These Swedish Meatballs are the mother of all meatballs. This recipe includes a mixture of ground beef and chicken with a hint of nutmeg and allspice. Learn how to make these amazing Swedish meatballs with a delicious gravy!
Let’s talk Swedish meatballs. You all know I love my meatballs, and this is a recipe I posted over 6 years ago, but wanted to refresh it a bit, plus I’m not one to turn down a meatball dinner.
Since we moved to Calgary, one of my favorite things about this city is the fact that there’s an Ikea here. I love shopping at Ikea, but more than shopping we love to go there and eat. Besides the really cheap breakfasts they have, I go there for the Swedish meatballs. It’s not that the meatballs at Ikea are so good, it’s more the fact that they are so cheap and I always love a good deal.
But I am not a meatball virgin. I can make a mean meatball myself and you can find quite a few meatball recipes right here on my blog. I am calling these the mother of all meatballs, but they really are a tie with my Romanian meatballs.
What Are Swedish Meatballs
Perhaps the better question would be what differentiates Swedish meatballs from Italian meatballs for example. There are a few differences. Perhaps the most noticeable one is that Swedish meatballs are a bit smaller than Italian meatballs.
The other difference is in the spices used. Swedish meatballs tend to use spices like nutmeg and allspice, sometimes ground ginger.
The main difference, of course, is the sauce. Unlike their Italian counterpart, these meatballs are in a rich and creamy sour cream/gravy, roux based sauce.
How to Make Swedish Meatballs
You know meatballs are not hard to make at all, the only time consuming part is the shaping of the meatballs. But don’t be afraid to make them.
The only difference with Swedish meatballs is that they are served with a gravy alongside mashed potatoes with lingonberry jam. I don’t have the lingonberry jam here but I did make the gravy and that is some good gravy, not to mention super easy to make, and it’s all from scratch.
I tried something different with these meatballs, I mixed ground chicken and ground beef together. Traditionally Swedish meatballs are made with equal parts pork and beef, but chicken and beef worked too.
The meatballs were very tender, even though they may have been a bit more lean from the ground chicken. What am I talking about, you fry these meatballs, so there isn’t anything lean about them. However, if you did want to stay healthy you could bake them as well. I have baked meatballs many times and they are just great.
These would have been great baked, because you add them to the gravy later on and cook them in the gravy for a while, so they would still be super moist.
How to Serve
I love serving these meatballs over mashed potatoes because of all that gravy. You could also serve them over boiled potatoes with lingonberry jam. Such a treat!
More Meatball Recipes To Try:
- Salisbury Steak Meatballs
- Porcupine Meatballs
- Indonesian Meatballs
- Chimichurri Meatballs
- Firecracker Chicken Meatballs
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Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
Gravy
- 6 tablespoon butter unsalted
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups chicken broth low sodium, or beef broth
- 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper or to taste
- 3/4 cup sour cream
Instructions
- Add the bread to a large mixing bowl along with the milk and toss. Set aside to let the bread soak up the milk.
- Melt the butter in a skillet, then add the onions and a bit of salt. Cook the onions until soft, about 3 minutes.
- Add the ground chicken, ground beef, onions, egg yolks, salt, pepper, nutmeg and allspice to the bowl with the bread. Mix the meat mixture well using your clean hands. Shape the meat into 1 inch meatballs.
- In a skillet heat some vegetable oil. Add the meatballs and fry until golden all around, about 7 minutes. Repeat with all meatballs.
- To make the gravy melt the butter in a clean skillet. Add the flour to the pan and whisk well. Add the broth and continue whisking. Season with salt and pepper and other spices if preferred. As the flour cooks the gravy should thicken. Whisk in the sour cream. Bring the gravy to a boil then add the meatballs to it and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure meatballs don’t stick to bottom of pan.
- Garnish with parsley. Serve warm over mashed potatoes or noodles.
Video
Recipe Notes
- This recipe will work with any type of ground meat.
- Baking directions: Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray, or use a baking rack. Bake at 375 F for 30 minutes until golden brown.
- To freeze the meatballs and gravy, let them cool completely at room temperature. Transfer them to a freezer safe container and place them in the freezer for up to two months.
- Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 or 4 days.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information:
Recipe originally shared August 26th, 2012
This recipe looks wonderful Jo!I to have looked at a lot of recipes for Swedish meatballs online but I have never made a recipe of yours that I didn’t love. How far in advance could I make the sauce? It will be for an Graduation Party and in a large quantity that I will need to make ahead.
Awesome! I would say about 3 days.
where/When do you like to add the fresh dill?
You can add fresh dill to the meatball mixture, add it to the sauce at the same time as the salt and pepper, or both!
Absolutely delicious! Nothing left on plates after…And we’re swedish
So happy to hear that!
Hi Jo.
I made this recipe for Swedish Meatballs on Sunday for dinner and it was a great success.
A must do again by all accounts I have to say.
So pleased to have found you on FaceBook whitch in turn bought me to this wonderful blog you have created. I’m hoping that your recipe for the Apple Pie Cake is the same one as my gran used to make as we sadly never found a recipe for it when she passed away.
Thanks, Chris! When you try the apple pie cake let me know how you liked it! 🙂
Jo, cranberry sauce is a good substitute for lingonberry jam. Really goes well with Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes.
Great idea! Will try that next time I make these. 🙂
I need to make these. I’m totally Swedish! Can I do a spicy version?
If anyone could, that’d be you, Mike!
This recipe is similar to the one I’ve kept since High School cooking class. With the exception of using a stand mixer to mix the ingredients. Using the mixer gives the meatballs the same texture as IKEA meatballs, which are soft and firmer than hand mixed. Thank you for reminding me and giving us inspiration.
Love this recipe especially the sauce.
Hello !!!
We also love IKEA meatballs 😉 We are lucky to have two IKEA near our home… but we still run out of them one in a while. Since your recipe is very easy and my boys wanted those little balls it was time to do them !!!!! My 2 boys loved them !! Thank you !!!!!! xxx
So everything was tiring out great till I stired in the sour cream… curdled …. what did I do wrong? Happy VDay!! ☹️
Not sure what caused your sauce to curdle, usually acids such as lemon juice will cause sauce to curdle but there isn’t any of that in this recipe. Also if there’s not enough fat that might cause curdling too. However, not all is lost. You can fix a curdled sauce. When you sauce starts to curdle take it off the heat immediately. You can take take a starch and make a roux and add it to the sauce. For example I would take a bit of flour and some of the sauce and whisk it separately until smooth, then add it back to the sauce.