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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 made just the gravy, to go with some meatballs I’d previously frozen. Man was this a delicious recipe. Wow. I will absolutely do this again, without hesitation!
Thank you!!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it, Gwen! Appreciate you circling back to leave a review 🙂
I used mustard powder instead… I only had a grainy mustard or a hot Dijon mustard in refrigerator. Worked great.
Great dish, glad i found it. I would make again and have passed the recipe on to a few other People. Like the note says use a little less mustard.
Happy to hear you enjoyed it, Mike! Appreciate you taking the time to circle back and leave a comment 🙂
Recipe is delicious but for anyone who is making this for the first time I would definitely recommend half the mustard but my family loves this dish
Hi, could I make this with lamb, I wonder.
You might need to play around with the binding ingredients based on the fat content of the ground lamb; but I think it could work 🙂
Awesome recipe, thank you!! The meatball recipes I have made in the past always seem to fall apart, but these stayed together perfectly and they were delicious! My whole family loved them! I was not able to cook them the day I made them, so I froze the meatballs on a parchment lined baking sheet (uncooked) and then kept them in a freezer bag until I needed them for dinner tonight. I defrosted them in the microwave just before cooking. Also, I never have sour cream on hand so I used regular (not Greek) plain yogurt and the gravy was sooooo good, I had no texture issues using the yogurt. Thank you again so much for this recipe, I will definitely be making it again!
I add ground beef put all the spices in the meat. I use 18% cream for the bread. I use an hand held mixer and whip the meat until it’s light and fluffy,form the meatballs and fry as instructed. I use heavy cream and chicken and beef boulion, 1 tsp of freeze dried coffee and they turned out absolutely delicious. Will definitely save this recipe and make it again.
Thank you for a very good 5 star meatball recipe.
I made these meatballs for dinner a few nights ago, and the title is absolutely on point. These are seriously amazing! So delicious. I followed the recipe as written and wouldn’t change a thing……..well, except I’d double it the next time. This is one of those recipes that tastes even better the next day. Mmmmmmm 🙂
These are definitely THE BEST swedish meatballs!! I have different dietary restrictions in my house so I used ground turkey instead of beef and gluten free ‘bread’ crumbs. This recipe resulted in delicious, flavorful, moist meatballs. The sauce was delicious! I am trying again with ground chicken just because that is what I have on hand.
Best meatball recipe I have had! I used ground venison. They came out crisp on outside and juicy on inside. I also added mushrooms to the sauce. And instead of noodles I served over jasmine rice. Thanks for recipe!
Great recipe! Does the nutrition information include the egg noodles or mashed potatoes?
Best meatballs I’ve ever made! Such a great recipe!
I’m making these on a perfectly crisp fall Friday night. We needed a little comfort food! I used ghee, instead of butter because it’s what I had on hand. They’re simmering now and the house smells amazing— sauce is also beautifully smooth. I also snuck some tastes of the sauce and A bite of a meatball-it’s delicious. I didn’t have worshteshire, so I subbed a little A1. Perfect recipe! Thanks for sharing and for making our Halloween movie night comforting and delicious!
I’ve made these twice and I must say that this recipe is one of the best meatball and gravy recipe there is out there if not the best. Absolutely delicious. I was actually very surprised at how good these turned out. The mestballs were very tasty, juicy and soft. The gravy was nice and salty, creamy and I don’t know how to describe this sour-ish taste But it was delicious! Definitely will be making more~
These turned out pretty good! I ended up doubling the gravy and next time would maybe add a little less Worcestershire. I had a little trouble with the way the recipe was written. I think it would be more clear if the ingredients for the meatballs was separate from the ingredients for the gravy. I ended up throwing the garlic powder into the meatballs before I realized it didn’t go there. I think the fact it was on the same line as the allspice was what threw me. Maybe I shouldn’t cook distracted!
I’m a total food snob and sometimes wonder how something gets five stars and what people think is good….
…this recipe is DELICIOUS. My spouse had thirds AND is taking it for lunch today.
I tightened up the sauce a little bit more with some slurry but other than that, followed the recipe exactly.
This was my first time eating/making Swedish meatballs. I ended up not liking it, but that was entirely personal preference. I’m sure the recipe was spot on! That being said, even though I didn’t like the sauce I thought the meatballs were AMAZING!! I’m definitely keeping the recipe for the meatballs for next time I make spaghetti and home made meatballs. Thanks for sharing.
Not good. Made sauce only the mustard taste is overwhelming!
This was a huge hit at my house. I used 1lb ground turkey and 1lb ground pork sausage for the meatballs. Also omitted the allspice since I didn’t have any and no one at my house likes it. I baked my meatballs at 420° degrees for 15 mins. I think they come out better baked. Then simmered them in the sauce for awhile. This was super delish and I will definitely make it again!
Loved this recipe! I had to cook my meatballs a bit longer than indicated, and finished them in the oven at 350 F for about 12 minutes with a bit of loose tin foil over the pan. They turned out wonderfully!
Thanks!
Tasted like something from an upscale Italian restaurant! So good! I’m a picky eater so I didn’t use mustard and I didn’t have any Worcestershire sauce. So good!