My Swedish meatball recipe is simple to whip up and tastes delicious! There’s lots of gravy to be mopped up with mashed potatoes, noodles… Or a spoon!
I have to make a confession: It’s been a long time since I ate meatballs at IKEA. Unpopular opinion, but I’m not their biggest fan.
Juicy homemade meatballs in a delicious brown gravy, though? These happen all the time around here, and I could eat the whole pan by myself if it wasn’t for my kids and husband, ha!
📹 Recipe video
🥣 Step by Step
1 Make the meatball mixture, then shape into meatballs.
2 Brown the meatballs well on all sides – make sure to let them get really browned before flipping them, or they could fall apart. Remove from the pan and set aside.
3 Melt the butter, then whisk in the flour. Do this over moderate heat, or your gravy will fail. Whisk constantly as you pour in the broth, then simmer until thickened. Whisk in the milk, mustard and jelly and season to taste. Then, very gently add the cooked meatballs and heat through. Ready to be served!
💡 Tips
- if you’re in a hurry: use regular store-bought meatballs – you’ll need about 1.5 pounds
- if you don’t knead/shape the meatball mix well, the meatballs will fall apart as you’re cooking them in the pan. if you’re unsure, bake the meatballs instead of pan-frying them to help them retain some shape (they could still fall apart in the sauce, so please do really make sure to roll them into firm balls).
- likewise, brown the meatballs very well, until browned and crisp, or they’ll fall apart as you’re turning them.
- if the jelly and mustard in the sauce sound weird to you (apparently those kind of people exist 😉), feel free to leave them out – but you’ll lack some of that beloved IKEA flavor
- to keep the meatballs round during cooking: freeze them for 5-10 minutes on a baking sheet after shaping them. sounds weird, but it helps them retain their shape!
For lump free gravy:
Swedish meatball sauce starts with a roux. That’s just the fancy French word for gently heating some butter and flour before adding the liquids.
The first step to perfect gravy is to make sure you don’t burn the flour and butter for the sauce! It should turn a medium brown, but no more. (I’ve had to re-start the sauce before because I burnt the flour, it can’t be saved.)
For lump-free gravy, you’ll need to whisk very well and fast once you start adding the liquids. As soon as you start pouring the beef broth into the cooked flour and butter mix, it will begin to seize up and thicken. Do not be alarmed by this, it’s important that you keep going and add all the liquid while whisking! Whisk all the while you’re pouring the liquid into the pan, and then keep whisking until it’s smooth.
🥗 Side dishes
We love eating these either with the best mashed potatoes in the world (really, so easy and so good!) or with simple egg noodles. PS If you have an Instant Pot? Make Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes!
As a veggie side, we often enjoy my easy sautéed green beans or roasted asparagus. Or frozen peas, if I’m in a hurry. A Creamy Cucumber Salad is another favorite, especially when it gets warmer outside!
No matter how you serve them (oh hey, I just wrote a post on all the possible side dishes for any kind of meatballs!), I can guarantee you one thing: They definitely taste better than IKEA’s – well, at least in my opinion they do.
📖 Recipe
Easy Swedish Meatballs
made it? tap the stars to add your rating!Recommended Equipment:
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 small onion (very finely chopped)
- 1 clove garlic (finely minced)
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- black pepper (to taste)
- 1 large egg
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon oil
For the gravy:
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour (use 2 tablespoons if you prefer a thinner gravy)
- 1 1/2 cups beef broth
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon smooth Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon grape jelly (OR lingonberry jam; or less, to taste)
- salt and black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Make the meatballs: Add all ingredients for the meatballs EXCEPT for the oil to a large bowl. Knead very well. I like doing this with a handheld mixer with the hook attachment – it's so much faster! Using about 2 teaspoons of meat mixture, roll into firm balls. (Freezing the meatballs for 5-10 minutes at this point helps them to keep their shape.)
- Cook the meatballs: Heat the oil in a wide, deep skillet. Brown the meatballs on all sides, until well browned on all sides. This will take between 6-8 minutes. Remove the meatballs from the pan and set aside. If you prefer baking the meatballs, place them on a lined baking sheet and bake them at 425°F for 10-12 minutes or until browned and no longer pink in the middle.
- Make the gravy: Bring the skillet back to medium heat. Melt the butter, then stir in the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until medium brown. Quickly pour in the beef broth while whisking constantly. Simmer until thickened, then whisk in the milk, mustard and jelly. Simmer gently over medium-low heat until creamy, about 1 minute. Season to taste.
- Finish the dish: Place the meatballs back in the gravy and warm very gently until heated through. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
P.S: Check out our collection of easy dinner recipes with ground beef for more ideas!
Enjoy!
Savoulla
Hi there. Your recipe sounds so yummy. I’m so going to make it for my kids. The only problem is that I live in Cyprus and Iv never seen grape jelly/jam. Would it be OK to use any other type of jelly/jam?
Nora Rusev
Hi Savoulla, yes absolutely. Any berry jelly/jam would be OK (redcurrant, blackberry, raspberry would probably work best), or you can just skip it.
Canda
I made this for tonight. The meatballs were absolutely heaven, even my dog Riley loved them. Had a little trouble with the gravy, but I fixed the problem by using some more flour. I can’t wait to make these again. Just have to find some hamburger. My freezer is empty and can’t find delivery, they are totally filled up.
Nora Rusev
Haha, I’m so glad to hear Riley liked the meatballs ☺️ thanks for sharing your nice comment, Canda. I appreciate your time!
Pam
By far, the best Swedish Meatball recipe I have had. Even better than my Swedish grandmother’s recipe. I plan to make this recipe often and enjoy every bite! Thank you!!
