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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.
We are following a low carb diet, so I adjusted this recipe by adding a ¼ cup almond flour to the meat and a tsp of Konjac powder in place of the flour in the sauce. It came out perfect! I browned the meatballs first, and finished them off in the oven at 350 for 20 mins. I also added mushrooms to the sauce, because we’re not eating rice, noodles or potatoes right now.
Thanks for the tip about the almond flour. I am eating low-carb as well, so I will use psyllium husk to thicken the sauce and serve this with riced or mashed cauliflower for myself, and noodles for my family.
Looks good….So far so good….But….DAMN!!!!! I Could have used 2 lbs. Of GR.beef (or at least another 1/2 lb.)there’s SOOO much sauce!!… Just waiting for Hubster to try it…..Still waiting….”Holy…OMG!!” HE said…So… It’s GREAT!!! THANKS ?
Outstanding recipe ?? but I made too much can I freeze it ??
This recipe is a keeper! So delicious. My occasionally picky 6-year old son even loved it. I will make it a routine option for sure!
What’s with everyone getting all huffy about these being called Swedish meatballs? The recipe DOES include nutmeg and allspice, which seem to be the necessary spices most people are so concerned about. The whole point of sharing recipes is that we’re actually providing something new or a little different. Otherwise we would all just be making the exact same dish over and over. I doubt that Swedish people are so boring that they never want to add anything new to their recipes.
Does think make enough sauce for a package of egg noodles or should I double the sauce?
Now this stuff is g o o d!
Definitely a keeper recipe for us.
Food.com has an Ikea recipe which includes 2 Yukon riced potatoes. Definitely allspice and no garlic or Worchestershire. My Scandinavian cookbook includes 1/4 tsp nutmeg.
I haven’t made this yet, but they do look tasty. Pinned to my meatball board. People need to learn how to read a recipe[and read it at least twice] before commenting or cooking it and realize that there is more than one way to make an ethnic dish which totally depends upon where your family lives. I normally bake my meatballs, but for this dish they need to be pan fried so there are nice crispy flavorful bits for the gravy. Thanks for all you do to share wonderful FREE recipes with us.
These were great! I don’t care what you call them, but if someone is offended by using the “swedish” you can call them the melting pot meatballs or the mixing pot meatballs! If the gravy was too thin, you could thicken it, if it was too thin, possibly add more beef broth…. Just saying, how about using a little common sense and not blaming the recipe for your inept at cooking.
Amazing sauce/gravy! I made everything as listed, with the exception of leaving out the allspice since I didn’t have any, and baking the meatballs instead of sautéing in a skillet to reduce calories. The meatballs had a lot of great flavor and were moist, and the sauce flavor was so yummy and rich, and had a very pretty velvety texture. Saving this page, and can’t wait to make it again! Thank you for sharing your recipe. 🙂
We use ground wild game meat & these turn out fabulous! Thank you!
One more observation. Obviously the ingredients have been altered due to the overwhelming response from readers who suggest that allspice is the commonly used ingredient in Swedish Meatballs and not oregano. I’ve had this recipe imported into Pepperplate for awhile now, and it says oregano. There’s no allspice or nutmeg the way it is written now. I just wanted to help solve the confusion for those wondering why people are seeing the recipe differently. I think those who are seeing/using oregano did it prior to when the recipe was updated. 🙂
Can I make this in the crockpot after I make the meatballs?
Made these and they were the best meatballs ever. I used just half of the cream and the sauce turned out good and rich. Spices were perfect! Thanks Alyssa
Wondering if anyone has made these ahead and frozen them. Trying to simplify the Christmas Eve Banquet by cooking ahead. Thought about maybe leaving out the cream, making the sauce extra thick and then adding in the cream after all is thawed? Looks yummy!
These look so yummy. I want to make for my party this weekend and in would like to make the meatballs ahead of time but do the sauce the day of and then keep warm in crock pot will that work?
I at going to use a mix of ground chuck & pork would I use 1/2 lb of each or more beef than pork. I also want to double my recipe to, so I will double sauce also.