Swedish Meatballs
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Nothing beats homemade meatballs smothered in a creamy gravy sauce, and yes, they taste so much better than the IKEA version!
Remember those trips to Ikea where the budget-friendly furniture finds are the last things on your mind but all you can think about are those amazing swedish meatballs? Well, that was always me. But since we’ve moved to the Bay Area, our nearest Ikea is in the middle of the most trafficked area in the entire city so it’s really hard to get my swedish meatball fix when needed. Thankfully, I’ve found a homemade version that tastes even better than the original.
These Swedish meatballs have been on my bucket list for nearly 3 years, and I’m so glad to finally cross this off my list. I don’t know why it took me so long to make it – it’s so easy to make, and it really tastes a million times better than the Ikea version. Plus, you can always make a huge batch of meatballs (by either doubling or tripling the recipe) and storing the uncooked meatballs in the freezer. When you have that Swedish meatball craving, you can just defrost these babies overnight. So simple and easy, right?
And the sauce – you can’t forget about that creamy, heavenly gravy sauce that these meatballs are smothered in with the browned up meatball bits. Those meatball bits stuck to the bottom of the pan really make the gravy what it is. I could practically drink it! Just be sure to make a little bit extra if you serve these over a bed of egg noodles – you’ll really want a portion to slurp down!
Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- ½ cup Panko*
- 2 large egg yolks
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the gravy
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups beef broth
- ¾ cup sour cream
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine ground beef, ground pork, Panko, egg yolks, allspice, nutmeg and cooked onion; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Using a wooden spoon or clean hands, stir until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1 1/4-to-1 1/2-inch meatballs, forming about 24 meatballs.
- Add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the skillet. Add meatballs, in batches, and cook until all sides are browned, about 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- To make the gravy, melt butter in the skillet. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in beef broth and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in sour cream; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir in meatballs and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through and thickened, about 8-10 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Made this tonight and found the gravy a little bland. I added in some Worcestershire sauce and that did the trick. I think next time I might add some diced shallots too.
Overall good, quick and easy. Will make again.
Seriously the best – I threw two whole eggs in, subbed the beef broth with whatever broth I had in the cupboard and water to equal 4 cups (I added more salt to comp for the broth), plant butter because DH and I are lactose intolerant and coconut cream with four spoons of lemon juice for the sour cream. Excellent with steamed potatoes and lingonberry sauce. Family loved it! Thanks!
Tank u so much. Now I can make this for my sister.
My family loved these meatballs. The gravy was awesome. It was my first time getting gravy right.
I used 1/4 cup sour cream, about 2 tablespoons of no salt seasoning and chicken broth. I substituted gluten free flour and breadcrumbs, plant based meatballs and lean turkey meat. Definitely adding to my regular menu. In addition I made mash potatoes and cranberry sauce for topping.
I made this tonight! I decided to bake the meatballs for 20min at 200 and added just a dash of wor Hester shire to the gravy. It was so so delicious. My family gobbled it up. Definitely adding it to the regular monthly menu.
Help – how do I “season to taste” raw ground pork and beef? Can someone give me a better measurement. The worst meatball is an under/over seasoned meatball. Thank you
I have a heated skilled ready, and I cook a tiny amount of the seasoned meat to taste it for seasoning. Just a little teaspoon’s worth. Hope this helps!
The “general rule” is to use 1 tsp salt for each pound of meat.. according to many sites I’ve encountered..
Molto buono! Very good recipe. My family does not like sour cream, so we substituted 1 cup of heavy cream. The meatballs come out tender and extremely flavorful, and the gravy is an excellent topping. This recipe is going in the family cookbook!
After searching through all of the recipes that come up, this one has by far been the best and is my go to. I’ve made it several times this year. On Egg noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes is delicious, I’m not even sure which i like best they’re all so good. Sometimes I add Campbell’s beef consommé in with some of the beef broth, really adds a robust beef flavor. Not great for sodium but…oh well! Thank you for posting this amazing recipe 🙂
Yes to the beef consume. It has a kick and helps thicken the gravy as the consume has a bit of gelatin in it.
FANTASTIC. I PAN FIEND THE MEATBALL TO GET THE TEXTURE I wanted. Then baked for 20 nins at 400 (160 degrees internal) . Add I added a big spoonful of Dijon mustard to the sauce. Wow!
They were very good! Can the meatballs and gravy be frozen?
Ive made this numerous times! It is wonderful.
Just made this , oh damn is it good. Cause could of been a little thicker. But great taste. Put a little extra spice in but filled the recipe for most part put it over butter noodles
I’m planning on making these but I’m wondering if I could sub out the beef and pork for chicken?
I make mine with ground turkey, so you could use ground chicken if you choose to. It does change the taste and even the consistency of the meatballs a bit, but they are still very delicious.
I wanted to thank you for adding a regular meal in our routine! I was missing the nutmeg (but discovered I had 5 other Allspices hiding in my cabinet!) it was still fantastic!! I actually have never ate the meatballs from IKEA. We never had one in our city! My family and I love this recipe! Thank you!
Excellent recipe. I added a pinch of garlic powder and allspice to the meat, used a bit less broth for the gravy, and served it, some crema, and home made cranberry sauce on the side to accompany baby potatoes – for a more upscale, but still IKEA-adjacent experience! My guests were very pleased. This is an excellent base recipe that I’ll be using again and again with minor modifications. Thank you muchly.
