Crave-Worthy Swedish Meatballs Recipe
This Swedish meatballs recipe makes juicy and flavorful meatballs with a creamy, rich, and crave-worthy sauce. If you prefer, you can serve the meatballs without the gravy. We love serving these with mashed potatoes (or mashed cauliflower), buttered noodles, and roasted vegetables are excellent options. We also highly recommend a spoonful of lingonberry jam. For the gravy, we add a few unconventional ingredients. Soy sauce seasons, mustard adds a little zing, and lemon zest brightens up the flavors of the dish.
This Swedish meatballs recipe makes juicy and flavorful meatballs with a creamy, rich, and crave-worthy sauce. If you prefer, you can serve the meatballs without the gravy. We love serving these with mashed potatoes (or mashed cauliflower), buttered noodles, and roasted vegetables are excellent options. We also highly recommend a spoonful of lingonberry jam. For the gravy, we add a few unconventional ingredients. Soy sauce seasons, mustard adds a little zing, and lemon zest brightens up the flavors of the dish.
- 1 large egg
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- butter as needed
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
- 1 poundâ (450 grams) ground beef
- 8 ounces (225 grams) ground pork
- 2 ounces (55 grams) fresh bread crusts removed (about two slices)
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) milk
- 2 tablespoons (30 grams) butter plus more as needed
- 1/2 cup (70 grams) finely chopped onion
- pinch fresh ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard or a pinch of dry mustard powder
- 3 tablespoons (24 grams) all-purpose flour
- 3 cups (710 ml) beef broth or use chicken broth
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard or a pinch of dry mustard powder
- handful fresh parsley chopped
- Carbohydrate 0.0671548364442405 g
- Cholesterol 7.05 mg
- Fat 0.16928151711091 g
- Fiber 0.0167088037199415 g
- Protein 0.227020476228772 g
- Saturated Fat 0.0525265196598011 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (11g)
- Sodium 45.970026422779 mg
- Sugar 0.050446032724299 g
- Trans Fat 0.028650608124608 g
- Calories 3 calories
Step-by-step
- In a small bowl, tear or chop the bread into small pieces then cover with the milk. Set aside.
- Melt one tablespoon of butter in a wide skillet. Add the onions and cook until soft, but not brown; 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the black pepper, allspice, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, and the mustard. Cook, stirring everything around the pan for 30 seconds. Transfer to a bowl to cool, and then wipe the skillet mostly clean with a paper towel so that it is ready for cooking the meatballs.
- Combine the beef, pork, bread and milk mixture, and the egg in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large food processor). When the onions are warm, not hot, add them to the bowl as well.
- Evenly sprinkle the salt over the top of the mixture then beat for about 30 seconds, scrape the sides of the bowl, then beat another 30 seconds to a minute until the mixture looks very well blended. (If you are using a food processor, you may need to stop the processor one more time to move the mixture around a bit.)
- Form the mixture into meatballs; we like using a medium cookie scoop that holds about 1 1/2 tablespoons — you should get around 30 meatballs. Move onto cooking or cover and refrigerate up to a day or freeze them (see notes section for our tips).
- Heat the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment. (It’s likely you will cook the meatballs in batches. A warm oven helps to keep cooked meatballs hot while you finish cooking all of the meatballs.)
- Melt half a tablespoon of butter in the pan used to cook the onions over medium-low heat. Add meatballs and cook, turning every few minutes, until brown on all sides and cooked through; 8 to 10 minutes. It’s unlikely all of the meatballs will fit so you will need to do this in batches (or use two pans). Add more butter to the pan as needed.
- Transfer cooked meatballs to the baking sheet and place into the warm oven.
- After cooking the meatballs, make the gravy in the same pan. Depending on how much fat is left in the pan after cooking the meatballs, you may need to remove some or add a little bit of butter. You will need about three tablespoons of fat in the pan.
- Decrease the heat to low then scatter the flour over the fat in the pan and whisk until medium blonde in color, about 2 minutes. While whisking, slowly add the broth. Continue to whisk until the gravy begins to thicken. Add the cream and continue to cook until the sauce thickens enough to coat the meatballs, another minute or so.
- Whisk in the soy sauce, mustard, and lemon zest. Taste then adjust with salt and pepper, as needed. Remove the meatballs from the oven and add to the gravy. Serve with parsley scattered on top.
Soaking bread in milk before mixing it into the meat creates the essential panade that prevents beef and pork proteins from tightening into tough little spheres during cooking. This moisture barrier traps juices inside each bite, transforming what could easily become dense, dry bullets into exceptionally tender morsels. When tearing those two slices of bread, ensure the pieces are small enough to dissolve entirely into the dairy rather than remaining as distinct chunks that disrupt the texture. That single step dictates whether the final texture succeeds or fails completely.
Managing the workflow requires absolute discipline, especially when handling thirty individual meatballs across multiple pan-searing batches. Keeping a 200 degrees Fahrenheit oven running with a foil-lined baking sheet waiting for the browned batches is not optional if you want everything hot at service time. Overcrowding the skillet drops the pan temperature drastically, steaming the meat instead of rendering fat and developing deep, savory crusts. Working methodically in two or three separate pans guarantees proper browning without scorching the butter.
Determining doneness without reaching for a digital thermometer relies on visual and tactile feedback gathered at the skillet. Watch for the exterior to turn evenly mahogany while the meat feels firm yet yields slightly to gentle pressure from metal tongs. Cutting open a single test piece reveals greyish-brown interiors without pink traces, signaling that the structural proteins have fully set. Mastering this visual cue keeps the moisture locked inside rather than bleeding out onto the cutting board.
Building the gravy immediately after searing exploits the browned fond left behind in the cast iron or stainless steel skillet. Whisking all-purpose flour directly into the remaining fat and cooking it for exactly two minutes eliminates any raw flour taste before the broth goes in. Introducing beef broth or chicken broth slowly while maintaining vigorous whisking prevents unsightly lumps from forming in the pan. Finish the sauce with heavy cream, soy sauce, mustard, and lemon zest to balance the rich pan drippings before returning the warm meatballs to the simmer.
