Swedish Meatballs
I was craving simple comfort food and I remembered my friend Currié saying she loved making Swedish Meatballs so I decided to give them a try from a recipe I found on Simply Recipes. I didn’t have lingonberry jelly to add to the sauce but the recipe said I could use raspberry jelly instead. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous about adding the jelly so I only put in a small amount but I am glad I added it. The jelly gave it a subtle sweetness that made the sauce taste delicious. The meatballs were moist and tender and tasted wonderful in the sauce. You can serve these meatballs over egg noodles but my kids wanted me to serve them over mashed potatoes. My husband and I really liked this dinner and it was a big hit with both of my kids who wanted the leftovers in their thermoses the following day for lunch. Love that!
How to Make Swedish Meatballs:
While the onions are cooking, mix the bread pieces with the milk then set aside for a few minutes until soaked through. Once soaked, pulverize it with an immersion blender or food processor (it will be goopy). Pour into a large bowl.
Add the onions to the bread mixture with the eggs, ground beef, salt, nutmeg, cardamom, and pepper. Using your hands, mix well until the ingredients are well combined.
Roll the meat into balls and place it onto a plate. I made 18 meatballs but you can make them smaller or larger to suit your needs.
Heat 3 tbsp of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When the butter has melted add half of the meatballs to the pan (don’t overcrowd the pan). Brown the meatballs slowly on all sides. Be gentle when you turn them so they don’t break apart. Do not cook the meatballs all the way through, only brown them at this stage. Once browned, remove them to a plate and cook the remaining meatballs.
Once all of the meatballs are cooked and the skillet is empty, add the flour to the same skillet. Whisk the butter in the pan (from cooking the meatballs) with the flour until it is the color of coffee with cream; this is a classic roux.
As the roux is cooking, heat the beef broth until warm. When the roux has cooked to the coffee with a cream color, add the warmed beef broth a little at a time. Keep stirring and adding stock slowly until the sauce becomes silky.
Add the meatballs back to the sauce and turn the heat down to low. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes.
To finish the sauce, remove the meatballs to a serving bowl then add the sour cream and (if using) jelly to the sauce and stir until well combined. Taste the sauce and add more salt and pepper or jelly if needed. Serve the meatballs and sauce over egg noodles or mashed potatoes. Enjoy!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tsp butter
- ½ yellow onion, diced VERY finely
- ¼ cup of milk
- 2 slices of bread, crusts removed, cut into pieces
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp cardamom
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2½ tbsp flour
- 2 cups beef broth, warmed
- ¼ cup sour cream
- Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
- 2-3 tsp lingonberry, cranberry, red currant, or raspberry jelly, more or less, to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3-4 minutes.
- While the onions are cooking, mix the bread pieces with the milk then set aside for a few minutes until soaked through. Once soaked, pulverize it with an immersion blender or food processor (it will be goopy). Pour into a large bowl.
- Add the onions to the bread mixture with the eggs, ground beef, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cardamom. Using your hands, mix well until the ingredients are well combined.
- Roll the meat into balls and place it onto a plate. I made 18 meatballs but you can make them smaller or larger to suit your needs.
- Heat 3 tbsp of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When the butter has melted add half of the meatballs to the pan (don't overcrowd the pan). Brown the meatballs slowly on all sides. Be gentle when you turn them so they don't break apart. Do not cook the meatballs all the way through, only brown them at this stage. Once browned, remove them to a plate and cook the remaining meatballs.
- As the roux is cooking, heat the beef broth until warm. When the roux has cooked to the coffee with a cream color, add the warmed beef broth a little at a time. Keep stirring and adding stock slowly until the sauce becomes silky.
- Add the meatballs back to the sauce and turn the heat down to low. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes.
- To finish the sauce, remove the meatballs to a serving bowl then add the sour cream and (if using) jelly to the sauce and stir until well combined. Taste the sauce and add more salt and pepper or jelly if needed.
- Serve the meatballs and sauce over egg noodles or mashed potatoes. Enjoy!
I made these fr dinner tonight, but with ground chicken. I loved them! Unfortunately Terry was less than enthused, so I guess they won’t be making too frequent of appearances.
I’m new to your blog and this was the first recipe I tried. My family and I loved it!! It uses things that I stock in my pantry and deep freeze, which is great for convince. I served it with egg noodles. Thanks for sharing!
If you want to eat these the authentic Swedish way, the lingonberry jelly is served alongside like cranberry jelly at Thanksgiving. You get a little jelly to eat with each bite. 🙂
I made this last night for dinner. My family enjoyed it. My daughter asked to bring some to school for lunch. Can anyone recommend a vegetable side dish?
These are delicious! Just a few notes on the recipe:
– since I don’t have “slices of bread” lying around the house, I grabbed breadcrumbs and guessed about 1/4 cup would work. That seemed to be perfect….and that way I didn’t make the food processor dirty too! Just dumped them in the bowl with the milk, gave it a stir, and then added the other ingredients.
– I used Better than Bouillon to make the beef stock and it gives a nice rich flavor…highly recommend!
– I upped the raspberry jam to something like 1-2 Tablespoons and it was fantastic.
Served over egg noodles and my husband was in heaven.
Julie,
I’m so glad you were able to adapt the recipe to work for you. I’m happy your husband enjoyed it! Thanks for taking the time to let me know.
-Pam