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The Best Swedish Meatballs are smothered in the most amazing rich and creamy gravy. The meatballs are packed with such delicious flavor. Savory, comforting and smothered with a sauce that melts in your mouth. You will quickly agree these are the BEST you have ever had!
Serve these scrumptious vittles over buttered noodles or rice with a Caesar Salad, Fruit Salad and Rolls for a dinner to satisfy!
The Best Swedish Meatballs
Swedish meatballs have always been super delectable, and Ikea has made them popular. With this recipe you can make them in the comfort of your own home without the making an adventure to the store. And I dare say they are even better! Super easy to make you’ll be surprised you haven’t made them sooner. So what are you waiting for?!
The secret to these heavenly swedish delights is the unique spices of allspice and nutmeg. And then in the sauce you add worcestershire sauce and dijon mustard for tantalizing flavor. The combination is irresistibly the best meatballs ever!
Swedish Meatball Ingredients
There’s a list of ingredients here, but don’t stress, it’s super simple and totally worth it.
- Ground Beef: Regular ground beef
- Bread Crumbs:Â I used Panko
- Parsley: Freshly chopped
- Allspice and Nutmeg: Trust me, these spices are what make it uniquely delicious.
- Onion: Finely chopped
- Garlic Powder: Gives flavor without the bulk.
- Salt and Pepper To taste.
- Egg: The binder for the meatballs
- Olive Oil: To brown the meatballs in.
- Butter: Creates the perfect flavor while helping the beef brown, you’ll add more for the sauce.
- Flour: The thickener.
- Beef Broth: Creates the base for the sauce
- Heavy Cream: This creates the creamy velvety sauce.
- Worcestershire Sauce: Secret ingredient that creates a rich flavor.
- Dijon Mustard: Spice
Constructing these Swedish Vittles
These will come together quick and cook in about 30 min total, so dinner is quick.
- Mix: In medium sized bowl combine ground beef, panko, parsley, all spicee, nutmeg, onion, garlic powder, salt and pepper and egg. Mix till combined.
- Roll: Roll into 12 large meatballs or 20 small meatballs. In a large skillet heat olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter.
- Brown: Add the meatballs and cook turning continuously until brown on each side and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil.
- Sauce: In the same skillet add 4 Tablespoons butter and flour and whisk till it turns brown. Slowly stir in beef broth and heavy cream. Add the worcestershire sauce and mustard and bring to a simmer till it starts to thicken.
- Simmer: Add the meatballs back to the skillet and simmer for another 1-2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Tips and Variations
A few ideas to keep in mind for a dinner that’ll tickle the taste buds.
- Meat: You can use a combination of beef and pork for this recipe. Using pork add extra fat which will give a moist tender meatball. You can also use ground turkey, chicken or combination of meats.
- Spices:Â The nutmeg and allspice are unique to this swedish dish. Don’t leave them out if you want truly divine fare.
- Overmixing:Â Be Careful to not overmix the meat mixture or it can become tough.
- No Bread crumbs:Â You can get the same result by making a panade (bread and milk mixture) Use two pieces of bread and process till crumbs, add in 1/4 cup milk to create a paste. Add the egg and mix. Add to your meat mixture.
- Saute:Â For softer sweeter flavor to your onions saute them first.
- Bake:Â Brown the meatballs in the skillet in oil and butter. Then remove to a baking tray and finish cooking in the oven at 350 degrees F. till done. There shouldn’t be any pink.
- Cream:Â Do not substitute out the heavy cream for half and half, it could separate. You can also cut some of the cream for sour cream for a nice tang to the sauce.
Freezing and Storing
One of the best things about this recipe is I can double it and freeze some for another meal.
- Freeze:Â After cooking the meatballs transfer to a cookie sheet. Make sure they are not touching or they will freeze together. Freeze for 2-4 hours on the cookie sheet, then transfer to an airtight container or freezer bag. These will keep for up to 3 months. To thaw you can cook in the microwave,or oven. I like to partially cook them in the microwave and then finish heating them in the sauce.
- Don’t freeze the Sauce:Â Dairy, especially a sauce with heavy cream can sometimes separate when thawing and turn grainy. I don’t recommend it. Make the rich gravy fresh when ready to serve.
- Freezer to Pan: As long as you cook them through you can also freeze these raw and cook them in the pan the same way. They will take longer to cook through however. This is a great way for your meatballs to keep their shape. Frozen will hold up better than fresh. Just be sure to cook till no longer pink.
