Swedish Meatballs
Swedish Meatballs are such a classic dish that have really interesting warm flavors. They are perfect for a cozy weeknight meal.
Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 cup plain breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp all spice
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- salt & pepper to taste
Swedish Meatball Gravy
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 small garlic cloves minced
- 3 tbs butter
- 3 tbs flour
- 1/3 cup dry sherry
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp all spice
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
Instructions
- In a bowl combine ground meat, breadcrumbs, ground ginger, all spice, nutmeg and salt and pepper.
- Take a scoop of the meat mixture and form it into a meatball by rolling it around gently in the palms of your hands
- Place your meatballs on a greased baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 22 mins.
- While the meatballs are cooking you can make the Swedish Meatball gravy. In a pan you can start by making a roué with the butter and flour. Heat up the butter until melted and add in the garlic and simmer for 3-5 mins
- Add in the flour and let it cook for 3-5 mins. Then add in the dry sherry and cook for another 1-2 mins
- Add the beef broth, heavy cream, Worcestershire sauce, nutmeg, all spice and Dijon mustard and let everything simmer until the meatballs are ready to come out of the oven.
- Once the meatballs are out of the oven, you can drain them on paper towels to get rid of the extra grease.
- Add the meatballs to the pan with the Swedish Meatball gravy and serve warm.
I read that Swedish Meatballs actually came from a recipe that King Charles XII brought back from Turkey in the early 18th Century. I read that Sweden actually admitted this at some point as well. I personally don’t really care where they came from because they are a delicious meatball that have some unique warm spices that you don’t see in a ton of meatball recipes.
There is one restaurant in our area that has these on their regular menu and that’s part of what inspired me to make them in the first place. It was many years ago that we visited this place but I wanted to see what kinds of recipes were out there for this and put my own spin on it. They are a really easy recipe to throw together on any busy weeknight. The gravy comes together pretty quickly and since these are a pretty simple. standard meatball., there isn’t a bunch of prep that needs to be done prior to throwing the meatball mixture together.
Just like a lot of Midwestern recipes everyone seems to have their own version of this recipe. I’m going to have to collect some from our friends and family to add to this Midwestern Meatball section of this site. I mentioned above that we have friends that add mashed potatoes to the meat mixture and we had those on one of our many potlucks with friends.
This recipe goes great over egg noodles but you could also serve this over mashed potatoes. You can also just throw these bad boys in a crockpot and haul them over to your destination and let people dig them out with toothpicks or scoop them on their plate because the gravy is so good on its own.
If you’re looking for a really great comfort food and something a little different to serve your family this recipe is a great one to make. You can whip them up pretty quickly and they are a perfect meal for a cold fall night.
More Recipes By Category
Midwestern Meatballs
We live in the Midwest and there are so many classic recipes that the rest of the country is missing out on. I’m here to help share those recipes in meatball form.
Classic Meatballs
I have some classic meatballs that are the foundation of a lot of my meatball recipes. You’ll find some basic meatball recipes and recipes that we are grew up with and love.
Stuffed Meatballs
I love stuffing meatballs – and once you start browsing the site you’ll see that I’m pretty creative with what I can come up with to stuff my balls with – and every recipe is delicious.
