Swedish Meatballs

By cnash

Ingredients

• 1 large yellow or white onion, peeled, grated (through a cheese grater)
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2/3 cup milk
• 4-5 slices of bread, crusts removed, bread cut into pieces
• 2 eggs
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 6 Tbsp butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 quart beef stock
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup sour cream
• Salt
• 2 to 4 Tbsp of Lingonberry, cranberry, red currant or raspberry jelly, more or less to taste (optional)

Preparation

Step 1

Classic Swedish meatballs made from a mixture of beef and pork, flavored with nutmeg and cardamom and served with a rich beef and sour cream gravy.

Sauté the grated onion in the butter over medium-high heat until the onions soften and turn translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a medium bowl, mix the bread pieces with the milk. Set aside for 15-20 minutes, or until the bread soaks up all the milk. When it does, pulverize the bread in a food processor and pour it into a large bowl.

Add the cooled onions to the bowl of milk and bread. Add the rest of the meatball ingredients—eggs, ground pork, ground beef, salt, nutmeg, cardamom, pepper. Using your (clean) hands, mix well for about 2 minutes until the ingredients are well combined.

Heat 6 tablespoons of butter for the sauce in a large sauté pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted, reduce the heat to medium and add some of the meatballs. Do not crowd the pan. Work in batches, browning them 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, use a slotted spoon to remove them from the pan, setting them aside so you can make the sauce with the remaining pan butter.

Start the sauce. (Check the pan butter to see if it has burned. If the butter tastes burnt, discard the butter and replace with new 6 tablespoons.) Heat the pan butter on medium until hot. Slowly whisk in the flour. Stirring often, let the flour cook until it is the color of coffee-with-cream; this is a classic roux.

As the roux is cooking, heat the beef stock in another pot until it simmers. When the roux has cooked until the color of coffee-with-cream, slowly add the hot beef stock a little at a time. Everything will sputter at first, and the sauce will seize up and solidify. Keep stirring and adding stock slowly, and it will loosen up and become silky.

Add the meatballs to the sauce and turn the heat down to low. Cover the pot and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. You might need to do this in batches.

To finish, move the meatballs to a serving dish. Add the sour cream and mix well. Either add the lingonberry jelly to the sauce or serve it on the side.

What fun it was to go on the web and see Swedish Meatballs. This recipe looks pretty good. I loved it that the gravy was made from the pan drippings (this is the only way to make it just right). I am 1st generation of Swedish decent here in America and the Swedish customs, especially at Christmas Time are very important to my family. These customs and foods are now being passed to my grandkid’s. Along with Swedish Meatballs, LImpa (Bread), Korv(Sasuage), Cod with a cream sauce (I do not use dryed cod), Cardamom Coffee Bread among many other foods are served every Christmas Eve.

It is alot of work but the Swedish “Tomte” that lives under the floorboards helps but you better do your part or the Jul goat will butt you. This is the day all distant relatives and many friends decide they want to be Swedish. Myself and my three brothers many of our kids and grandkids plus close friends will be gathering this Christmas Eve to enjoy the Swedish/American spirit that we have blended. God Jul to all

;-) I can’t wait to try these, and I must admit I love the lingonberry jam on the side, which, ahem, you can find plenty of for sale at the swedish furniture giant. If I left the jam out of the sauce, would I have to make any adjustments in amounts of the other sauce ingredients? Looks delicious!

My grandmother always added a little veal to the meatballs. We always had them on Christmas eve. No jam.

These look delicious and authentic! I grew up eating these. We always served them with tiny boiled, buttered potatoes (with fresh dill on the side).

IKEA is good for many things, meatballs is not one of them. This is a great recipe – make your own! :)

Here are a few variations from a Swedish native:

If you can get it, use a mix of ground beef, pork, and veal (2 parts beef, 1/2 part each of pork and veal).

For every day meatballs in my family, we stuck to basics and only added salt, pepper, maybe a little soy. Sometimes we would mix it up a bit for Christmas and add a little allspice, and/or cardamom. Nutmeg and white pepper is good, too.

If you can find real Swedish anchovies (ABBA or Graebbestads – at IKEA or your local Swedish grocery store ;), use 1 – 2 Tbl spoons of the liquid for a great bump in flavor, you will get a tiny hint of the allspice as well. (Use the rest of the can, and the filés, to make Janson’s Frestelse – Janson’s Temptation; a traditional Swedish potato dish for your Christmas spread.)