More Meatball Loving Recipes
Meatballs are just fun to eat and the flavors in these recipes are spot on!
- Saucy Asian Meatballs
- Easy, Delicious Porcupine Meatballs
- Chipotle Honey Meatballs
- Creamy Cajun Chicken Meatballs
- Slow Cooker Cranberry Balsamic Meatballs
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The Best Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon parsley chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ cup onion finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- â…› teaspoon Pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 5 tbsp. butter
- 3 tbsp. flour
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl combine ground beef, panko, parsley, allspice, nutmeg, onion, garlic powder, pepper, salt and egg. Mix until combined.
- Roll into 12 large meatballs or 20 small meatballs. In a large skillet heat olive oil and 1 Tablespoon butter. Add the meatballs and cook turning continuously until brown on each side and cooked throughout. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil.
- Add 4 Tablespoons butter and flour to skillet and whisk until it turns brown. Slowly stir in beef broth and heavy cream. Add worchestershire sauce and dijon mustard and bring to a simmer until sauce starts to thicken. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the meatballs back to the skillet and simmer for another 1-2 minutes. Serve over egg noodles or rice.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Very good. Hard to feed a freshman athlete. He actually loved it. Will make it again. Thanks for the recipe, I’ll look for more recipes from you.
Great recipe. My Swedish in-laws approved!
This was so so good! My boyfriend is a picky eater and he said this was one of his new favorites. I didn’t have nutmeg on hand so I left that out, but it still turned out super yummy! I browned the meat balls on the skillet first and finished them in the oven. Served it with home made mashed potatoes which I totally recommended! Can’t wait to cook this again.
This is one of my favorites!!! I also added sautéed mushrooms. Very easy to make
I cook from the internet constantly and have never left a review. This was absolutely FANTASTIC. 10/10. Alyssa, you’re a beast.
I just made this again tonight. This time I used dried onions(too lazy to cut up some fresh ones) I added a bit of milk and set the mixture in the fridge for 4 hours to let the flavors come together(have not done this in the past). The meatballs turn out great! When I do this recipe I do a double batch of the gravy(we all like a lot of gravy and the original way was not enough for us). I just double everything for the gravy. I did use a 4 to 4 ratio of flour to butter. I love making this dish. It’s easy and delicious.
This was excellent. Very easy to make and can’t wait for leftovers! Thanks for the recipe, I will have to check out more.
I have made this recipe several times now and my family loves it! I mix 1lb pork with 1lb hamburger and also double the spices for the meatballs. I follow the recipe exactly for the gravy and it is enough even though I have double the meatballs. In Sweden they serve this dinner with lingonberry sauce so as a substitute I used St. Dalfour Wild Blueberry Deluxe Spread and it was so delicious! After frying the meatballs I followed the suggestion of baking them as well and they turned out so flavourful! This recipe is very easy to make and I highly recommend it!
This will be for my family Christmas dinner and they look wonderful! If I double the recipe using 1 lb. of beef and 1 lb. of pork, should I also double the allspice and nutmeg? Some recipes I have looked at do increase from 1/4 to 1/2 tsp with this quantity of meat and some do not. I don’t want them to be too spicy. Thank you!
Yes, I would. The more flavor is best!
I made this for our Christmas dinner 2019. Our family loved this recipe! I also had a recipe from my mother-in-law who got it from her Aunt that came over from Norway & I enjoy Alyssa’s recipe much more. The gravy is so good! This is our new Christmas dinner tradition. Thank you Alyssa!
Very good…my grandson made them. Recipe was easy to follow, and they turned out great!
These were awesome! I only had ground beef, so I wanted a recipe just using that. Glad I found this one! My darling hubs is raving about this recipe and just finished his second serving. Thanks for posting, I now have you on my favorites.
I made this tonight for my family and we all loved it. The only thing I did different was to use 1/2 beef and 1/2 pork. Thanks for the recipe.
I would like to share what I add to the Swedish meatball recipe..it came from my friends grandmother from Sweden…add a small peeled cored apple, small peeled cooked potato and small to medium onion all chopped up tiny to the hamb/sausage mixture recipe of your choice. It’s a wonderful flavor..nothing like the typical meatball…..ummmm : )
Can you bake the meatballs instead of frying?
Yes, place in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until cooked through.
About how long does it take for the meatballs to cook?
It depends on the size of the meatball but on average about 8 to 10 minutes.