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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I only made the sauce and added a couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Absolutely fantastic! Thank you for the recipe. This will be going in my dinner rotation often!
Great!
I’d just like to give you a hearty thank you for this recipe! I have used it countless times. When i have gotten lazy about making homemade meatballs, I still use the gravy recipe and my family love it every time. From one blogger to another, keep doing you. This will be a stable for our family for years to come – oh and tested with Ikea, yours is definitely better 😉
Thank you, Ashley! That’s so sweet!
Made these last night and the whole family gobbled them up! Yummm!
Every single recipe I’ve got off this website has been DAMN DELICIOUS and this one takes the cake! The gravy was outstanding and recipe was super easy. My guest even got some bread to soak up the gravy!
Thank you so much!
I’m making these tonight. I’ve never had swedish meatballs … I’ve always thought the ones at IKEA look good in photos, but I’m a bit freaked out by the idea of eating food at a furniture store, so I’ve never eaten anything from there. Any who, these look good and I’m excited to make them! One question, however: any suggestions regarding what to pair with them? I’m not talking grains, but veggies. My family is a bit tired of eating salads and roasted green beans. Trying to avoid starchy vegetables too.
Hi JKS! My absolute favorite side dish is the garlic parmesan roasted potatoes. But please feel free to check out all of my side dish recipes here.
Hi there,
Made these tonight (or, rather, I made THIS – didn’t have the energy to make meatballs, so plunked the whole mess into a pan and made Swedish meatball-loaf !) and it was fab. Added in a bit of cardamom, along with the nutmeg/allspice, and a few grating of orange zest. Was excellent with some mash, your excellent gravy and my lingonberry jam! Thanks!
That sounds so yummy!
These were really good. I halved the recipe & served over egg noodles. I made the following changes: I only used ground beef because I didn’t have pork on hand, I used one whole egg, I used crushed crackers because I didn’t have panko, I omitted the parsley because I didn’t have fresh or dried, I added the meatballs to the sauce earlier so I could be sure they were cooked through, & I added the sour cream later because I was afraid it would curdle. I will make this again & make sure I have ground pork & panko on hand.
Thank you for sharing with us!
Hi! I just maid your recipe for my family. It was so delicious!! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you!
P.S. don’t forget the lingonberry
I made this recipe for my family and it was delicious. I followed exact directions until I add one packet of Beefy Onion for added onion flavor. Thanks Chungah.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I made these and they were amazing. But let’s say I want to be lazy and make them in the crockpot or instant pot instead of having to babysit them over the stove 🙂 Has anyone tried this with success!? If so, what did you do?
made this for dinner tonight and it was a huge hit! even my picky 9yo approved! i originally found your site while searching for asian inspired dishes, and it quickly became my go to website. i’ve made a dozen dishes following your recipes and have yet to be disappointed! from one korean to another, 감사합니다!!
That’s awesome Erin, thank you!
I made this a few days ago and served it over egg noodles. It was quite tasty. I made a few changes to the meatballs and they still turned out great – used Italian bread crumbs instead of panko because it’s what I had, used one egg instead of two yolks because I didn’t want to waste the white, doubled the all spice because I wasn’t paying attention the the measuring spoon.
I prefer my gravy thicker though. As written in the recipe (and I followed it precisely for this part), it was more of a soupy consistency, even my daughter called it “meatball soup”. The gravy did thicken up the next day.
Overall, I give the recipe an A- and will definitely try it again but reduce the liquid. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for your feedback!
I reblogged this recipe on my site a couple of years back, and it is still my favorite meatball recipe, bar none! I have made them differently, at my own risk, and they came out delicious, but different from the original, which I have also made as written. In fact, I have 5 meatballs sitting in my deep freeze that are made of all beef when I didn’t have pork. The originals were made at Christmas and they were oh so yummy!
Thank you for posting and sharing this recipe with the world. I and many others appreciate it!! Don’t let the haters get ya down, Chung-ah. Keep on cooking on.
You are very sweet Wendy, thank you! So happy you’ve been enjoying these for so long and continue to share with us!!
Why on earth is IKEA used as a reference with the implication that it should be some kind of GOAL? I live in Helsinki down the street from IKEA and had them a few times – they are Edible – but that’s it – Edible – nothing more!!
Made this recently. Didn’t change recipe at all. The meatballs were quite nice, although I felt they needed something to boost the flavour. The sauce, funnily enough, tasted like ‘mushroom sauce’ lol. I don’t like mushrooms and I don’t know why it seemed to taste like that so unfortunately I didn’t enjoy this as much as my family. I may try again another time to see if that ‘mushroom’ flavour comes through again – or have my taste buds examined considering there are no mushrooms in the recipe! hahaha. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes.
I am so excited. I too have been wanting the perfect Swedish meatball recipe.
I have a question, pardon my ignorance but I am not sure what the size “Roll the mixture into 1 1/4-to-1 1/2-inch” means. Can you please explain that better?
The diameter of the meatballs should be around 1 1/4 inches. Hope that helps!
This looks amazing!!!! Im wondering tho, I dont have any beef broth, is it ok to use beef stock?
Yes!
This is my very favorite Swedish meatball recipe! Thank you so much for sharing with your readers and for all the hard work you put into each post.
I’ve seen a few people ask about freezing the sauce and I think I can answer that, albeit a bit indirectly. When I was single I would make recipes like this in full, not scaled down, to make my own single serving freezer meals to take to work for lunch. I would mix all the sauce and meatballs with either pasta or mashed potatoes, depending on my mood, and freeze them in single serving sized Tupperware. When I took them to work, they’d thaw for a bit in the refrigerator and then at lunchtime I’d pop it into the mircrowave and, to make a long story short, the sauce always held up beautifully.
Made this for dinner tonight – all I had in the house was ground beef, am I complaining about the taste/texture? Nope lol. At the last minute I realized I was out of beef broth – but I DID have one beef bullion cube and one fine herb and garlic cube. Am I going to complain about the difference in taste because I made substitutions? Nope…I decided to make this last minute so I baked the meatballs in the frying pan in the oven….am I complaining about how they turned out? Nope….Since it was a last minute idea I didn’t have time to let it cook in the slow cooker so I just took the meatballs out of the pan and cooked up the sauce in that. Did that change the flavor any? Maybe….Am I complaining? Nope lol…This turned out to be the yummiest dinner I have made in weeks! Thanks for the inspiration and great recipe!