skip the sour cream: I make it both ways. Sometimes if I want to cut calories, or just don’t have sour cream I leave it out. But I find I like the slightly creamier and tiny bit of tanginess the sour cream adds, so I usually leave it. But feel free to omit.
- Add fresh mushrooms. Not classic for Swedish meatballs, but for some reason this gravy always makes me want to have mushrooms. So sometimes I sauté a few mushrooms with butter and toss them in at the end with the meatballs. YUM!
- Add garlic, or omit the garlic. I LOVE garlic and want it with everything, so sometimes I can’t help myself and add it to the meatball mixture. But if you don’t love garlic, feel free to omit all the garlic seasonings.
- Plain bread crumbs. The meatballs call for seasoned bread crumbs. I personally love the extra seasoning because I think it adds flavor, and means the meatballs can also be eaten on their own. (Side note: make the meatballs ahead and freeze them for a really quick dinner on busy nights). But you can use plain bread crumbs if you want less salt.
- Use white pepper. Traditional Swedish meatballs use white pepper. I just never seem to be able to find where I put mine, so black pepper it is.
- Use veal as well. A lot of times meatball mixtures include beef, pork, and veal. I find veal challenging to find where I live, so I omit it, but you could create your meatballs with veal as well mixed in.
What do you eat with Swedish meatballs?
- Traditionally you eat a lingonberry sauce or jam. But I can never find it, so I usually just serve it with cranberry sauce. Or skip that part.
- I love eating Swedish meatballs over egg noodles. However, traditionally they are eaten with boiled potatoes. You could go with mashed potatoes as well. I like my meatballs saucy, and that means plenty of gravy for mashed potatoes. Yum!
Other Eazy Peazy Dishes You Will Love
- Instant Pot Beef Stroganoff
- Instant Pot Mississippi Roast
- Easy Pork Enchiladas
- Easy Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwich
- Mongolian Beef Meatballs
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Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 2 tablespoons Salted butter
- 1/2 Yellow onion finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 1/4 cup 2% milk
- 2 Large eggs
- 1/3 cup Seasoned breadcrumbs
- 3/4 teaspoon Black pepper freshly ground
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp Onion powder
- 1 pound Ground beef chuck
- 1 pound Ground pork
Gravy:
- 4 tablespoons Salted butter
- 5 tablespoons All-purpose flour
- 5 1/2 cups Beef stock
- 1 cup Heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp Garlic powder
- Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/3 cup Sour cream optional
- Cooking spray
- Fresh parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. Add onions and salt into butter, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions become translucent, 5-6 minutes.
- Once onions are translucent, move them into a large bowl.
- To same bowl, add milk, eggs, seasoned bread crumbs, black pepper, nutmeg, onion powder and allspice to the breadcrumb mixture; stir to combine.
- Once combined, add in beef and pork, and stir to combine it all. Do not over mix or your meatballs will get tough.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. (If in a hurry you can skip this step)
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
- Make said meatballs by rolling 2 Tbs of the meat mixture into a ball using cold, wet hands, or by using a cookie scoop or melon baller.
- Place meatballs on a lined baking sheet, sprayed with cooking spray and bake in the preheated oven about 20 minutes, until browned and internal temp is 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).
- Meanwhile, while meatballs cook, start making the gravy by melting 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat; whisk flour into butter and cook until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Watch carefully so you don't burn it. Then slowly whisk beef broth into butter mixture.
- Increase heat to medium-high, and whisk cream (or milk) into mixture . Bring the whole thing to a simmer, and stir in the garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce.
- Simmer until slightly thickened, about 6 to 7 minutes.
- Season with salt and black pepper. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream (optional).
- Transfer meatballs to the gravy and return to heat, and cook at medium-low heat for 3-5 minutes.
- Serve over egg noodles or potatoes and garnish with a little fresh parsley.
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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What to serve with it
- Super Easy Mashed Potatoes
Mashed potatoes for the gravy - Garlic Green Beans
A quick green side - Cranberry Sauce
A tart sauce on the side - Dinner Rolls
Rolls for the gravy
Recipe adapted from: https://allrecipes.com/recipe/231169/chef-johns-swedish-meatballs/
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Emily says
The recipe for gravy says 4 tablespoons butter, but in the directions it says to use 2 tablespoons. What do you do with the other 2?
Kezia Bontrager says
Oh man! This is absolutely DELICIOUS!! Thank you so much for sharing Rachael!