Swedish Meatball Pasta
Everyone’s favorite Swedish meatballs with pasta noodles tossed right into that cream sauce goodness. So heavenly, so good.
Is there anything better than Swedish meatballs?
The answer to that is yes. And that is Swedish meatballs with perfectly cooked elbow macaroni stirred into that heavenly cream sauce gravy.
I know. It’s mind-blowingly-fantastic.
Now if elbow macaroni is not your thing, you can use ANY pasta to your liking – rotini, cavatelli, ditalini, penne – it is ALL GOOD. But I do recommend using a tube-type pasta for the sauce to sneak in.
And if you do have any leftovers (so sorry but I can’t make promises on this!), they taste even better on day 2 and 3!
Swedish Meatball Pasta
Everyone’s favorite Swedish meatballs with pasta noodles tossed right into that cream sauce goodness. So heavenly, so good.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces elbow macaroni
- 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
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups beef stock
- ⅓ cup sour cream
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- 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 skillet 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.
- Melt butter in the skillet. 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.
Did you make this recipe?
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This is soooo yum!! It tastes like grown up hamburger helper, which may sound odd, but this is comfort food at its finest!! Highly recommend. I added a good dash of red wine vinegar which was a super yummy add. I live in the UK and sour cream just isn’t quite as acidic here so additional acid and the depth of the red wine was really yummy. Huge win overall, my husband was delighted with this recipe.
I just love how the reviews always state “it was delicious, but I added this or I omitted that when I made it” . Why not try the recipes as they are before changing the ingredients!! If there is something in it you don’t care for, move on to another recipe.
The three most important steps when developing flavor are:
1. Taste,
2. Taste and then,
3. Taste again!
I always start with the recipe, but I taste along the way because all chefs have different taste palates and preferences. I fully trust Chungah to give us INCREDIBLE recipes and as I taste I may choose to make an addition based on my own palate. I even go so far as to cook up a little tiny piece of meatball prior to making all of them to check that my salt and texture levels taste how I want them to! I was suspicious of the allspice and nutmeg in this recipe, but I went with it because I know Chungah doesn’t lead us astray:) And then at the very end I tasted the recipe and decided it needed more acid so I added red wine vinegar. Recipes are creativity at their finest as opposed to law, and other artists can make the art to their liking rather than just discredit the entire recipe!! YUM!!!
Meatballs were tasty but very dense. Suggest adding a 3rd cup of milk.
These meatballs are huge! Not sure you can call anything bigger than a 1/2″ – 3/4″ meatball Swedish?
Really tasty! The whole family really enjoyed it! Thank you for all your amazing recipes! Congratulations on your marriage!
Do you think you could omit the sour cream? Would the consistency not work without it? Thanks!!
I love your recipes but I think you need a little more time on the meatballs.
I too was concerned about the initial cooking time of the meatballs. It seemed a little strange to drain the meatballs on paper towels before they were fully cooked, but I followed the recipe as written and I’m so glad I did!.
After you make the sauce, you return the meatballs to the pan and then simmer the entire dish for 8 additional minutes. That’s just enough time to cook the meatballs through and keep them tender.
If you fully cook the meatballs before making the sauce and then simmer them in the sauce for 8 minutes, you run the risk of tough, overcooked meatballs.
I hope this helps. 😉
I would like to make this for 2 of us and freeze 1/2 of the meatballs for another time. Should I freeze them before or after cooking them?
Huge hit with my whole family. Doubled the pasta (family of 5) and kept it on the side in case my picky eater didn’t want sauce on it. But he did 🙂
Great meal to put into the weekly/monthly rotation.
Also – Congratulations and Best Wishes to you in your marriage. Yay!!!
The ENTIRE FAMILY LOVED IT! And that almost never happens. Thank you for another delicious recipe!
I was so excited when I saw this recipe. My husband is tricky to please and I thought we’d love this. The sauce was very good and I liked the ease of doing it in the skillet, but the meatballs let me down a little. They are missing something that gives them that swedish meatball taste. I looked at other recipes for swedish meatballs and the only difference I found was some of them used more breadcrumbs and some added garlic powder. I’m going to try tweaking it next time until I get it right where we like it.
Maybe cardamom would help, just a pinch.
Dill is usually in any Swedish meatball recipe I have made.
As soon as I saw the picture, I said “I’m making that!!” It was even better than it looked, and you are right–the leftovers are better still. I did keep the elbows out so they wouldn’t get soggy with storage/reheating. Definitely adding this one to the regular meal rotation.
Made this last night and it was AMAZING!!!! A new go to meal for our family!
It’s 109 degrees here in the Nor Cal valley. I don’t know why today was the day to make this, but glad I did. It’s phenomenal!
So good and grateful it’s all stove top work.
Full disclosure: I baked a cake earlier in oven for a tres leches truffle. What can I say? I cook what I feel when I feel it.
I gifted your cookbook to a dear friend as part of a (pretty kick a**) housewarming basket. She loves you already.
Thanks to Damn Delicious once again. Always a winner.
So yummy ❤❤❤❤❤❤. I also try it. Damm delicious ❤
I made this last night and wowza! That was so good! I made the meatballs earlier in the day & then just threw it all together when we were ready for dinner. So so good. Damn delicious!
Hello, could you bake the meatballs instead of pan frying??
Thank you for your help.
Looks delicious. I will be making this soon. Some mushrooms would definitely be added.
I forgot to give a star rating on my previous review and forgot to say that I used ground beef with ground turkey instead of ground pork.
This is what I make every Christmas Eve for dinner for the past 30 years. Sometimes we use rice instead of pasta and I saute mushrooms and add that! You can’t go wrong with this!
Man you had me at meatballs. Looks delicious.