Some people swear by replacing some, or even all, of the dairy, and some of the breadcrumbs, with one or two (depending on size) boiled potatoes and cold sparkling water or club soda. This will give you a lighter, more tender meatball – but be careful with proportions, if the “dough” is too soft, the meatballs are impossible to fry – they’ll just stick and fall apart.

Also, be careful with adding too much egg, you don’t want to taste it, it’s only a binder. I’ve never used more than 1 egg.

Fry your meatballs in batches, adding a 1 – 2 Tbl spoons of butter for every new batch.

Labor intensive, but the best – imo, pan-gravy: Cook out the pan after every batch, with water for regular brown gravy, or cream, milk, etc for a creamy gravy. You can also cook out pan with wine, sherry, etc, once or twice for added flavor. Reserve liquid in a separate bowl. When you’re done frying, strain the liquid, pour in a sauce pan and add salt, pepper, perhaps a little soy, to taste. Thicken gravy the way you normally would, or as per above.

As an entrée, serve larger meatballs with gravy, mashed or boiled potatoes, lingonberry jam, and pressgurka – thinly sliced, pickled cucumber.

2 eggs beaten

Soak bread crumbs in milk about 5 minutes. Combine mixture with eggs, ground chuck, onion, salt, nutmeg and allspice. Shape into balls place on cooking sheet in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Place meat balls in heavy cast iron fry pan or dutch oven with broth, dill and pepper. Cover and simmer on low heat for 1 hour.

My mom had a great meatball recipe she would call sweedish meatballs although apparently they were just sweet meatballs :) The lingonberry jam at Ikea gives there’s a similar taste but completly different way of getting there. Basically 2.5lbs of your meatballs(although she didn’t use pork) in a pot, add a can of cranberry sauce, fill the can with OJ, and a small can of plane tomato sauce…simmer about 2 hours and the best meatballs you may ever eat.

I’m 2nd generation Swedish decent, and my grandfather brought his mother’s recipe over and gave it to my mother. I remember as a kid we would have his Swedish meatballs every Christmas Eve. It is one of my fondest memories of Christmas growing up, along with my mother making 6 or 8 Swedish Tea Ring pastries. Since I moved on in my adult life we lost the recipe even though I have my grandfather’s recipe box with over 1000 recipes, this was not in it, so about 5 years ago, with my Swedish father at my side as my taste tester (tough job) we embarked on a quest to find the perfect recipe. Found one that used veal beef and pork in a 1/2-1-1/2 ratio and I cooked them up by pan frying them in a non-stick skillet without butter, just to brown them, then baked them for about 10 minutes turning in the middle. Taste tester determined that they were missing something… Onions.. diced super fine so as not to overpower the meats. Then they were perfect. I pan fry them just to brown them then bake them, because I’m not patient enough to keep an eye on them in the frying pan and not burn them. I make them tiny, only 1″ in diameter. After one batch has baked, I boil then scrape the drippings off the baking sheet into the frying pan and make my cream sauce from that, just light cream, salt, water/pan drippings, a little starch to thicken it up, and, a secret (2 mashed up meatballs) for extra texture. We serve them over egg noodles, with a heaping spoonful of the sauce and we’re good to go.

So, now for the last 5 years, I’ve been lucky enough to be the official maker of the meatballs for our 20+ person christmas gathering. This results in 5-6 batches of meatballs totaling about 800 meatballs per season, and this is the only time of year I make them.

Your recipe looks similar to mine aside from the sauce difference and the seasonings are different. I’m not sure about the cardamom, it’s such a strong flavor, I don’t know about adding it to mine, but may do a test batch at some point. For me, what makes a meatball Swedish is 2 things, the Nutmeg and Allspice are requirements, and the smell they create in the house as they are cooking. I have to reminisce every time I smell them.

Now, those folks who throw store bought ‘swedish meatballs’ in a pan and drop a can of mushroom soup over it and call it done are cheating and a store bought ‘swedish meatball’ from the freezer section will NEVER be a real Swedish meatball!

I grew up eating Swedish Meatballs made by my Great Aunt – she and my Grandmother were born in Sweden. I remember going to her house and just scarfing these down. They were awesome with or without gravy. While I don’t have the recipe readily available, I do know that one of her not-so-secret ingredients was beer. She always added some to the mix. I think that helped make them even better.

Small red potatoes, boiled with a little dill are a traditional side dish. Mashed potatoes are great, too.

