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.
Love these! We double the sauce and sometimes add a little chopped dill before serving, but really enjoy them as is too! It’s a Gaby favorite in our house!
These are the best Swedish meatballs ever!! So delicious! My daughter made these last night and we devoured them. She followed the directions exactly (with all beef) and they turned out perfectly. She made pasta and served them over noodles. Thank you for sharing such an amazing recipe! Can’t wait for her to make them again.
Such an easy, awesome recipe. A huge hit with the entire family. Such a comfort food from childhood but leveled up in deliciousness!
If I wanted to freeze these, would I freeze them cooked or before they are cooked?
I would freeze after cooking
Really yummy and super easy!
What size are the meatballs?
about 1 inch!
These were delicious! I served over buttered egg noodles and hubs and our 1 year old gobbled them up. Thanks for sharing!
My family LOVED these! They were so easy to make and we'll have them again and again. I was very bad and added a 1/4 cup of sour cream to my gravy.
Entire family adored this recipe. I did all beef.
So amazingly delicious!!! I would love to make them as a yummy app for the holidays...friends can pick them up with a toothpick! Could these be made ahead of time?
sure can!
Do you have a good suggestion for the beef bouillon? A few stores around me are out of stock 🙁
Made these last night and they were delish! I used 50/50 pork/beef.
When serving, I highly recommend a dollop of jam to dip the meatballs in. Lingonberry would be the best, but I only had had raspberry and it still tasted great.
These meatballs are so good! We made this over rice and substituted soy for Worcestershire sauce. Still so delicious and great the next day!
This was the Election Day pick me up I needed! These are so delicious, absolutely better than IKEA 🙂 Definitely use the ground pork, it really adds a depth of flavor. I made it with egg noodles and the acts as a perfect sauce for those too. This recipe is pretty rich so I consider it more of a treat meal. Thanks Gaby and Omi!
So so good! We made this last week and loved it! Served over egg noodles and heated well as leftovers. I highly recommend this. Such an easy recipe. Will absolutely be apart of our regular rotation!
Our grocery store was out of ground pork, so we did all ground beef. Can’t wait to try it next time with the beef and pork.