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.
Thank you for swinging by Hungry Happens! If you create this recipe or any other from our site, please take the time to comment and rate the dish – we would greatly appreciate it!! LOVE YOUR LIFE!

Perfect Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1/2 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.
This looks so good! Putting on my meal plan for the week
Thank you very much! You will LOVE them!
Making these tomorrow night. They look delicious!!
Thank you! You are going to love them!
Just made this today. Oh my! Fantastic! Definitely a keeper. Thank you for all your recipes. I can’t get enough.
Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Beautiful… I’m very happy you enjoyed the dish!
This looks good I’ll be making it soon
Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy them 🙂
Can you substitute beef for chicken or turkey? On both the the broth and meat?
I haven’t tried it yet, but I think it definitely would work here!
Made this tonight for my family. They LOVED it!!! Thank you so much for the great recipe! I’m excited to try some of your others.❤️
That’s fantastic to read! So happy you all enjoyed the dish! And thank you for taking the time to comment and rate the dish!
These were AMAZING. Thank you for sharing the recipe. I made with egg noodles, sauce was perfect consistency and the meatballs came out moist and full of flavor. Added to rotation!
Hi Ashlyn,
Thanks for the feedback and great job cooking the dish!<3
Love it
Perfect! Happy you enjoyed!
Wow amazing
Thank you so much Sharon!
I made this dish twice already and it is absolutely amazing. I have shared this recipe with friends as a must try because it’s that good.
SO happy you loved them! And thank you so much for sharing the recipe with your friends.. Much appreciated!
I have to admit, I added a bit of horseradish mustard to the gravy and it turned out wonderful… thank you! This is a keeper…
Hi Sandy,
I love the addition of the horseradish mustard – sounds delicious! Will have to try it..
halved the recipe and it turned out great! saving this one 🙂
Absolutely DELICIOUS!! Is there a calorie count??
Thank you for taking the time to comment! I will update that now. Cheers!
I just made these and they were AMAZING! So delicious! Everyone in the family loved them
Hi Eva,
Thank you for taking the time to rate and comment! I’m so happy you and your family enjoyed them!
Made this last night – so amazing!! Bonus, loads of leftovers for lunch and tasted just as good re-heated the next day.
Hi Ashley! Love these meatballs too! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and rate – much appreciated!!
Tried these and absolutely loved them! Making them again today ! ☺️☺️
Hi Shanice, That’s awesome! These are some of my faves too! Enjoy…
Made them for dinner last night! Loved them!!
Hi Pam, SO happy you enjoyed them.. and thank you very much for taking the time to rate and comment!
These turned out so good!!
Hi Wilma! Happy to hear! Thank you for the comment and rating!
They were delicious! Might make them with half pork half beef mince next time! But overall delicious!
Hi Jasmina! These are a killer meatball for sure.. glad you enjoyed!
This was delicious! Is the Nutrition information per serving or for the entire recipe? My family loved this recipe.
Hi Keri! I will double check but if it says Serving:4 (for example) above the recipe, then thats what its dividing the ingredients by. Glad you liked the meatballs too!
I was a little nervous to make this because I’ve had a few fails following new recipes online. This recipe was easy to follow and it came out delicious. Im definitely adding this to our dinner rotation. There is 3 of us. 2 adults and one child and we had enough for seconds the next day. I did use an extra 1/2 lb of meat though.
Hi Beata! Perfect! I’m so happy these worked out and they were enjoyed by everyone! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review and rating too!
Well, thats not the way we make them in Sweden, but I’m sure they are delicious anyway.
What can you sub the heavy cream for? To make it dairy free.
Hi Christina,
You can use canned full fat coconut milk. I’ve had people use this as a sub with great success… hope this helps you!
Thank you!
Delicious 😋
Hi Karen! Glad you enjoyed!
Hi, are there any substitutions I could use for Panko if we don’t have any? Would regular breadcrumbs be okay? Thank you 🙂
Hi Lacie, regular breadcrumbs works just fine in this recipe! Hope you enjoy!
I wanted to make dairy free. I was going to use ghee instead of butter but wondering what you would use instead of heavy cream.. maybe coconut milk? Let me know if you have any ideas as I would love to try
These are so delicious and turn out perfectly each time! Getting ready to make for the fourth time.
Hi Karen! YAYYY so happy you like the dish!
Are these meatballs low carb or Keto? They look amazing would love to make them
No, they are not low carb because of the breadcrumbs. Although can sub in almond flour and that will make them low carb.
I look forward to preparing by baking them. Made some recently and fried them; it was tricky and messy. Seeing you bake was a green light! Typically bake my Italian meatballs too! Thank you!
Hi Janet, I love to bake my meatballs and typically only fry them if I want to get the right aesthetic for my photos. Otherwise, its a bake job!
So easy to make and super delicious. My husband says they are the best he’s ever had.
Hi Janice ! Sweet!!! Glad you both enjoyed the dish! And again, thanks for the great rating!!
These came out really good. I used beef and half a cup 2% milk and half cup half and half. It still was amazing. Next time ill try all milk.
I used 2 cups of sliced mushrooms in the sauce
Deliciuos!