I looooove Meatballs from my Honey Buffalo Meatballs to my Italian Meatballs to my Cranberry Meatballs to my Korean Meatballs to Parmesan Meatballs but these Swedish Meatballs have to be the most tender meatballs I’ve ever made. You and your family are going to go crazy over them! I grew up devouring Swedish Meatballs and actually didn’t even know Ikea Swedish Meatballs were a “thing” until college. I’m happy Ikea has popularized this favorite but I promise once you try my recipe with from scratch meatballs and from scratch creamy beef gravy, you will be ruined and never be able to go back – sorry!
What makes Swedish Meatballs different?
Swedish Meatballs are different than standard meatball for a few main reasons:
What makes this Swedish Meatball recipe the best?
My Swedish Meatball recipe is unique (can I say better?) for a few reasons:
HOW DO YOU MAKE SWEDISH MEATBALLS?
Swedish Meatballs are very easy to make with pantry friendly ingredients of beef, pork, onions, cream, milk and spices. The most time consuming part is rolling the meatballs but even that is easy and can even be done and refrigerated beforehand! All authentic Swedish Meatball Recipes should start with a panade as mentioned above. A panade is a mixture of bread and cream that binds the meatballs together. As meatballs cook, the proteins tighten which squeezes out a significant amount of moisture. The panade keeps the moisture from being lost and is the key to tender meatballs.
HOW TO FREEZE HOMEMADE SWEDISH MEATBALLS
Once your meatballs are baked and still lined on your baking sheet you can either move on to making your gravy OR freeze the meatballs. To freeze your Swedish Meatballs:
HOW DO YOU MAKE SWEDISH MEATBALL SAUCE?
Oh the sauce! Swedish Meatballs + Swedish Meatball Sauce = out of this world deliciousness! This luxuriously rich and creamy sauce is actually beef gravy with splashes of Worcestershire, Dijon and a healthy dose of heavy cream. Some Swedish Meatball Sauces use sour cream instead of heavy cream so feel free to experiment to your liking or simply stir in a dollop of sour cream in addition to the heavy cream if you want a little extra tang. I was expecting to finish my Swedish Meatballs sauce off with sour cream but I thought it was perfect as written. The Swedish Meatball Sauce comes together super quickly while the meatballs are baking so when they come out of oven it’s eating time!. To make the creamy gravy, simply create a roux by melting 4 tablespoons butter with 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. The olive oil helps the butter not burn. If you would like to replace some of the butter with equal amounts olive oil, you are welcome to do so. Next, sprinkle in flour and cook for 1 minute, which gets rid of the raw flour taste. Reduce heat to low and slowly whisk in beef broth and heavy cream followed, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, dried parsley, paprika, allspice and pepper. Bring Sauce to a to simmer until thickened (approximate 5-7 minutes) into a rich and creamy, intoxicatingly delicious sauce you are going to want to drink – no joke. Add your meatballs, coat in sauce and EAT!!!
Crockpot Swedish meatballs
To make Crockpot Swedish Meatballs, you will follow the recipe as written except bake the meatballs for only 10 minutes then add them to your lightly greased slow cooker. Add the Gravy and continue to cook 1-2 hours until the meatballs are all the way cooked through.
WHAT IS A GOOD SIDE DISH FOR SWEDISH MEATBALLS?
Authentic Swedish Meatballs are traditionally served with potatoes (plain or mashed) or macaroni. Our Americanized Swedish Meatballs are most often served with egg noodles but they are also delicious with any pasta, mashed potatoes and rice. To complete the meal, they would be fabulous with Cranberry Apple Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad, and/or roasted broccoli, roasted carrots, roasted asparagus, fruit salad, and a big slice of crusty bread. Lingonberry jam is also a traditional accompaniment to Swedish Meatballs.
What is Lingonberry Jam?
If you have never heard of Lingonberry jam, it tastes like cranberry sauce but with kiss of balancing tartness. It’s brightness cuts through the richness of the Swedish Meatballs and is a fabulous side. If you can’t find Lingonberry jam then feel free to crack open a can of cranberry sauce for a more authentic Swedish Meatball experience.
Tips and Tricks to Swedish Meatballs
I recommend the mixture of ground beef and ground pork as written for authentically delicious Swedish Meatballs but you may substitute the pork with lean ground beef, ground chicken or ground turkey.You can substitute the white bread for what bread you have on hand.You can substitute the ¼ cup milk and ¼ cup heavy cream for half and half if you have it on hand. I chose to use both milk and heavy cream because we are already using heavy cream in the sauce and this keeps you from having to buy an extra ingredient.You can roll your meatballs and refrigerate them and then bake them when it’s dinner time.Don’t overmix your meatball ingredients – overmixing results in tougher meatballs.The meatball mixture will be WET – don’t worry. Shape the meatballs the best you can and they will firm up when cooked but emerge crazy soft and juicy.DON’T try and cook your meatballs in a skillet because they are so tender they will fall apart. By baking them, they stay intact because you don’t touch them until they have baked into a tighter meatball.Do NOT use half and half in your Swedish Meatball Sauce or it can separate.You can omit the heavy cream in the Swedish Meatball Sauce and stir in room temperature sour cream to taste.You could also leave in the heavy cream and add sour cream for more of a rich tangy flavor.
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