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.
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!
Sauce was excellent, meatball flavor was not for me, texture was perfect.
What can I use to substitute eggs for egg allergy? Thank you
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.
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!
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
You can use full fat coconut milk.
I made them, and made some tweaks to make it low fat and low carb, but it still came out delicious! I will continue to try your recipes!
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!
Delicious 😋
Hi Karen! Glad you enjoyed!
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!
Well, thats not the way we make them in Sweden, but I’m sure they are delicious anyway.
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!
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!
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!
These turned out so good!!
Hi Wilma! Happy to hear! Thank you for the comment and rating!
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!