So you're probably asking yourself - who is Omi and are her Swedish Meatballs as good as Ikea's? Let me tell you...
Well, Omi is my mom's mom!! She's responsible for MANY of our favorite recipes here on WGC and in my cookbooks and YES THESE SWEDISH MEATBALLS ARE ABSOLUTELY as good as Ikea's, if not better! Thank you very much and apologies for yelling! They just bring back mega memories of childhood and I'm very excited!
You know those fried potatoes in book 3 - those are hers!! And that green bean salad in book 2 - Omi gets full credit!! Her recipes are packed with flavor but simple and not complicated! The woman had 3 kids to feed back when they were all living at home, she needed max flavor without crazy long prep times. So today, you're getting her version of Swedish Meatballs!
Anya (my sister) and I used to BEG her to make these every time she would come visit or we'd go visit her! They are hands down one of my top 10 favorite recipes from childhood and you guys will be obsessed.
Most Swedish Meatballs are a combo of ground beef and ground pork. I know that many of you don't eat pork or just never have it on hand, so you'll notice the recipe below only calls for ground beef. But if you're into the pork, DO IT! Just do a 50/50 split of ground beef to ground pork and you'll get even more flavor!
And the creamy gravy sauce - omg. It's so simple and perfect. Starts with a little roux and gets finished with some heavy cream (whole fat milk would work too) and beef broth. It's creamy and delicious and PERFECT for dunking the meatballs in to make them extra flavorful. Swedish Meatballs coming in hot!! Enjoy!
Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 1 ½ lbs ground beef (alternatively you can use ¾ lb ground beef and ¾ lb ground pork if you want to use pork)
- ¾ cup bread crumbs (I prefer panko)
- ½ cup chopped yellow onion
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 beef boullion cube
- ½ cup hot water
For the Gravy
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 cup heavy cream (or full fat milk)
- 1 cup beef stock or broth
- parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Combine the ground beef, bread crumbs, onion, milk, egg, worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and let sit for 15 minutes. Then shape into balls - a little smaller than a golf ball.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and brown the meatballs on all sides until golden.
- Dissolve the bouillon cube in the hot water and pour over the meat and continue to cook until meatballs are browned. Remove the meatballs from the pan to a clean plate and set aside. The liquid will be mostly evaporated at this point any remnants, don't worry about.
- Melt the butter in the same skillet and add the flour and stir to combine. Cook until the flour is evenly combined and golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and stir in heavy cream and beef broth and cook until mixture thickens, about 3-4 minutes. Nestle back in the meatballs and simmer together for a few minutes before serving. Garnish with parsley and serve solo or alongside any sort of egg noodle or rice.
Can I make this ahead of time and reheat in crockpot? Making for 12.
Ya that should totally work!
Looks yummy! Would this work with ground chicken or turkey as my husband doesn’t eat beef or pork. Thanks and happy holidays everyone.
Haven't tested it with chicken but if you do - do ground dark meat so it's not too lean
Happy Holidays Gaby! I'm planning to prepare this for a group of 20 ppl on NYE at a different house. Since I want to do a bit of prep prior with the amount of cooking that will be happening there, I'm planning to bake the meatballs (instead of pan fry them). If I do that, is there still a way to incorporate the beef boullion? Certainly don't want to miss out on that punch of flavor. Thanks in advance!
ACK! Just seeing this - hopefully not too late! you could still dissolve it in water and then remove the meatballs halfway thru baking, put them in a pan with the liquid and then continue to cook!
Love these Swedish meatballs. I make them again and again but I use 1% milk and they are still amazin!
A new family favorite!
I made these meatballs for the first time tonight and they turned out absolutely delicious! Very easy recipe to follow and my whole family loved them. We served over egg noodles with a side of broccoli and homemade applesauce!
Great dinner! Needed another ground beef dinner in rotation. Simple, easy recipe to follow that uses almost everything we already have in the kitchen
Awesome recipe! If I want to use ready made meatballs for an easy crockpot recipe, what would you recommend? Perhaps add Worcestershire to the sauce and add the cream before serving?
Best gluten free substitute for flour in gravy sauce?
I like the Cup4Cup or Bobs Red Mill GF flours