Perfect Swedish Meatballs
FYI: The origin of this dish turns out to be Turkish, not Swedish as per an official 2018 tweet off of Sweden’s own national account. Apparently King Charles XII of Sweden, resided in the Ottoman Empire for 4-5 years in the early 18th century. When he returned home to Sweden he brought this recipe back with him.
This dish is also widely popular at all IKEA store cafeterias. I’ve enjoyed it there myself. Well the good news is, you don’t have to go to Turkey, Sweden or Ikea to enjoy these beauties. This recipe is a fantastic and delicious delight.
The meatballs are made with not-your-usual spices consisting of allspice and nutmeg. I also sautéed the chopped onions to sweeten the flavor- you don’t have to though. The sauce is so velvety good with the flavor really kicked up with that combination of a butter rue, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon and heavy cream – CHEF’S KISS!
Serve these silky beauties with some mashed potatoes, rice or egg noodles for optimal sauce pleasure – you wanna enjoy all that glorious sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley and freshly cracked black pepper.
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Perfect Swedish Meatballs
Equipment
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1/2 sweet onion, fine chop
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 lbs ground pork (or beef)
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbs fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground all spice
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Sauce:
- 4 tbs butter
- 3 tbs flour
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- salt + pepper to taste
Instructions
Meatballs:
- Preheat your oven to 400° F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Sauté your chopped onion in a little olive oil until just translucent – 2 minutes.
- In a large bowl combine the meatball ingredients with your hands. Form medium sized balls and place onto the baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until internal meatball temperature registers 160° F.
Sauce:
- On medium high heat, melt your butter in a pan and add the flour. Continuously whisk until the rue turns brown. Slowly add and whisk in the broth and then heavy cream.
- Next, mix in the Worcestershire and Dijon and bring everything to a boil. Lower heat to simmer and cook until your sauce thickens, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the cooked meatballs to the pan and continue to simmer for another few minutes, drizzling them with the sauce.
Notes
- You can also pan fry the meatballs in some butter and olive oil.
- Garnish with fresh parsley and freshly cracked black pepper.
- Serve with my Best Mashed Potatoes recipe, rice or egg noodles.
Nutrition
Hungry for more?
This was outstanding! I usually just buy a packet of the Swedish Meatball seasoning packet, no need to. Thanks for developing the recipe beautifully. 🥰
Is the 1tsp of olive oil called for go into the meatballs or is it used for sautéed onions?
Excellent! Pair with the mashed potatoes for a perfect meal!
It’s roux not rue. Rue is regret or street.
What do you mean by “roll into medium sized ball”? “Medium sized” is different to different people, and the size will affect baking time. How many ball should we get from this recipe? Thanks.
My seven year old son tasted this dish and he said this is good and then a second later said OH MAN THIS IS SO GOOD!!! So much flavor!!! He couldn’t stop talking about how good the meatballs tasted with the gravy.
I love all of your recipes, they are all so simple and full of flavor.
My wife and I have been married 45 years. When she was young, we had a cookbook with a Swedish meatball recipe that she loved. We’ve somehow lost the cookbook, and ever since I’ve tried dozens of recipes looking for something that tastes as good. I finally found it! We both loved this version and will make it again for special occasions. (BTW, we’re vegan now, so we used all plant-based ingredients and it was still marvelous. We could make this for friends and they’d never know!)
loved the meatballs and the sauce. I added sauted mushrooms. Definitely a keeper.
What is a medium size meatball? Meaning…how many meatballs should turn out with 2 pounds of ground meats?! Thanks !
I’m a huge fan of all your recipes. Made this tonight, but I just don’t think I’m a fan of Swedish meatballs. I didn’t like the flavor, I’ve never had them before so didn’t know what to expect. My husband loved them so it was a win for him!
Absolutely delicious! My husband just loved it and i did too. Easy peasy to do and takes really no time at all.
HI Evelyn, I’m so glad you tried this and you both loved them!
This was my first time making Swedish Meatballs, and I have to say, I’ll never need another recipe—this was absolutely delicious! I didn’t follow it exactly, but even with my changes, it turned out better than I expected.
Here’s what I did differently:
– Used avocado oil instead of olive oil
– Used 2 lbs of ground beef (skipped the pork)
– Swapped quick oats for bread crumbs
– Left out the cardamom
– Used 1/4 tsp each of nutmeg and allspice
– Used beef stock instead of broth
– Replaced cream with full-fat coconut milk (and couldn’t even taste the difference!)
I would have loved to make it exactly as written, but we have some food intolerances and a picky eater to consider. Still, it was amazing—thank you for this great recipe!
This was my first time making Swedish Meatballs and I can confidently say that I’ll never use another recipe. This is seriously delicious. Albeit I didn’t follow as written but nonetheless it turned out better than I imagined it would. Changes I made:
I used avocado instead of olive oil
I used 2lbs ground beef (no pork)
I used quick oats instead of bread crumbs
I omitted the cardamom
I used 1/4 tsp nutmeg & allspice
I used beef stock instead of broth
I used full fat coconut milk instead of cream (cannot taste the difference in sauce)
I would love to have made this as written but unfortunately we have food intolerances and a very picky eater to satisfy. Thank you for this recipe!
HI Miranda, thank you so much for coming back to share your feedback with all of us! Great recommendations!
I did not use Allspice and I only used 1/2lb of hamburger mixed with 1/2lb of ground pork. Absolutely delicious. If you use 1lb each of hamburger with 1lb pork I would double the yummy sauce ingredients. Wonderful the next day too when the flavors have all blended together. This one is a keeper. Thank you!
HI Jodie, thank you for the kind rating! I’m so glad you tried them and liked them!