Cute story… my stepson lives in stockholm with his mother during the school year and visits us in CA every summer. One day he was helping me with dinner and we got to talking about our favorite foods. He mentioned that swedish meatballs are SUPER easy to make so I told him to tell me the recipe. He is 11 and clearly Im not too experienced with kids because I believed that he was going to give me a real recipe…

It reminded me of how even though I watched my mom make certain staple dishes 100s of times, as an adult I could never replicate them. So much of what parents do is unseen by their children, even if you do it right in front of them!

That’s hilarious! Reminds me of the time my 10 yr old nephew wanted to make fried zucchini blossoms the way his dad makes them so he went into my garden, picked some, put them in a frying pan and turned on the heat. Didn’t turn out the way he expected! ~Elise

These are simmering on my stovetop as I type this and my house smells AMAZING. I broke one and cooked it through before making the roux and it was absolutely delicious!

Next time, definitely try substituting saltine cracker crumbs in place of the breadcrumbs. It adds a subtle, delicious flavor. This is how I make meatballs for my Swedish husband. :)

I’ve been helping my Nana make these for years every Christmas and since she is no longer with us I’ve taken over the tradition. Essentially the same recipe, although we just use beef and definitely add allspice. The sauce she used to make is a little bit different. You can freeze these with decent results. She always used to freeze portions of the meatballs in the sauce and they would reheat fine.

Try a Swedish variation by adding 1 tsp slightly crushed caraway seeds along with a bit of allspice to the meat mixture. Also it’s much easier to use a melon baller to scoop small meatballs into a mini muffin tin, bake instead of frying, then add the meatballs into the gravy and proceed as directed in the basic recipe.

mix ingrediants together until smooth, lump free and golden! Spoon a ladel full into a 10″ skillet coated with enough butter for the pancake to slip around the pan when it’s cooked. Flip once. (You’ll need a long spatula that is good and lubed up with butter!) You can roll them up as they come out of the pan, or fold them into triangles! Serve with a HEAVY dusting of powdered sugar (and jelly if you want!) Yummo! It’s our Sunday mornings around here–and other special days: birthdays, 1st day of school!

My MIL from my 1st marriage was 1st generation Swedish-American and a fabulous cook. Christmas Eve at her house was an incredible feast. I watched her make Swedish meatballs and she gave me her recipe, which came from the Vasa Cookbook. The instructions are sketchy but yours fill in the blanks. The recipe does not call for veal like yours does, but that sounds like a great idea. I always make them in a cast iron skillet. I don’t know what makes them taste better that way, but they do. A well-seasoned pan works as well as a non-stick pan.

2 Eggs, slightly beaten

Directions

1. Remove crusts from bread. Soak bread in milk. Add slightly beaten eggs. Pour this mixture into meat and work with hands until well blended. Add onion, salt, sugar and pepper. Continue to work with hands until mixture is light and fluffy.

2. Shape into balls about the size of walnuts. Melt butter in a skillet, add meatballs and cook until browned. Cover skillet and allow to steam over low heat 20 to 25 minutes.

3. Gravy may be made by adding 2 tablespoons flour to the pan drippings and then thinning to desired thickness with milk.

I just started a gluten free diet and am wondering if potato flour or rice flour would work in place of wheat flour.

Love your site, always here visiting. I am a Swede born and raised but now live in Seattle, WA. Good twist on Swedish meatballs. Every family makes Swedish meatballs but with their own little twists, so there are a lot of versions out there. There are a few things that are a must for them to be Swedish. You do need the mixture of pork and beef, you need the allspice. Then the meatballs are always small in size, you always eat them with boiled potatoes, “brown” gravy and lingonberries. Here is my recipe:

If you do not use Cardamon a thousand Vikings will descend upon you and will drink your beer and leave the non- Swedish meatballs behind. Mild Sausage [easy on the sage] in place of ground pork and ground up stove stuff stuffing in place of bread crumbs

Elise, these were excellent. Very easy to put together. I could not find Logonberry jelly so I got some Boysenberry. A very good flavor in the sauce. The addition of pork makes the meatballs more moist and using butter is the way to go for the full effect. I promise I will never make the ones I posted above again (I will not be offended if you delete my post with my recipe.) Thank you, as always, for adding to my recipe box keepers. Happy Holidays!

I know this might kill the authenticity or the things that make this recipe great…. but does anyone have a variation on this recipe that you could do in a slow cooker? Like maybe using frozen meatballs (I know, heaven forbid for those who are cooking purists) and adding the spices to the gravy instead?

