IKEA Swedish meatballs

This recipe for IKEA Swedish meatballs is full of flavor and super easy to make. Serve this dish with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam for a traditional meal.

Traditional Swedish meatballs or köttbullar are made with a mixture of ground beef and ground pork made with onions, rich, creamy gravy and served with lingonberry jam.

IKEA made these traditional meatballs incredibly popular, but homemade is so much better!

Lingonberry jam or preserves is made with lingonberries. You can buy it at IKEA or you can use cranberry jam or red currant jelly instead!

Why you will love this recipe

• Because of their size, they are the perfect appetizer!
• They are super easy to make, and you can make them ahead.
• Kids love them!
• You only need a few simple ingredients.
• The meatballs freeze really well. You can make the meatballs ahead and add the frozen beef to the gravy when you are ready to serve.

Ingredients

Meat - these meatballs are made with a 50-50 mixture of ground pork and ground beef.

Stock - for the best gravy, you need beef stock. Beef stock gives the gravy a rich flavor.

Butter - part of the creaminess comes from adding butter to the gravy. If you don't want to add dairy or are on a lactose-free diet, you can use plant-based butter instead.

Did you know that you can easily make homemade butter from heavy cream?

Bread - breadcrumbs or panko prevents the meat from getting too dry by absorbing the moisture from the egg and water.

Instructions

Chop the onion and put them in a mixing bowl. Add the breadcrumbs with some salt and pepper and mix briefly. Add the minced meat and egg and knead quickly.

Divide the minced meat into 30 pieces and form into small meatballs.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan and cook the meatballs for about 8 minutes until done. It is best to do this in several batches. Remove the meatballs from the pan and set them aside.

Add the flour to the remaining fat and fry for 1-2 minutes. Pour the milk into the flour and stir until all is absorbed. Pour the stock into the pan and let it simmer while stirring until the sauce has the desired thickness.

If the sauce is still a bit too thick, you can add some more water if necessary. Put the meatballs back in the pan and serve immediately with some jam and mashed potatoes.

My tips for the best Swedish meatballs

• Use a mixture of ground beef and pork. Then you can be sure they won't get too dry.
• Heavy cream. For an extra creamy sauce, add a dash of whipping cream.
• Extra spices. Add some nutmeg or allspice to the mince.
• Don't knead too long. The faster you knead all the ingredients through the minced meat, the less dry the meatballs will become.
• Cook the meatballs in several batches. By not putting too many meatballs in the pan at once, you can be sure that all the meatballs will cook well and get a nice brown color.
• The sauce thickens as it cools. In that case, add a little more water or milk while heating.

Equipment

• A large, heavy-bottomed pan. I like to use my bk Dutch oven when I make recipes like this.

Storage

in the fridge, homemade Swedish meatballs will keep for 2-3 days.

they are also suitable for freezing. I don't recommend freezing the says because the gravy can split after thawing.

In the freezer, the meatballs will be good for three months.

Tip: divide the balls in portions over freezer bags. This way, you can easily thaw the right amount

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