Swedish Meatballs Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is Swedish meatball sauce made of? ›

The sauce for Swedish Meatballs is a creamy gravy that is made with butter, beef broth/stock, thickened with flour and made creamy with cream. But the most important flavour for the a really good creamy gravy is the pan drippings after searing the meatballs.

Italian Meatballs vs Swedish Meatballs: Swedish Meatballs are typically smaller in size than Italian meatballs and they are usually made with a 50-50 ratio of ground pork and ground beef.

It's All About the Sauce

Flavored with nutmeg and cardamom, these little beef-and-pork meatballs are best served with a Swedish meatball sauce—a rich roux-based and beef stock gravy, spiked with sour cream and a little lingonberry jelly.

Iconic Swedish cream sauce: Melt 40g of butter in a pan. Whisk in 40g of plain flour and stir for 2 mins. Add 300ml of bouillon (or consommé) and continue to stir. Add 150ml double cream, 2 tsp of soy sauce and 1 tsp of (Dijon) mustard.

The Seasoning

While both varieties include ingredients such as grated onion and panade (milk-soaked bread) or bread crumbs, plus the usual salt and pepper, Swedish meatballs traditionally use spices like allspice, nutmeg, white pepper, and sometimes ground ginger as flavoring.

Norwegian recipes are made with all beef, while some Swedish recipes also use pork. Norwegian meatballs tend to be larger and flatter than their Swedish cousins.

Traditional Swedish way: Do not make the cream sauce at all. Serve meatballs over plain or stewed macaroni, plain or mashed potatoes, and lingenberry jam (optional)

Add a lightly beaten egg, but not too much. Egg acts as a binder for the ingredients, but you only need a small amount. One small egg will do for one pound of minced meat. Alternatively, if you're following an egg-free diet, you could soak fresh bread in milk, squeezing out any excess milk, to use as a binder.

LONDON — The furniture giant Ikea joined a growing list of brands that have been touched by Europe's food scandal on Monday and withdrew its signature Swedish meatballs from its markets and cafeterias across most of Europe after one batch was found to contain traces of horse meat.

What ethnicity is Swedish meatballs? ›

Swedish meatballs, the signature national dish, are really Turkish. The country's national Twitter account made the announcement in a tweet this week. “Swedish meatballs are actually based on a recipe King Charles XII brought home from Turkey in the early 18th century,” the tweet said.

Like many other things in business, selling inexpensive meatballs is a strategy for the company to turn more profit. To sell their products, they need to get people in the door. To do that, they entice people with cheap meatballs.

The traditional way to serve Swedish meatballs (köttbullar) is with lingonberry jam and a creamy gravy. The lingonberry jam provides a sweet and tart contrast to the savory meatballs, while the gravy adds richness and moisture.

It's said that IKEA's founder, Ingvar Kamprad, believed no one should shop on an empty stomach, and thus began serving affordable plates of Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, and lingonberry jam (among other cafe dishes) to customers in the 1960s.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Pinch off about 1 1/2 tablespoon meat mixture per meatball; form into balls. Place meatballs into the skillet and cook, turning often, until browned, about 5 minutes. Insides of meatballs will still be pink.

Meatballs are not a sauce, they are balls of meat. A sauce has to be runny, or at least flowing. Done correctly, a bolognese sauce isn't particularly meaty. The meat is meant to be finely ground and incorporated into a standard spaghetti sauce, and the meat so fine it should stick onto the pasta in little specks.

The Danish meatball is a little rugged in texture and can be served in multiple ways – with a lightly spiced curry sauce, for example, or a rich gravy. A Swedish meatball, in comparison to the crispy, pan-fried Danish version, is often a little smaller, with a very smooth, even texture and a rounder shape.

Meatballs in marinara is a magnificent Italian dish that is simply irresistible! To create the most delicious Italian meatballs, this recipe uses a combination of ground beef and Italian sausage, mixed with bread crumbs, buttermilk, cheese, onion, garlic, and a copious amount of Italian seasoning.