Swedish Meatball 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.

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.

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.

Czech authorities alerted the discount furniture maker that they had found horsemeat in a sample of meatballs, and Ikea subsequently pulled the product from stores in 14 countries.

Rich with both pork and beef, and seasoned generously with parsley, allspice, nutmeg, grated onion, salt, pepper, and garlic, Swedish meatballs get half of their goodness from the creamy, peppery gravy that they're simmered in, and our Swedish meatball sauce is totally irresistible.

Eggs: Eggs help bind the meatballs together so they don't fall apart. They also help keep the meatballs soft and tender. Bread crumbs: Bread crumbs are almost always used in meatball recipes because they absorb the fat and, along with the eggs, serve as a binder.

While Beef Stroganoff is a creamy dish perfect for those who love rich, mushroom-based sauces, Swedish Meatballs come with a spiced, hearty flavor complemented by sweet lingonberries and creamy gravy.

How to Thicken Swedish Meatball Sauce. The all-purpose flour in this recipe should do the trick to thicken your Swedish meatball sauce to the right consistency. But if it doesn't, you can add a cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 2 tablespoons of water) to thicken it up.

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)

What are IKEA Swedish meatballs made of? ›

Swedish meatballs

The cream sauce for these lightly spiced meatballs makes them especially delicious with silky-textured Pinot Noir (like those from Burgundy or Oregon). If you prefer white wine, a lightly oaked Chardonnay or a richer-style Austrian Riesling is a great choice.

Spaghetti is typically served as a primo, and meatballs (or polpette) are served as the next course (secondo), on their own or with crusty bread, potatoes or other vegetables. My most memorable polpette experience in Italy was at a small place called Poplette & Co in Turin.

There may be no other furniture store as associated with its distinct concessions than IKEA. Some even flock to the store moreso for their iconic Swedish meatballs than they do for the actual furniture.

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.

Form the meat mix into 2 inch diameter meatballs, rolling them lightly between your palms to form them, then place them about an inch apart on the cookie sheets. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the outside of each ball is a nice light brown, but the center is still a rosy 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.