Nora Rusev
I’m so glad to hear this, Pam! Thank you for your lovely review, I appreciate it.
adam
Pretty good meal. I prepared egg noodles as a side, and both my parents were happy. The sauce took a while to thicken so i cheated and added a tablespoon of cornstarch and added an extra tablespoon of cranberry jam as well. Awesome gravy. All spice and nutmeg are great in the meatballs, if i had any pork i definitely would have done half beef half pork and i think that would have really kicked this recipe up. thanks!
Lucy Lee
I’ve made this recipe several times. I used beef consume tonight. It had a richer flavor and coated my noodles better.
Nora Rusev
That sounds so good, Lucy!
Monica
Nora,
Just tried this recipe for the first time, and happy with result. Made exactly to your recipe (except for note below) and they came out pretty good. Would definitely recommend to a friend looking for a quick easy to make meatballs with things you most likely already have on hand. I had no issues with mine falling apart (but only used 80% ground beef). We’re in the middle of the panic and I was lucky to find ANY beef at the store. First two trips to local market had NO MEAT, 3rd try they only had 6 lb pkgs left. So I took one, and after making tacos & 14 burgers for the freezer decided to try something different with the balance of beef. Came across your recipe and it was in instant winner!
Now for my little addition, I needed to grind my allspice and the grinder still had some residual coffee grinds from this morning in it. I was a little lazy and used a paper towel for the bulk – but there were definitely some left when I added the allspice to grind. This gave me a little chuckle when I saw Debbies comment about Christmas gravy… I just added mine to the meatball instead of the gravy. Delicious!
Heather
Woops, I meant to say— is it possible to freeze the sauce? Anything wrong with doing that? I need to make freezer meals, and this was sooo delicious fresh! Obsessed with this recipe!
Nora Rusev
Heather, I’m so glad you like this recipe! It’s one of my favorites. Re: freezing the sauce, because of the dairy there is some concern about the sauce splitting after freezing, but it’s not impossible. Definitely freeze the meatballs and the gravy in separate containers, and let at least the gravy thaw in the fridge overnight before reheating. Only reheat the sauce very gently until piping hot, thinning with a little beef broth if needed. Hope that helps!
Kim Demmon
Making your meatballs tonight and can’t wait to taste them!
Pmm
The fat content of the meat can be a big factor. The leaner the meat the more likely it will crumble.
Nora Rusev
Yes, absolutely! Thank you for mentioning. We buy ground beef from a local farm (they only have one fat content and it’s definitely not low) and it never even occurred to me to take note of this. When I make meatballs with ground turkey, I usually either add another egg plus more breadcrumbs to make them hold their shape, or 1/2 cup of shredded and squeezed zucchini.
Jamie
I feel like baking the meat balls would be better. I followed instructions and mine all fell apart while frying
Nora Rusev
Jamie, I added instructions about baking, and another note to please shape the meat mix into very firm balls. If the meatball mix isn’t combined enough and the meatballs are too loosely shaped, they will always fall apart, no matter how they are cooked. I recently made crockpot meatballs and totally rushed it, and ended up with ground beef in BBQ sauce (I baked the meatballs!). It happens to me, too, so it’s really important to shape the meatballs properly.
Liz
Made this for my brothers birthday because he loves swedish meatballs. there were no leftovers but he said more sauce next time please , lol.
Jen
I made these for a party – big hit. I changed the recipe slightly to be gluten-free and it came out great. Substituted ground brown rice for the bread crumbs and GF flour for reg. flour.
aNu
This is a super simple TASTY recipe! I added a secret ingredient (secret to my son anyway)- grated zucchini! It helped keep the meatballs moist and added a nutritious component to the list of ingredients. I’ll be making this again!
Beth Molesworth
I do this with taco meat! 😁
Monica
I made this last night just as the recipe stated and it was fabulous!!! I was skeptical with the ingredients of the nutmeg and allspice but it definitely tastes like Ikea’s meatballs in my opinion! Thanks for the recipe!
Nora
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the meatballs, Monica! Thanks for coming back to leave a review, I appreciate it!
Jen
Have you ever baked the meatballs instead of individually browning them??
Nora
Yes, definitely to serve a crowd. And it absolutely works! Just make sure to scrape any browned bits off the baking pan and add them to the gravy!
Amber
Can you cook them in the crock pot?
Nora
To be honest, I have never tried them in the crock pot, Amber. But I don’t see why it wouldn’t work – maybe you’ll need to cook them with the lid open for the last 15 minutes to thicken the sauce, but otherwise it should be fine.
Jeanine M Bedell
Do you think this would freeze well with the gravy or should I freeze apart from gravy? My mom in-law is about to start chemo and my husband and I are making some meals for her to freeze for later. Thanks so much. Sounds delicious!
Nora
Hi Jeanine, that’s such a sweet gesture. I would freeze the meatballs and gravy separately. Defrost the sauce before reheating. Simply plop the frozen meatballs into the sauce and heat until everything is piping hot – they hold their shape better that way!
Joon
Will the gravy be okay with chicken broth rather than beef broth?
Nora
Yes, definitely!
Debbie Wood
We always have had Swedish meatballs on Christmas Eve and my moms homemade meatballs are so much better than IKEA too. Just a note, she puts a little instant coffee granules in her gravy giving it a really rich distinctive flavor.
Nora
That’s such a great tip, Debbie. I will definitely try the instant coffee granules next time we have Swedish Meatballs, thank you!
Mary
Thanks for the great recipe, the whole family loved them! Served them with your mashed potatoes and salad – delicious.!
Nora
Glad the recipe was a hit with the family, Mary! Thank you so much for coming back to leave a review – I appreciate it very much!