My Grandmother-in-law emigrated from Sweden to the US in 1925, and I was fortunate that she taught me how to make her version of Swedish meatballs before she passed away. It is very similar to yours, except without the bread and milk and she swore that the gravy had no cream or sour cream in it. I personally love the sour cream in the gravy….

In addition, I have gone low carb, so when I make my family meatballs I use Guar (xanthan gum) as a thickener for the gravy in place of the Flour. I’m sure the gluten free folks could do the same.

Gotta make these soon…so comforting!

I made these Sunday and followed the recipe exactly as written. Except I used 1/2 tsp of cardamom and nutmeg. They were incredible!! Elise, I have made so many of your recipes and haven’t been disappointed yet. Thank you for helping me mix it up at dinner

This recipe is fantastic! The spices give these meatballs a wonderful holiday aroma, plus it’s great for feeding a big crowd – easy to make – LOVE IT!

I do not often make meatballs. Would it be ok to make the meatball mixture the day before?

I think you’ll be fine making the mixture the day before, as long as you keep it chilled. ~Elise

Anyway, I made the Swedish meatballs last night and they were incredibly delishous (though my hungry 12 yo complained that they took too far long to make). I served them over lightly wilted chopped chard with garlic and butter. The nutmeg and cardamon made these meatballs authentically Swedish and a nice change from Italian meatballs, and IMO, these are in a league far above Ikea’s factory-made meatballs. Next time, however, I’ll get started much earlier, double the meatball recipe, and reserve half the browned (but not cooked through) meatballs for freezing.

Being a gluten-free family, I left out the bread and milk because we were out of GF bread; the meatballs were fine without them, though I was extra careful turning the meatballs to make sure they didn’t fall apart while still soft. I probably should have reduced the eggs to 1 to reduce the wetness, but it wasn’t crucial. As I had a late start on dinner, I was a bit sloppy while quickly forming the meatballs; I just scooped the meat into balls with a geared s/s “cookie/ice cream” scooper, which worked fine. I used a finger to press any raggedy meat bits into a ball shape and then ejected the meatball into the hot pan.

I also cooked the meatballs in ghee (clarified butter) instead of plain butter, so there was no issue with burnt butter solids after browning the meatballs. My broth was homemade from meaty bison bones and had a 1/2 inch fat cap at the top of the jar, so I added that fat to the ghee, too; I hate to think that some might skimp on the cooking fat. The cold broth I used started out firmer than Jello, so with the full fat sour cream and the cooking fat, it made a really rich and hearty-tasting sauce.

I made this last night and it was delicious. I will halve the cardamom the next time I make it, because I like the flavor, but want it to be a bit more subtle. I served the meatballs and sauce over some buttered egg noodles. I was told by my fella to make sure I keep this recipe. I think that means he liked it!

I made this last time and my husband loved it! I also boiled some egg noodles and served this over them. I didn’t have cardamon so left it out and still turned out great. Yummy!

I had to use an immersion blender to puree the lingonberries and sour cream into a smooth sauce.

Best Swedish meatballs I’ve ever had. Make them a day ahead as the flavor improves overnight.

Thank you, Elise! Once again you have saved me when I had no idea what to make for dinner. I saw this and decided to go to store to get the meat at 4:45 pm and before 7:30 we had a delicious dinner. I halved the nutmeg and cardamom (not a big fan), but regretted is as it was not noticeable in the finished product at all.

One question, is the amount of butter/pan drippings crucial in the roux making? I added 1/3 c of flour and it seemed very thin, not like any thick roux I have ever made before (such as when I am making mac and cheese for example). I added more flour and when I poured in the broth my sauce was super thick. I had to add more stock and of course, ended up with a ton of sauce.

I bought whole cardamom seeds and ground them in my coffee maker. I added one teaspoon along with one teaspoon of nutmeg to the 2.5 pounds of meat. There are no other spices in this dish except for pepper. I thought they were perfectly seasoned.

Can’t wait to make these for Christmas Eve. Already bought the Lingonberry jelly.

My husband and I made these tonight and wow, were they fabulous! I loved the fact that they come out looking and tasting like a more complicated dish than they really are. And such a refreshing change from traditional tomato sauce-based meatballs. Those are tasty as well but there’s something unique about these Swedish meatballs (even if IKEA makes them too). Speaking of IKEA, this recipe is way better than IKEA’s, and I love the fact that you get 50 hearty-sized meatballs, not some tiny little things the size of Maltesers. Thanks so much, Elise!

Try adding approx. 1/4 cup of Southern Comfort to the sauce…………………..

