Easy Swedish Meatballs and Sauce
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These Easy Swedish Meatballs are a real family favorite, served in a rich, slightly creamy sauce. They freeze really well so they are perfect for batch-cooking, and taste just as good as (but I think better than!) the ones at IKEA!
If you’re looking for some more simple meatball recipes, try my Easy Baked Meatballs, Baked Chicken Meatballs, Slow Cooker Party Meatballs, Slow Cooker Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs, and my Greek Beef Meatballs.
Why I Love This Recipe
They taste just like the ones from IKEA – but because you’ve made them yourself you can be sure they’re suitable for you and your family diet, and once you’ve mastered them you won’t need to go on a shopping trip for your Swedish meatball fix!
This easy Swedish Meatballs recipe is made with both beef and pork – Using a mixture of ground beef and ground pork makes sure you have rich, juicy, tender meatballs with that authentic flavor!
Ingredients
- Panko breadcrumbs: you can use fresh breadcrumbs instead if you have some on hand.
- Ground nutmeg: or freshly grated.
- Low sodium chicken broth: homemade will work even better than store-bought in the sauce if you have it to hand!
- Heavy Cream: I love the extra creaminess it adds!
How To Make It
- Cook the onion: Heat the 1/2 tbsp of oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Cook the onion until soft and slightly golden, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cook for a further minute, and remove from the heat.
- Shape the meatballs: In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, ground beef, panko breadcrumbs, milk, egg, salt, nutmeg, cooked onions and a generous amount of pepper until uniform. Shape into balls slightly smaller than a regular meatball. You’ll get approx. 44 meatballs.
- Brown the meatballs: In a large skillet or frying pan over a medium-high heat heat enough oil to just cover the bottom. Once it is shimmering, working in batches, cook the meatballs until golden, and just cooked through. Set the cooked meatballs aside on a plate lined with kitchen paper.
- Make the sauce: To make the sauce, in another large skillet or a shallow casserole over a medium heat melt the butter and whisk in the flour.
- Add the meatballs: Cook for 3-4 minutes, whisking almost constantly then, still whisking, gradually pour in the chicken broth to make a smooth, thin sauce. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, and add the meatballs. Simmer for 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
- Add the cream: Season to taste with salt if needed, and stir in the heavy cream if needed.
Expert Tips and Tricks
- Serve with mashed potatoes, peas and lingonberry jam. If you can’t find lingonberry jam, jarred cranberry sauce makes a good substitute.
- Don’t skip the milk in the meatballs. I know it may sound a bit strange, but adding milk to the meatball mixture helps keep them juicy and makes the meat more tender. The mix will feel very wet when you first add it, but don’t worry, it will all come together!
FAQs
You technically could, but you’ll get dry meatballs. Frying them as they are smaller than regular meatballs is how you keep them nice and juicy inside.
These meatballs, cooked but not added to the sauce freeze really well for later. Simply thaw them, make the sauce, and add them to heat through. Add more water to the sauce if it reduces too much while they’re getting piping hot!
More Dinner Recipes You May Enjoy
- Roasted Pork and Apples – a one pan dinner the whole family can enjoy!
- Mango Chicken Curry – a vibrant and creamy one pan dish.
- Easy Cheesy Tater Tot Casserole – always a crowd pleaser!
- Oven Braised Beef Short Ribs – melt off the bone tender!
- Simple Oven Baked Mexican Chicken and Rice Casserole – an all in one dinner the kids are sure to love.
Did you make this recipe? FANTASTIC. Please rate the recipe below and be sure to tag me on social when you share a photo on social – I love seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Easy Swedish Meatballs with Sauce
Ingredients
For the Swedish Meatballs
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 brown onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 lb ground pork
- ½ lb ground beef
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 egg
- ½ tablespoons salt
- ¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg
- cracked black pepper, to taste
For the Sauce
- 4 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp flour
- 2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1-2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp heavy cream, optional
- salt, to taste
- cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Heat the 1/2 tbsp of oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Cook the onion until soft and slightly golden, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cook for a further minute, and remove from the heat.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, ground beef, panko breadcrumbs, milk, egg, salt, nutmeg, cooked onions and a generous amount of pepper until uniform. Shape into balls slightly smaller than a regular meatball. You’ll get approx. 44 meatballs.
- In a large skillet or frying pan over a medium-high heat heat enough oil to just cover the bottom. Once it is shimmering, working in batches, cook the meatballs until golden, and just cooked through. Set the cooked meatballs aside on a plate lined with kitchen paper.
- To make the sauce, in another large skillet or a shallow casserole over a medium heat melt the butter and whisk in the flour.
- Cook for 3-4 minutes, whisking almost constantly then, still whisking, gradually pour in the chicken broth to make a smooth, thin sauce. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, and add the meatballs. Simmer for 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
- Season to taste with salt if needed, and stir in the heavy cream if needed.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The picture shows very little sauce, should it be doubled?
The recipe phot show very little sauce? Should it be doubled?
I don’t think it’s necessary but it’s up to you on how much sauce you want. You can watch the video attached to this post for a visual to see how much sauce is actually makes.
We really loved this recipe. The sauce was great! I thought the meatballs got alittle overdone at the high temp. Next time I will cook half as long and let them finish cooking in the sauce. Also, I added about 1/4 cup sour cream to the sauce just before serving and it was a good finishing touch. Thank you for this recipe!
Thanks for your input, Katie! I bet the addition of sour cream was delicious- nice idea!
The only place onion is listed is in the meatballs… but In the sauce DIRECTIONS if says To cook the onion in butter. Help!
Nevermind- it just updated for me!
Can I use reduced fat milk?
Sure- just remember that the more fatty the milk, the more creamy it will turn out!
This looks so good! Will make this tomorrow. Just so you know, in the INSTRUCTIONS for the pasta and sauce it says to brown the onion and then the garlic but there are no onion in the ingredients.
Thank you for pointing out that typo! It is fixed now.