Traditional Swedish Meatballs are a dish that everyone will love. These meatballs have a depth of flavor making them savory and sweet.
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These Traditional Swedish Meatballs may seem familiar. If you’ve ever been to Ikea, you’re definitely familiar with Swedish meatballs. Served with mashed potatoes, broccoli, and cranberry sauce, you can make Ikea meatballs at home so easily with this recipe.
To learn more about this classic dish, visit Visit Sweden for more information.
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What We Love About This Meatball with Gravy Recipe
- 45 Minute Meal: Make this Swedish meatball recipe easy in less than 45 minutes.
- Family Friendly: You family will love these Traditional Swedish meatballs.
- Makes Great Leftovers: Enjoy these meatballs the next day, you can eat them on their own, with pasta, or in a sandwich or right out of the pan.
Ingredient Notes
- Ground Beef: You will need 1/2 lb of lean ground beef.
- Ground Pork: Additionally, you will also need 1/2 lb of ground pork.
- Dried Onion: I used dried minced onion, but you can use fresh minced onions as well.
- Breadcrumbs: Breadcrumbs will get mixed into the meat mixture, panko or white breadcrumbs work.
- Butter: For the Swedish meatballs sauce you will need salted butter. You can also use unsalted and supplement with some extra salt.
- Flour: All-purpose flour works best to make white sauce for meatballs.
- Beef Broth: For the easy Swedish meatball sauce you will need beef broth. Chicken broth will work too but it will alter the traditional flavor.
- Worcestershire Sauce: Worcestershire sauce will add a sweet yet tangy and spicy flavor.
- Heavy Cream: You will need heavy cream to make to make the creamy gravy.
If you’d like, you can swap out the beef for chicken, like in these Swedish Chicken Meatballs.
Equipment Needed
- Baking Sheet
- Skillet
- Large Bowl
- Whisk
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Aluminum Foil
How to Make Swedish Meatball with Gravy
These are the basic steps for making Traditional Swedish Meatballs. Please refer to the recipe card below for more detailed instructions.
STEP 1: PREPPING
Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees f and lining a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
STEP 2: MAKE THE MEATBALLS
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the ground pork, beef, dried onion, parsley, egg, breadcrumbs, and spices until fully combined. Then form into 2-3 tablespoon sized balls and arrange neatly on the baking sheet. Cook for 30-40 minutes until cooked through.
STEP 3: HOW TO MAKE THE SWEDISH MEATBALLS SAUCE
Make the sauce while the meatballs are cooking in the oven. In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt the butter. Then whisk in the flour and let it brown, then stir in beef broth, Worcestershire, and heavy cream. Reduce the heat and allow sauce to thicken.
STEP 4: FINISHING TOUCHES
Remove meatballs from then add meatballs in cream sauce. Coat evenly and garish with fresh parsley. Serve traditionally with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce!
Prep and Storage Tips
HOW TO MAKE THIS RECIPE AHEAD OF TIME
To make this recipe ahead of time, I recommend cooking the meatballs and storing in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-3 days. When ready to serve, reheat the meatballs in the oven and cook the sauce while reheating the meatballs.
HOW TO STORE THIS RECIPE
Store traditional Swedish meatballs in airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
HOW TO FREEZE THIS RECIPE
To freeze this recipe, store in freezer bag or airtight freezer container for up to 6 months. The sauce may change its texture slightly when reheating.
HOW TO REHEAT THIS RECIPE
To reheat Swedish meatball in gravy, heat in microwave safe dish in the microwave for 1-2 minutes or until hot.
Frequently Asked Questions
American styled meatballs have more a garlicky and onion flavor meant to be served with tomato sauce and spaghetti, where as traditional Swedish meatballs have more spices and a sweeter
You can also substitute ground chicken in place beef, for a combination of chicken and pork.
This recipe can easily be doubled or halved, just increase or decrease ingredients proportionally.
Traditional Swedish meatballs are made of ground beef, pork mince, dried onion, breadcrumbs, egg, and seasonings.
Expert Tips for Making This Recipe
- This Recipe Can be Doubled: This authentic Swedish meatball recipe is crowd pleaser and great to bring to a potluck. You can double the ingredients proportionally and cook in two batches.
- The Swedish Meatballs Traditional: Serve Swedish meatballs traditionally with mashed or boiled potatoes and lingonberry jam or cranberry sauce.
- Swedish Meatballs with Pasta: Serve Swedish meatballs with egg noodles, using the meatball gravy as the pasta sauce. You can also add sautéed mushrooms for a beef stroganoff like pasta with Swedish meatballs.
What to Serve with Swedish Meatballs
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Traditional Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- ½ lb ground beef
- ½ lb ground pork
- 1 tablespoon dry onion, minced
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon All purpose seasoning
- ¼ cup breadcrumbs
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- 2 tablespoons parsley
Sauce:
- 3 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup flour
- 3 cups beef broth
- 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon All purpose seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil.
- Mix all meatball ingredients in a large bowl until well combined.
- Roll mixture into balls and place on baking sheet.
- Bake 25-30 minutes or until cooked through. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of your meatballs.
- Prepare the sauce by melting butter in a skillet over medium high heat.
- Whisk in flour and allow to brown.
- Add in broth and worcestershire sauce then cream.
- Reduce heat slightly and allow sauce to thicken.
- Add meatballs to skillet and coat with sauce.
- Garnish with parsley before serving.
Expert Tips
- This Recipe Can be Doubled: This authentic Swedish meatballs recipe is crowd pleaser and great to bring to a pot luck. You can double the ingredients proportionally and cook in two batches.
- Swedish Meatballs Traditional: Serve Swedish meatballs traditionally with mashed or boiled potatoes and lingonberry jam or cranberry sauce.
- Swedish Meatballs with Pasta: Serve Swedish meatballs with egg noodles, using the meatball gravy as the pasta sauce. You can also add sautéed mushrooms for a beef stroganoff like pasta with Swedish meatballs.
Estimated Nutritional Information
The nutritional information provided are estimates. To learn more about how I calculate this information go to www.itisakeeper.com/about-its-a-keeper/privacy-disclosure-policies/
This recipe is my personal adaption of an ethnic inspired recipe. It is not intended to be an authentic recipe. I’ve recreated this recipe because I enjoy the flavors and I want to encourage my readers to expand their tastes and try new flavor combinations. The recipe, ingredients and processes may have been adapted to make the recipe accessible for the average American. I have provided links to authentic versions of the recipe in the post above. I encourage you to visit these pages and learn more about the traditional version(s) of this recipe.
I really appreciated how I was able to change the servings and the measurements were changed.
The gravy seemed a tad bland after everything was in, but after I sautéed the mushrooms in butter and added them it really picked up the flavor.
I think that next time, I may add the gravy and meatballs to a crock pot and let them simmer for awhile.
I will make it again!
Thank you for this recipe, as well as the seasoning recipe.
The family enjoyed it, especially the two granddaughters that helped to make it (6 years old and 4 yrs old)
So glad that you enjoyed it.
The combination of beef and pork was a delicious combination of meat. The sauce was perfect too!
These meatballs are a crowd favorite! Thanks Christina for posting this wonderful recipe! I am definitely making this again!