Swedish Meatball Pasta
by Chungah
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Everyone’s favorite Swedish meatballs and pasta tossed in a dreamy, silky cream sauce! An easy weeknight dinner with make-ahead meatballs!
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Everyone loves a good Swedish meatball – tender, juicy meatballs covered and slathered in a gravy cream sauce. What’s not to love? But have you had Swedish meatball pasta?! It’s basically all the best components of Swedish meatballs swimming in that same lovely cream sauce with all the pasta noodles tossed throughout with the saucy goodness hidden in the crevices of the macaroni noodles. It’s a thing of beauty, it truly is.
Why you’ll love 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.
- Absolute 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.
How to make swedish meatball pasta
- Make the meatballs. Combine all the meatball ingredients to form about 24 meatballs, working carefully not to overmix. Overmixing yields tough, chewy and dense meatballs.
- Flash-freeze the meatballs if making ahead of time. 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, and freeze up to 1 month.
- Cook the meatballs. Working in batches (do not overcrowd the Dutch oven), cook the meatballs until cooked through and browned on all sides before setting aside.
- Boil the pasta. While the meatballs are cooking, cook the pasta until al dente, draining well. Use elbow macaroni, penne, rigatoni or ziti.
- Make the sauce. Melt the butter, add the flour (to help thicken the gravy), and stir in the beef stock until thickened, about 5 minutes or so.
- Return the meatballs. Add the cooked meatballs back to the sauce until heated through and evenly coated throughout.
- Add the pasta. Stir in the cooked pasta and sour cream (skip if freezing).
- Serve. Serve warm with all the crusty bread or garlic knots.
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. Similar to traditional breadcrumbs, Panko serves as a binder to hold the meatballs together, but its larger, flakier texture creates a crispier, crunchier, lighter crust on 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. Skip the sour cream and 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, adding in sour cream just before serving.
Swedish Meatball Pasta
Video
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
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.
Equipment
Notes
- 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.
- Store-bought meatballs also work in a pinch. Use your favorite store-bought frozen meatballs in a pinch, cooking to package instructions.
- 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!
Did you make this recipe?
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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.