My comment: In Step 5, where I heat the butter to brown the meatballs – I added another 1/3 cup Canola oil which has a higher boiling point. That way I got the tasty benefit of butter without any “burn”. Also, the slight increase in sauce volume was better for my larger meatballs.

I made this recipe Christmas Eve (under pressure of time) for my guests. Everyone loved it, so I made it again for another gathering the day after Christmas. Fantastic! I may add this to the traditional fare.

The recipe was easy to follow. I substituted in whole wheat bread and ground 93/7 turkey. The only change with the meatball cooking was I found I had to finish them in the microwave instead of leaving them slightly raw when adding to the sauce. I also added a few tablespoons of whole bean cranberry sauce, the flavor and appearance was amazing!

I’m making these right now, and I literally cannot stop smelling the bowl! They’re not even cooked yet! I think these will become a bona fide addiction…

I’m German and I have tons of family in Sweden. Their Swedish meatballs do have a twist that really distinguishes them from other sorts of meatballs for me: put in tons of fresh, chopped dill and parsley! Seriously, they should be almost green – everyone will be green with envy for your meatballs. Also, allspice instead of or in addition to cardamom.

I always make them with tons of herbs and everyone (including me) loves them.

Also, for the sauce, instead of using plain beef broth I reduce equal parts of red wine (I use a Carbernet) and beef broth to about half. Makes it taste richer.

The sauce is really, really fantastic an makes the dish. I serve with mashed potatoes. Tastes just like the meatballs we always thought we could only get in Sweden!

Finally got around to making this recipe this weekend. The sauce really does make the recipe great and it’s right on the money with what they serve at Ikea :). The meatballs there obviously have a different texture as they’re processed(?) into a standard shape and frozen.

- reducing the sour cream to less than 1/2 cup (the brand I had was quite rich – I suggest adding about 1/4 cup at a time to your taste)

Delicious! First time making homemade meatballs, and would recommend this recipe. Didn’t include jelly & made some healthy substitutes: replaced pork with ground turkey, used lean ground beef, margarine, low-fat sour cream, and low sodium beef broth. Our friends loved them (kids included) and didn’t notice the substitutes. We put the meatballs in a slower cooker (low) and just added the sauce. Will try next time the suggestion of adding vegetable oil to the butter to brown the meatballs to avoid the butter burning. We used new margarine for the sauce but added in some of the burnt margarine from the meatballs for flavor.

Once again, your site provides the most authentic and delicious recipes! These were easy to make, and sooooo yummy. I made a triple recipe for an event and baked the meatballs (350° for 20 minutes) instead of pan frying them; they turned out great.

My family is Swedish but I realized I’d never made Swedish meatballs so I decided to give this recipe a try on a dinner party of 5. I didn’t have Cardamom so I subbed allspice, and I only had 3 cups of beef broth left so I added a cup of chicken broth, but otherwise stuck to the recipe. I served with egg noodles and everyone ate more than they should have and I still had leftovers. Delicious! I will put this in regular rotation (but probably half it for normal dinners). Thanks for connecting me with my roots!

My Mom used 1 lb pork, 1 lb beef and 1/2 lb veal. But then, 45 years ago you could only get ground beef… we didn’t have medium, lean and extra lean ground beef, so 1/2 pound of veal would have “leaned out” the meat mixture; and

I made this a few nights ago. Wow! It was so yummy we had it for lunch and dinner the next day. Oh by the way it makes enough to feed an army. My hubby is already asking me to make it again:) would recommend this to anyone. Thanks again!!!

Come across your site with this receipt of the Swedish meatballs yours is fine but it misses out of 1 impotent ingredient (you have milk) as long as i can remember from my grand mother mother’s receipt book they never put that inside they put BEER inside to make them more light.

These look delicious however this is definitely an Americanized recipe. I have never seen meatballs in Sweden served in the sauce like that and sour cream isn’t used in the sauce recipe– it would be actual cream. A traditional meatball plate would have fried meatballs, boiled new potatoes, lingonberry jam (not in the sauce!), pickled cucumbers and cream sauce for the potatoes OR mashed potatoes but no cream sauce. And as yummy as they are, they’re NEVER served with egg noodles– it’s completely unheard of in Sweden.