Made this for dinner tonight, family loved it! Only things I did different are: I added cornstarch (to water, mixed, & then added to gravy) because I found 4 cups of broth was too much & it wasn’t thickening at all. & the other thing, I added extra seasonings to the gravy. Parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, & a bit of seasoned salt (as well as the regular salt). We served it over egg noodles! Yum!
I understand that some people loathe when others rate recipes after they’ve modified them, but I did so with ingredients that should be pantry staples for most. Firstly, I used a blend of half turkey thigh and half turkey breast meat as our household does not eat red meat. For the meatball mix, I only cooked down half an onion and added: a couple teaspoons of minced garlic, roughly 1/2 t both onion and garlic powder, ~1 t both Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce, and a pinch of white pepper / salt (I wanted them to be flavor-bombs and they were!). I had to add a smidge more panko since my mixture was a bit more wet than it would have been had I used beef/pork and considering my liquid additions. I let them chill in the fridge for about an hour then formed and baked them (at 400ºF for 20 minutes, turning once).
For the sauce I also added a couple teaspoons of each soy sauce and Worcestershire, 1/2 t onion & garlic powder, a pinch more nutmeg/allspice, and salted to taste. The sauce needed to thicken for about 10 minutes on low heat, which was fine since I wanted that oh-so-good fond that had formed on the meatballs get incorporated into the sauce. I do not believe this made a “ton of sauce” as some stated considering how many meatballs there were. Served over egg noodles. I’m not going to pretend this is a healthy meal with the sodium content (especially with regard to my modifications, lol), but I really enjoyed it and know leftovers will be even better. Also, this was not nearly as labor intensive as I had anticipated (because I chose to bake them, I’m sure), and took under an hour and made a ton of food. Thank you so much for providing a wonderful backbone recipe!
If you are going to change a recipe that much, why don’t you start your own blog?
Exactly! Thank you!
First, I loved this recipe! It is a good base for many or no adjustments. Thank all of you open minded people for all of your ideas. I added some garlic to the meatballs and used Worcestershire sauce in the gravy also. Now ,why would someone tell another that they should “ start their own blog”? Really?! Your attitude just tells everyone to ignore you. You are one of those haters. I personally and I believe most of us WANT to hear the additions. People have varied tastes. Can you imagine alllll these reviews saying nothing but…” it’s a good recipe”?! Lots of times people don’t have a spice or herb OR have eating restrictions and these people want to hear how others fixed the recipe. How boring that someone wants all of us to not change the recipe. ( your comments were cruel, not realistic, and now we know what kind of person you are, go start your own blog, LOL)
I would say use sausage instead of just ground pork. It’s already seasoned. That and the allspice and nutmeg along with the onion and beef stock, sour cream etc, i can’t imagine how it could possibly be bland
I agree with you Beth. I like to read what tweaks people do to a recipe because people do have different taste buds and food does taste differently to people due to their own personal biology. Plus turkey and chicken may need more flavor as they may be more bland. A friend of mine does not eat pork and is allergic to beef so if you don’t like tweaking a recipe than don’t and keep that to yourself as not everyone is like you either!
I personally don’t mind hearing what other people did but then don’t go RATE the recipe, you didn’t make it! If I’m reading this review it’s because I want to knock how THIS turned out, not your homemade version!
I found your additions helpful! I look through comments partly to get new ideas. Will do a couple of them, thanks!
Thanks so much for sharing your changes. I’m searching the contents specifically to see if any one had success using ground turkey. The addition of Worcestershire and/or soy sauce seems to be a pretty common adjustment to the recipe. I’ll probably skip the soy sauce, but I love some Lea & Perrins!
I agree with Mary Ann! Do what you want to the recipe but don’t come on here with a completely different recipe and rate it as this one? It’s not this recipe any modifications done to this recipe I NOT this recipe. I wasn’t planning on commenting but I had to because people don’t understand a dash of this and a tad of that is NOT this recipe!!! I made is exactly as its posted for a dinner party and everyone loved it. I doubled the recipe and put it in a slow cooker on low for a few hours and they came out so delicious I would definitely do that again. Thank you for a fabulous recipe it brought back memories of my Swedish Grandmother-in-laws Swedish meatballs.
Quit being a “Karen”! Some of us like to brainstorm with other ideas and I am sure Chungah would agree
I make mine with ground turkey, so you could use ground chicken if you choose to. It does change the taste and even the consistency of the meatballs a bit, but they are still very delicious.
This was super tasty! I used all lean ground beef for my meatballs as I am not a fan of pork, and used ripped up bread bits mashed in milk instead of Panko crumbs (which I didn’t have.) I have a question though: I found the gravy to be a bit fatty – do you drain the fat from the meatballs before making the gravy? It wasn’t in the recipe but thought perhaps that was just implied. Thank you!
How are you going to change the recipe and then rate it low?
Doesn’t make sense
We just had an amazing dinner tonight, thanks to you sharing your recipe! Already bookmarked and waiting for the next time we “crave” this heavenly taste…which will be soon!
My family and I highly recommend trying this dish…as is, no substutions or additions needed! Perfection in a pan…thanks again!
So good! My husband found this recipe and I made it today as part of our game day munchies. I made it as directed and we loved it! The gravy!! OMG! I could bathe in that! I’ll admit, I used to make the IKEA meatballs using their mix, but I will just make these from now on. They’re that good.
Oh. My. Goodness. What a wonderful recipe. I made this last night following the recipe to the letter. My husband couldn’t stop oohing and aahing all through dinner. There were a few meatballs left and he decided to claim them for lunch today. We WILL be having these again — sooner rather than later!