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My favorite recipe for homemade IKEA Swedish meatballs nuzzled in a simple yet creamy brown gravy!
If there was ever a captain of comfort food, it would be these juicy meatballs in the most delicious Swedish meatball sauce.
The creamy gravy is loaded with pan drippings, from cooking the meatballs. A simple roux made with flour and butter, a splash beef broth, and a dollop of sour cream to make this cream and delicious.
I use a secret tip that my mom taught me to make the meatballs extra delicious and so moist. The meatball mixture takes minutes to mix up, then we cook them in a cast iron skillet before me make the creamy sauce in the same skillet.
The sauce starts with a simple roux and the results are truly incredible.
You’ll want to sip that sauce with a spoon!
Wondering if its legal to eat this every single day…..yum YUM:) Paired with egg noodles and large green salad. We didnt touch the salad haha! Thanks for a winner, absolutely delicious.
Ingredients for Sweden-inspired meatballs![]()
- Onion: finely chop the onions so that they basically melt right into the meatballs. I don’t use grated onion because we’ll cook them down in a little butter first.
- Butter: we’ll need butter for both the Swedish meatball sauce and to cook the meatballs in.
- Bread: instead of using breadcrumbs or panko, my recipe calls for bread soaked in milk.
- Lean Ground Beef: we’ll need a little over a pound for the meatballs recipe.
- Egg: You’ll need one egg. The egg acts like a binder in the meatballs recipe.
- Seasonings and spices: you’ll need kosher salt, black pepper, along with ground nutmeg, ground allspice, and garlic powder.
- Oil: we’ll add a little bit to keep the butter from burning in the pan.
- Worcestershire Sauce: adds umami to the recipe
- Flour: used to make a roux for the Swedish meatballs gravy.
- Beef broth: feel free to swap the beef stock or broth for chicken broth.
- Sour Cream: makes the sauce creamy and delicious at the end.
- Yellow Mustard: adds just the right hint of umami.
- Egg noodles or mashed potatoes: of course you can also do orzo, rice, or anything else you prefer for serving.
My secrets to the most tender Swedish Meatballs
I’m using an age-old trick to keep these meatballs nice and tender. This is something I learned from my mom and she from hers. Soak a couple pieces of bread in a 3 tablespoons of milk for a few minutes before adding it to the ground meat mixture. Friend, I’m telling you, not a dry meatball in sight.
How to make the best Swedish meatballs
- Cook the onions. Add a pad of butter to the cast-iron skillet and cook the onions down. This is to draw out the excess moisture. Allow the onions to cool before using them in the meatball mixture.
- Soak the bread. Break the bread into small pieces, add it to a bowl andsplash the milk over top. Allow the bread to soak up the milk for several minutes.
- Make meatballs. Combine the soaked bread, sautéed onions, and the ground beef, egg, seasoning, and mix together to fork the meatball mixture. Divide the ground beef into balls. Place uncooked meatballs on a plate.
- Sear the meatballs. Heat a skillet, drop a little bit of butter and oil and sear the meatballs. Sear all over them remove to a plate.
- Make the sauce. In the same skillet, add the remaining butter and allow it to melt. Season with the flour mixture. And prepare roux. Pour the beef broth in as you whisk to keep it from forming lumps. Whisk in the sour cream on low heat to keep it from curdling.
- Soak in the sauce. season the gravy with garlic powder, mustard, Worchestershire sauce and allow it to come to a gentle simmer. add the meatballs back in and let them soak up the sauce. Serve with your favorite carbs.
if you like this recipe, you might also like:
- Comforting French Onion Meatballs
- Cozy Creamy Chicken Tetrazzini
- Chicken Piccata Meatballs
- Mongolian Beef Meatballs
Seriously Amazing Swedish Meatballs in Brown Gravy
Ingredients
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 2 slices white bread torn into small pieces
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 ¼ pound ground beef 93% lean
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or similar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 ¾ cup beef or chicken broth low sodium
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ – 2 teaspoons yellow mustard
- buttered egg noodles or mashed potatoes for serving
Instructions
- SAUTE: In a large skillet, heat a tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add the onions and allow them to soften and become translucent about 3-5 minutes. Remove to a medium bowl and allow them to cool.
- SOAK: In a small bowl, pour the milk over the bread and press down with a spoon or your fingers so that the bread soaks up all the milk, let sit 5 minutes.
- MIX: When the onions have cooled, add the ground beef, bread mixture, an egg, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and allspice to the bowl and mix until just combined. Don't overmix the meat as it will result in tough meatballs. Shape into 18-22 meatballs that are about 1- 1 ¼ inch in diameter.
- SEAR: Heat 1 tablespoon of butter along with oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook for 6-9 minutes, turn every couple of minutes to ensure even browning. Remove to a plate. If you don't have a skillet large enough to hold all the meatballs, do it in batches, do not overcrowd the pan, you don't want them to steam as they won't develop that brown outer crust and as a result, the sauce will be very light in color.
- ROUX: Add the remaining 3 tbsp of butter to the skillet on medium-low heat. Sprinkle the flour in and whisk for 1-2 minutes or until it turns golden brown. Slowly pour the beef broth in while you whisk. Lower the heat, whisk in the sour cream until it dissolves completely.
