Swedish Meatballs
Indulge in rich and savory Swedish Meatballs for dinner. These tender meatballs are smothered in an amazing tasting creamy gravy and served over egg noodles or mashed potatoes.
My family loves comfort food recipes and this is one of their most requested. You can prepare the meatballs ahead of time for a quick and easy weekday meal. This meatball recipe also makes a great appetizer to serve at your next party.
What are Swedish Meatballs?
Swedish Meatballs are a comforting, classic dish consisting of juicy ground beef meatballs smothered in a creamy gravy. The sauce is usually made with warm spices like allspice and nutmeg. My husband does not like allspice or nutmeg with ground beef so I like to flavor my sauce with a combination of Worcestershire sauce, beef stock or beef broth, dijon mustard, black pepper, and salt.
Tip
The key to making flavorful Swedish meatball sauce is scraping all the browned meatball bits off of the bottom of the skillet. Pan-frying in a cast iron skillet works perfectly for this. I use a combination of butter and olive oil when browning the meatballs because the olive oil helps prevent burning the butter. Burned butter will not make a great tasting sauce, so keep an eye on the heat while browning your meatballs!
How to make Swedish meatballs
- In a large bowl, combine ground beef, sautéed onion, garlic and oregano.
- Mix in salt, pepper, egg, and breadcrumbs.
- On medium heat, brown meatballs on all sides, carefully turning so they don’t break apart.
- Transfer meatballs to a sheet pan and keep warm in the oven while making your sauce.
- Add butter and flour to the pan to create a roux, then add in beef broth, cream, Worcestershire sauce, and Dijon mustard until sauce thickens.
- Add meatballs into sauce, cover and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. Season to taste.
Substitutions
- Ground Beef – use a combination of ground beef and ground pork. You can even substitute ground turkey or chicken.
- Spices – add nutmeg or allspice for a more traditional Swedish Meatball recipe.
- Panko breadcrumbs – regular breadcrumbs, pieces of bread or saltine crackers.
- Substitute ground beef meatballs with this Turkey Meatball recipe.
What to serve with this recipe?
Serve Swedish Meatballs with broad leg noodles, rice, or this great tasting recipe for Garlic Mashed Potatoes. Top these juicy meatballs with different condiments such as classic Swedish lingonberry jam, cranberry sauce or mustard pickles
favorite recipes using ground beef
Budget friendly and versitile, ground beef is ideal for making so many family friendly meals.
Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano chopped or 1 teaspoon dry oregano
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups beef broth warmed up
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine panko bread crumbs and milk. Let sit for 10 minutes until breadcrumbs have soaked up the milk.
- In a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil with 1 tablespoon of butter.
- Add the onions and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and oregano and sauté for another 1-2 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, sautéed onion, garlic and oregano.
- Mix in the salt, pepper and egg. Combine until the eggs are mixed into the ground beef.
- Add the breadcrumbs to meat mixture and combine well.
- Use a tablespoon or scoop to make equal sized meatballs. This recipe makes approximately 20 meatballs.
- Reheat the skillet used to sauté onions and garlic, adding a bit more olive oil and butter if needed.
- On medium heat, brown the meat balls on all sides, carefully turning so they don't break apart.
- Don't overcrowd the skillet with meatballs, work in batches.
- Transfer the meatballs to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while you make the sauce.
- Add 4 tablespoons of butter to the skillet. Once melted whisk in the flour and cook until golden brown.
- Slowly stir in the heated beef broth and cook at a temperature that keeps the sauce at slow bubble.
- Add in the cream, Worcestershire sauce and Dijon mustard and simmer until sauce thickens at bit.
- Add the meatballs into sauce. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve over egg noodles, broad noodles or mashed potatoes.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
thank you for this recipe. Most of the time it calls for mushrooms which I do not like. I will definitely try this…
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Thanks Nicole, so sweet of you to comment 🙂
This recipe is amazing! I just made it for my mom and her boyfriend and they loved it! Thank you so much! I will definitely keep this recipe for the future 🙂
These look great. Heading out to store now for ingredients.
This should make a great Sunday meal.. Bet the toddler loves them!!!!
Debbo, the toddler will love them, but so will Momma 🙂
I have just cooked this our dinner, have to say it tasted absolutely fantastic and will do again, however I followed the recipe exactly even though I thought 3 Tbsp of flour was a lot, and it was 🙁
So had to remake the sauce but using 3 tsp and it turned out absolutely delicious.
Thank you for this yummy recipe 🙂
Hi Dee, so glad you enjoyed the recipe, when making the sauce you are starting with the butter/flour to make a roux, which will be very thick until you start whisking in the beef broth.
Hi,
Yes I did make a roux using your quoted 3 Tablespoons of flour, even when I added the stock it was so thick and gluppy, so I made again but using 3 teaspoons of flour and it was absolutely perfect.
Wondering if UK spoon sizes could be different from US spoon sizes.
Anyway have cooked this recipe so many times now and it is absolutely delicious – thank you so much for sharing it 🙂 🙂
Can’t wait to try these
Bridgette, I’d love to hear back when you try the recipe.
Just made this recipe tonight…very very good! I didn’t change the recipe at all and my girlfriend and I both thought it was delicious. Served on wide old fashioned egg noodles.
Thank you Gus, it always means a lot to me when people take the time to drop me a note. Your girlfriend is so lucky to have you cook for her.
If I don’t have heavy cream, can I use whole milk?