I made this recipe gluten free (for my Celiac son) and it was wonderful. Substituted Rudi’s multigrain gluten free bread (4 slices) and used a combination of Pamela’s gluten free flour mix in the roux, along with Arrowroot (mixed in some warm water) to thicken. The gluten free flour browned up nicely for the roux but I also like to use some arrowroot to thicken while keeping the flavor light. According to my mom, my Swedish grandmother apparently did not use cardamom in her meatballs but I love it and thought it tasted perfect in this dish. I had really good quality cardamom seeds that I ground myself and so I used less than called for (about 1/2 to 3/4 tsp) and it had fantastic flavor.

The look really tasty! But for me, this is not the traditional Swedish way. We don’t usually cook them in the sauce, otherwise the receipt is pretty much the same. For holidays (for example Christmas) we just make the meatballs and serve them with several other dishes as a buffet. These dishes are usually things like boiled potatoes, Christmas ham, “janssons frestelse”, head cheese, malt bread, butter and cheese, herring, miniature frankfurter, beetroot sallad, smoked salmon, spareribs, raw spiced salmon, lots of different types of sausage, boiled eggs, crispbread, “Ris á la Malta”, a type of cheese cake and so on.

Holy Mary Mother of God these are GOOD! My mom is 100% Norwegian, so I grew up on Norwegian meatballs. As a grown-up asking her for the recipes from my childhood, I’ve been horrified to find out that there are ingredients such as “an envelope of onion soup mix” in the family meatball recipe. I tried this tonight and was blown away (I’m going to try and slip this into the recipe box). I have no idea how to spell it, but…. “toussen tuk!” (thousand thanks)

I recently used this recipe to make Swedish Meatballs for New Years Eve for five of us and the meatballs and sauce was delicious! I did not use the sour cream however. They were as yummy as the ones my Swedish mother made for us when I was a kid. She was a first generation Svenska Flicka and her children really loved her meatballs. My kids loved my meatballs too that I have always made but I usually made them the lazy way with cream of mushroom soup and milk until I made these. My 31 year old son was here for New Years Eve and he raved about these as did my husband. He told me these meatballs were way better than the ones I usually made even though he always raved about mine! His comment was OK with me because this recipe is the way my mother made hers and her meatballs were so wonderful! I also made Rotmos which is mashed potato (red potato with the skins) and mashed rutabaga ( I mix with cream cheese) also a cucumber salad. I forgot to buy lingonberry jam but served jellied cranberries and chokecherry jelly and they were great substituts. It was a wonderful way to honor my mother and ring in the new year! I loved using the Cardamom and nutmeg in this recipe. I think it made the difference in taste for me. My grandparents came from Nordbotten in Sweden and cardamom was used in many breads (Limpa) that they brought from Sweden and nearby Finland. By the way Elise, our first born daughter we named Elise Marie 45 years ago! She is named after a Swedish ancestor and has always loved her name! Thank you for the recipe……it is a keeper in my family no more mushroom soup in my meatballs!

I made this today, and my family loved it. I’ve never had homemade Swedish meatballs before…I had no idea what I was missing! Every recipe I’ve tried from you website (and I’ve tried several) has been wonderful. This is the first place I go now when I’m looking for a new recipe. I really enjoy the stories, history, & info, too. Thanks Elise!

Several couples and my husband and I have themed parties all the time, and last night our theme was Food from Sweden. I volunteered to make swedish meatballs, but had never made them before. This recipe was very easy to follow and the results were delicious! I will definitely be adding this dish to my regular repertoire of recipes.

My sauce wasnt as light as I was used to, so I had some cream in the fridge and added that.

Eating these RIGHT NOW!! Amazingly delectable!! My hubby loves Swedish meatballs and I usually make them at least 4 or 5 times a year, but we use a different recipe. I’ve been wanting to try these, so we made them together today. SO GOOD!! We stirred a little red currant jelly in the sauce and it’s really good. Followed the recipe exactly, and it’s a huge hit at our house. As for those little rubbery balls from Ikea…they should stick to making furniture. :-) Thanks, Elise…another keeper!

My wife and I are participating in a club cruise on our boat this weekend. For one of the events we are all supposed to bring an appetizer. We live in Washington State and guess what… it’s going to be wet and cold/ We figured something warm would be appreciated by everyone. I searched for a Swedish Meatballs recipe on the web and yours was a standout. I cooked the meatballs and the sauce (minus the sour cream and ligonberry jam) tonight which is 2-days ahead of our event. I will add the sour cream and meatballs for the final cooking about 30 min. before the reception. In my opinion good gravy must be made with homemade stock but I this case I used store bought stock. I can tell the difference in flavor but it was, of course, a lot easier. Judging from the other comments and the aroma of my kitchen these will be a big hit.