- GRAVY: Add the garlic powder, a ½ teaspoon of mustard, and Worcestershire sauce and let come to a gentle simmer before lowering the heat. Allow sauce to thicken for 6-10 minutes or until it reaches desired consistency. Taste and adjust with additional mustard as desired. Add meatballs in when there are 4 minutes remaining. Keep in mind the sauce will thicken as it sits, so if you aren't serving right away, consider leaving it a little thinner.
- SERVE: on top of buttered egg noodles or mashed potatoes. Top with fresh parsley if desired!
Notes
- Edit: 05/19/2019 some readers have mentioned that they thought the mustard flavor was a little strong in this recipe. The original recipe calls for 2 teaspoons, however, if this is your first time making this recipe, I suggest starting with a ½ teaspoon and then adjusting it as desired, up to 2 teaspoons.
- I’ve only tested the recipe with sour cream so not sure if greek yogurt can be substituted. But really, it’s Swedish meatballs, go with the sour cream, just this once.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
I love this recipe! I want to make it for a party. Can I put it in a crockpot to keep warm without having problems with the sauce separating?
Not really sure if the sauce would separate as I’ve never held it in a crock before, sorry!
Best EVER!! (voted unanimously by my entire family) 🙂
Delicious! I have to double the gravy for my hubby because he never seems to get enough. Thanks for this awesome recipe!
Absolutely delicious! I used ground turkey (we don’t eat beef/pork) and it worked beautifully. Also used light sour cream because that’s what I add in the fridge and it was fine. Thank you!
This is so amazing!! My family has been begging for me to make swedish meatballs again, they love this recipe! Thank you so much for sharing!
This is the first time I have ever made Swedish meatballs. I used garlic in both the meatballs and sauce, and honey dijon mustard. They were delicious! I do not like cooking meatballs in a frying pan, so baked a large pan and fried about 8, so I would have leavings to make the sauce in. I made another change and used 2/3 ground beef and 1/3 ground pork.
Hi, I made these the other day and I must say they were amazing!! my family loved them!
I have a blog I created on Facebook that I post all my dinners on that I make and I had one of my members say that these are not true Swedish Meatballs! I think she is wrong!! these were the best thanks for the recipe! I will also try some of your other creations!
I’ve cooked them also this week. It was funny to read about your family secret – bread with milk. The point is it’s classic for Soviet cuisine and now most people in ex-Soviet countries add bread with milk to their meatballs 🙂 Previously in public cafeterias (Soviet) they used to add more bread than meat to save the meat and take it home.
This came out so good! I loved it and will make it again. It’s so much better than traditional swedish meatballs.
Fantastic! I made these for family and they were a huge hit. Thank you!
Made it tonight, using mix of pork and turkey, followed exactly and stirred cranberry sauce into sauce before adding meatballs… one of my new favorites, comforting, great variation on serving classic meatballs especailly since I prefer potatoes to pasta, and made with all things I most always have on hand! Thank you, delicious !
Used 2 cups of milk and cooked the noodles in the meatballs and gravy. Perfect solution for one pan ease ☺
I tried your recipe, except that I added chopped tomatillos to the meat mixture and baked the meatballs at 350 F for 20 minutes. Doing this, my meatballs were moist but not greasy. Loved your sauce; but added Spanish smoked paprika. . Will make it again.
Thanks!
Do you have just the sauce recipe? I have a bunch of left over frozen meatballs and this sauce sounds delicious. I’d like to put them in the sauce after they are cooked in the oven. I will definitely make this entire recipe soon!
Hi Sarah, if you’d like to make just the sauce, you can follow steps 5-6 and add the cooked meatballs in once the sauce has thickened.
Just curious, do you think using heavy cream in place of the milk would work?
Absolutely!
I made this tonight and am eating it as I write this! Fantastic recipe! I used a lb of hamburger and a lb of pork sausage. I just added a little more of the ingredients called for! I also made the mistake of adding garlic to both the meatballs and sauce. It was still gr8, I love garlic! I didn’t know what kind of mustard to use so used spicey brown. I had it with buttered egg noodles. Next time I’ll try with mashed potatoes…..and there will be a next time!!
Excellent – made gluten free with Rudi’s Original Gluten free bread – doubled for leftovers,
I absolutely love these meatballs and make them all the time now! Do you think this dish can be frozen? I’m not sure how the sour cream in the sauce would freeze.
Hi Brittany! Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe and that you make it often! I’m not too sure about freezing the sauce. The meatballs you can certainly make ahead of time and freeze but I haven’t tried freezing the recipe with the prepared sauce so I’m not sure. If you decide to give it a try, I’d love to know how it goes.
I just popped it in the freezer; I’ll report back next week or so!
They froze great!! I’ll have to double the recipe to freeze next time
Oh perfect! Thank you so much for reporting back! 🙂
I made these this evening and have tried lots of variations of Swedish Meatballs. Served them with Lingonberry sauce and rosemary potato wedges and buttery carrots. Absolutely delicious! Thank you!
Sounds wonderful. I have a tip which works great everytime for me. Make the meatballs in advance and put them in the fridge for a few hours or as long as you have. They won’t fall apart then and yes any sort of meat like turkey would work.
Thanks for sharing your tip, Sue!