Swedish Meatball Pasta
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Everyone’s favorite Swedish meatballs with pasta noodles tossed right into that cream sauce goodness. So heavenly, so good.
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reasons to make swedish meatball pasta
- Easy weeknight dinner recipe. With its quick cook time and make ahead meatballs, this pasta dish comes together lightening fast, ideal for those super busy weeknights.
- Homemade meatballs. This includes a recipe for easy, homemade meatballs that just puts this recipe over the top – juicy, flavorful and melt-in-your-mouth tender.
- Crowd favorite. With homemade meatballs alongside elbow macaroni coated with a dreamy, caramelized, cream sauce gravy, this is sure to be a guaranteed hit with kids, toddlers, and grown ups alike.
- Freezer-friendly. This is a great make-ahead freezer meal! Skip the takeout and fast food, and turn to your freezer for the most favorited quick and easy weeknight meal.
tips and tricks for success
- Prep the meatballs ahead of time. The meatballs can be assembled up to 1 day in advance and placed in the fridge until ready to use. The uncooked meatballs can also be stored in the freezer for up to 1 month (once flash freezing), thawing overnight in the fridge.
- Use tube pasta. Tube pasta such as elbow macaroni, penne, rigatoni and ziti are great options. The hollow center allows to effectively capture and hold onto the cream sauce gravy, while also creating more surface area for the sauce to cling to compared to other pasta shapes.
- Use good-quality stock. The better quality your stock, the better your dish. Many brands love to pack in the salt so always opt for unsalted or a lower-sodium variety.
- Make it lighter. For a lighter option, substitute plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking!
what to serve with swedish meatball pasta
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
Swedish Meatball Pasta: Frequently Asked Questions
You can substitute ground turkey for both.
Panko is a Japanese-style breadcrumb and can be found in the Asian section of your local grocery store. But you can also substitute breadcrumbs to serve as a binder for the meatballs.
Place the uncooked meatballs on a baking sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper, freezing for 1 hour until solid. Transfer the meatballs to an airtight, resealable freezer bag. Label, date and freeze up to 1 month.
Use tube pasta with a hollow center that can help sneak in some of the sauce. Penne, rigatoni or ziti are all great options.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Yes! Swedish meatball pasta freezes very well. Let cool completely; portion into plastic freezer bags in individual servings, squeezing out any excess air before sealing. Lay the bags flat in a single layer in the freezer (this will help them freeze quickly). To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
Swedish Meatball Pasta
Ingredients
- ¾ pound ground beef
- ¾ pound ground pork
- ⅓ cup Panko
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 8 ounces elbow macaroni
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups beef stock
- ⅓ cup sour cream
Equipment
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine ground beef, ground pork, Panko, egg yolks, green onions, parsley, allspice and nutmeg; season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
- Using a wooden spoon or clean hands, stir until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1-to-1-1/4-inch meatballs, forming about 24 meatballs.
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add meatballs, in batches, and cook until all sides are browned, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate; set aside.
- In a large stockpot or Dutch oven of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Melt butter in the Dutch oven. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in beef stock and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes.
- Stir in meatballs and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through and thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in pasta and sour cream until heated through, about 2-3 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
Video
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Has anyone tried this with frozen meatballs and just doing the sauce and pasta?
Yes. I always use this sauce recipe with the frozen meatballs from IKEA. I bake them in the oven in the skillet that I then use to make the sauce so I get the benefit of any crispy bits. I add some Worcestershire sauce to the sauce. I do find as written it is a little thin if I use the full 3 cups of broth.
This was damn delicious! I used white onion instead of green onions because I thought I had green onions but didn’t. I didn’t have allspice so I used 1/8 tsp cinnamon and 1/8 tsp cloves and I think it worked out well.
My only negative comment was that it took way longer than the 20 minutes prep and 20 minutes cook time. Putting the meat mixture together was quick but cooking the meatballs took longer than 20 minutes. That said now that I have made this once I will make it again knowing that it does take longer that it said in the recipe. As I was typing my review I might just make it without the macaroni and serve it over egg noodles as the sauce was very good.
This is one of my favourite recipe’s,all my family love it,even the fussy ones.Thank u
just ok
Wow! Everyone loved it. A friend who eats like a bird had seconds. We will make it often. I think I’ll make the meatballs and freeze them so I can make this easily often. Thank you.
Miss, your ingredients for recipes are right on! I made the swedish meatballs and used egg noddles and it all worked and tasted delish. Eating right now…yum you. I’m glad I’ve used your recipes for a awhile and they all rock! You have the talent for being a chef who knows what works and what doesn’t!
Wow! I have made a lot of meatball recipes, but this one is really delicious! Perfect amount of sauce to meatball ratio. This will be a regular menu item from now on.
SO YUMMY! We just finished our last bite and it was already requested that more be made! Thank you!
This dish was absolutely delicious!!! It was very easy to follow the instructions and the ingredients were already in my kitchen. I highly recommend this dish.
RSmalls
This was so easy for someone who never made Swedish meatballs before! I followed the recipe exactly, except I made the meatballs in advance with a sauce, and then a few hours when ready to serve, I combined the pasta, sour cream with the meatballs and baked for five minutes. Came out perfect!
Thanks! Already have homemade frozen meatballs (that I was wondering what I wanted to make with them). You just answered that question. Have a great week.
Made as directed and I wish I would have increased the sauce. It was really tasty and my family liked it. I felt like it took longer than 40 mins, but that’s ok. It was worth it.
Found those recipe on Pinterest, so going to look through your collection and find more to try!
Thanks!
I followed the recipe as written and it was delicious. I may have been a little heavy handed on the spices since I didn’t measure per se~ just kinda eyeballed it! Everyone cleaned their bowls and I will be putting this into a regular rotation for our dinners. Thank you for another great recipe!
Can I use the egg whites instead of yolks as we \ can’t eat yolks
First time using this recipe. I thought the meatballs were very good. The sauce was a bit underwhelming, but maybe the beef broth I used is to blame! I will definitely use this recipe again and will tweak the sauce as I cook. I have been happy with all the recipes of yours that I’ve tried.
This recipe is fantastic! The flavors are amazing right off the stove but seem to be even better the next day. We loved this and will be making it again. Thank you for sharing!
Yummmmmmm. I was hesitant about the elbow noodles, but they were perfect. Next time, I’m adding mushrooms!
This was SO good! I made it exactly as the recipe states and it was amazing! My family is pretty hard to please and they all ate a big helping.
We followed the recipe exactly as written and it was very good. The texture of the meatballs and body of the sauce was great it was very satisfying on a crisp autumn evening. We felt it was missing something, however. The flavor was too nuanced. Next time we will increase the amount of spices (nutmeg and allspice) in the meatballs.
Thank you for another tasty recipe!
We had pre-made meat balls from a local Italian delicatessen, which made this even easier…but other than that, we made it as written. It was excellent on this rainy, stormy, night in Delaware.