Hi Kathy, whole milk will not work as well as cream as it doesn’t not thicken like cream does. Cream also adds better flavour.
Taste more like beef stroganoff, not Swedish meatballs. It’s very good, but if you’re looking for traditional Swedish meatballs, this isn’t it. Allspice and nutmeg are needed.
When do you add the heavy whipping cream? I’m going to try your recipe tonight.
Hi Linda, I update the instructions a bit, the cream goes in right after beef broth, simmer until sauce thickens a bit, then add meatballs and simmer for another 10 minutes.
My family loved these. A few thing I might do differently next time: there was so much sauce- I could easily have double the meatballs and still have lots of sauce (And have leftovers!) And the meatballs were on the verge of falling apart while cooking them. I am going to refrigerate them to firm them up and then fry them.
Will definitely make them again and again!
Thanks for the great feedback Meg!
I would add an egg to the beef mixture, as it acts as a “glue” to keep them from falling apart.
We made these today. Great recipe, except it needs something to make it less bland. Will experiment with it a little, but overall, the perfect recipe for the family! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Patty, try adjusting the Djion mustard, worcestershire, and oregano to your taste.
Hi. I think the recipe was very good. I served it over egg noodles and my picky eaters (2 teen sons and husband) really liked it. They are normally opposed to ground beef outside of spaghetti but this, they have already asked me to make again! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Terrific Kim, so glad you tried the recipe
Make this dinner. We loved it! I wouldn’t change a thing about this recipe!
Thank you so much Denise, so glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Yummed and pinned! I’ve been looking for a really good Swedish meatball recipe in…..forever. Looking forward to trying this one. It’s looks divine!
Thank you Carol.
Im so excited to Make this! It seems really simple! 🙂 thanks for sharing the recipe!
yes Abbi, simple and tasty!
I tried this tonight. Very easy and good. I think i may have overused the Dijon mustard but it was still so good!
That is awesome to hear Ashley, glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Have you ever tried adding a little sour cream to the dauce? I have not tried the recipe yet but I think I may when I do. Sounds really good…
Hey Lisa, I don’t to this recipe, but have make other types of stroganoff that I do add sour cream to. I’m sure it will taste great.
Thanks for the recipe Laureen. Those are definitely better than the IKEA version… unless you prefer horse meat 😉 Prepared kottbullar yesterday (slightly tweaked this recipe with allspice instead of origan) and served them with lingonberry jam, pressgurka (pressed cucumbers) and potatismos (mashed potatoes). They were absolutely DELICIOUS! I am ready to go back to Stockholm and celebrate Midsommar next week 😉
Have a great celebration in Stockholm, appreciate you taking the time to give me the feedback on the recipe. Like how you changed it up as well 🙂
This recipe is fantastic! My family asks for it over & over. The only thing I’ve done differently is bake the meatballs. It saves me time & I have to say I’ve been known to pulverize my meatballs when trying to pan fry them. 🙂 this recipe is a keeper! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Rachel, so glad your family enjoys it, so does mine 🙂
How long did you bake the meatballs and what temperature?
Hey Lucy, depending on what size you make the meatballs they should cook until internal temperature of 160º.Browned on all sides and cooked throughout. Mine unusually take about 10 minutes.
Michelle, thank you!
Wonderful dish! I used coconut oil instead of olive and horseradish brown mustard. Came out perfect! Thank you
Hey Hollie, I bet that horseradish mustard added some tasty zip, I’ll have to try that.
Made these tonight, I used a half pound of ground beef and a half pound of ground pork mixed together for the meatballs as a little twist on the recipe! Turned out great. Only comment I have is that I felt there was a little too much heavy cream. The sauce almost had that feeling of coating your mouth. I’d reduce the cream by a touch and I think it’d be perfect! Thanks for the recipe!!
Thanks for the great feedback, appreciated!
Connie, it is a recipe I make quite often, so glad you and your husband enjoyed it.
This was SO good.
I totally messed up and didn’t add the carmelized onion to the meatballs, I realized after I formed them so I scooped the onions into a cup until time to add the meatballs back, it was still awesome and I enjoyed having the onion in the sauce!
My insanely picky 6 year old ate 2 servings and said “super awesome dinner!” which is quite a complement coming from him.
My husband loved them as well, he’s not as picky though 😉
So glad I found this!
Oh and I served on some pappardelle. I feel fancy saying that. I promise I’m not, I just always get excited any time a new pasta comes to my publix and I had it on hand.
Sorry for the novel, thanks for the great recipe !
Amanda thank you, I’ll really enjoyed your comment, it made my day. I need to try some of that pasta, it does sound fancy. We have an Italian shop in town, so I’m going to check this week to see if they carry it.
Fantastic recipe, thanks. I added a little more Dijon as my whole family are mustard lovers!!!
Absolutely loved that it had a lot of sauce, it’s hard to find recipes that have that, I usually make double batch.
Will definitely be cooking again
Thanks Carrol, my husband doesn’t like too much Dijon, I like more, so I just serve it on the side, but it always does seem to taste just a bit better cooked in
I made this dish tonight for dinner . DELICIOUS !!!!!
My husband loved it. Me, too. I did add a little nutmeg to the meatballs.
I used the 3 tbsp. of flour and the sauce came out perfectly. The trick to making a smooth non-lumpy roux is to add the flour a little at a time whisking the entire time . Don’t dump the flour in all at once. I learned this from my French Mother-in-law who was a genius making French sauces. Thank you so much for this awesome recipe .
Thanks for the tip MaryAnn