Last updated on April 1st, 2018 at 01:53 pm
Swedish Meatballs – 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!
Before I start today’s post, I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has either emailed me recently or left me comments on my last post and told me how much you guys love my blog and recipes. It means the world to me, and I thank you all and love you all. It’s because of you that I get to do my dream job.
MY LATEST VIDEOSAnyway, now with that out of the way, let’s talk Swedish meatballs. You all know I love my meatballs, and this is a recipe I posted over 4 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. I just can’t decide.
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 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.
Check out the video to see just how easy it is to make these Swedish meatballs.
If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
- 6 tbsp butter unsalted
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups chicken broth low sodium, or beef broth
- 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/4 tsp pepper or to taste
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 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.
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.
★ Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to give it a star rating below!
Recipe originally shared August 26th, 2012
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.
I cannot print any of the recipes…
There’s a print button right under the image in the recipe.
These were good but I personally felt like they were missing something. The gravy fell a tiny bit bland. It is really good if you add a little Worcestershire sauce and use beef broth instead of chicken. That added a little more flavor that we like. Maybe this might help someone out. Thank you! We enjoyed them!
If freezing do I freeze the meatballs and sauce separately ??
Not necessary, I would freeze everything together.
My family wants swedish meatballs and lobster mac and cheese. Does this sound weird to serve together??
No, I love it!
Ok Jo – yet another hit from you! Once again, I looked at other recipe websites first. I know, I know – I’m stupid – I should just trust you lol! Quite a few had what I thought were kinda wierd ingredients for “Swedish” meatballs….sugar, for one (yuck), worchestershire (I could maybe see this), tomato paste (REALLY?). So here I am again making one of your wonderful dishes. This is a HIT! So easy too. I didn’t have any ground chicken, but did have ground turkey so I used that instead. Only thing I added was a sprinkle of garlic powder. The gravy came out silky smooth. I will make this again and again. Bet it’s even better the next day! Good work, girl.
Thanks, my dear! So glad you liked the meatballs!
Absolutely wonderful! This is my go to recipe for meatballs! My husband is the worlds pickiest eater, and he loves this! We usually switch it up and serve it over mashed potatoes or egg noodles!
Glad you liked them!
Made these Swedish Meatballs tonight, and oh my stars, AH-MAZING!!!! So good! I am already dreaming of more.
Made the recipe as is. It’s perfection!
So glad you liked it, Dana!
Your recipe is close to the meatballs my family has made for generations starting in Sweden .
Your seasonings are the same but we use equal parts fresh ground pork and ground beef, whole eggs , and finely grated potato instead of bread . Flower , brown , and simmer 2 hours.
Served with Rotmos { equal parts potato and rutabaga mashed with a sprinkle of nutmeg .
Now we are talking home country Swedish .
With winter coming would anyone like a recipe for Fruit Soup , Head Cheese or anything Swedish ?
OMG I love head cheese, have to say never heard of fruit soup, I have to check it out now. LOL
I’ve been go IKEA on Monday and had the Swedish meatballs. 🙂 I like them, but I am so sure these ones are about a 1000 better. They looks so amazing!
Hope you get to try them out. Had some for dinner last night
Oooh I am a huge IKEA fan :)! Wish there was IKEA right next to us :). Love your gravy with sour cream and chicken broth – must try it!
Isn’t IKEA fun? Love going to that pace. Did our swedish meatballs make you think of IKEA? lol .
What would be the instructions if I wanted to bake the meatballs instead of frying them? I can’t wait to make these.
You can bake the meatballs at 375 F degrees for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Just finished making this recipe and it was a hit! I will be making this one along with the other recipes that I tried that were amazing too. Thank you Jo!
My pleasure, glad you liked it!
I’m so glad your family enjoyed this recipe, it is a favorite at our house too. 🙂
Seen this recipe this morning, Just turned the burner off, mmmmmmmmmm they are good. Reminds me of my childhood. Thanks for the recipe.
You’re welcome, glad you like them. 🙂
Best taste for the gravy is really making it in the pan where you’ve fried the meatballs, preferably with them still in it. Just pour over a swig of cream, season and let simmer for a bit. It’ll take flavor from meat and you won’t need anywhere near enough seasoning.
You are absolutely right Sina.
Yum! This is one of my favorite childhood meals. I will have to try this again soon!
Yes, we all have a favorite meatball recipe from our childhood meals, and it’s such a simple thing to make, probably one of the first things I learned to make.