Swedish Meatball Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the sauce for Swedish meatballs made from? ›

The sauce for Swedish Meatballs is a creamy gravy that is made with butter, beef broth/stock, thickened with flour and made creamy with cream. But the most important flavour for the a really good creamy gravy is the pan drippings after searing the meatballs.

Eggs: Eggs help bind the meatballs together so they don't fall apart. They also help keep the meatballs soft and tender. Bread crumbs: Bread crumbs are almost always used in meatball recipes because they absorb the fat and, along with the eggs, serve as a binder.

If you are making 1-ounce meatballs for a main course you should make 6 meatballs per person. If you have some big eaters at the party I suggest making 6-10 bite sized meatballs per person. As you can see, the number of meatballs you need depends on their size.

Egg and breadcrumbs are common mix-ins to add moisture and tenderness. Another binder option that people swear by is a panade, which is fresh or dry breadcrumbs that have been soaked in milk. “The soaked breadcrumbs help keep the proteins in the meat from shrinking,” as food writer Tara Holland explained in the Kitchn.

How to Thicken Swedish Meatball Sauce. The all-purpose flour in this recipe should do the trick to thicken your Swedish meatball sauce to the right consistency. But if it doesn't, you can add a cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 2 tablespoons of water) to thicken it up.

Mix ground beef, ground pork, egg, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger with onion in the mixing bowl. Lightly mix in bread crumbs and cream. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Pinch off about 1 1/2 tablespoon meat mixture per meatball; form into balls.

Too many breadcrumbs can ruin the texture of your meatball though, turning it into something more like stuffing rather than a mini-meatloaf. It can also make the finished mixture loose, and it'll fall apart when cooking. Too few breadcrumbs, on the other hand, won't give you the desired filler effect.

You only need a small amount of egg – it's there only to help the cooked meatball retain its shape, and shouldn't detract from the meat's flavour or texture. Filler ingredients like breadcrumbs or flour are important too because they stop the meatballs becoming dry.

How many eggs should one add to their ground beef when making homemade Italian style meatballs? 1 egg, scrambled before adding to 1 pound of beef. Then salt, pepper, crushed garlic, bread crumbs. You can use plain or buy seasoned.

What is the perfect size meatball? ›

If you're eating your meatballs as a main course it's pretty standard to go for a medium one to two-inch size, but bite-sized meatballs like the Dutch bitterballen can be a lot of fun, and give you a higher surface area for sauce.

(So helpful if you're serving a huge crowd and doing the math about how many frozen meatballs for 50 or more people!) Here's how many meatballs per person you'll need: One serving = 4 meatballs. Party of 12 = 2 pounds.

Baking will result in meatballs with a crunchy exterior, though the caramelisation achieved from frying will be superior. Baked meatballs take the least amount of effort, as you'll only need to turn them once or twice throughout the cook and you can make a larger batch at once.

You can use eggs, breadcrumbs, grated or creamy cheeses (think ricotta or feta here), ground nuts, or a mixture of these ingredients to bind the balls and help them stay together while you cook them and as you eat them—no one wants a meatball that breaks apart all over the plate.

As the collagen in the meat dissolves over time, it transforms into gelatin, which not only adds a silky texture to the sauce but also contributes to the overall richness and depth of flavor. The longer the simmer, the more tender and succulent the meatballs become.

Iconic Swedish cream sauce: Melt 40g of butter in a pan. Whisk in 40g of plain flour and stir for 2 mins. Add 300ml of bouillon (or consommé) and continue to stir. Add 150ml double cream, 2 tsp of soy sauce and 1 tsp of (Dijon) mustard.

Traditional Swedish way: Do not make the cream sauce at all. Serve meatballs over plain or stewed macaroni, plain or mashed potatoes, and lingenberry jam (optional)

It's All About the Sauce

Flavored with nutmeg and cardamom, these little beef-and-pork meatballs are best served with a Swedish meatball sauce—a rich roux-based and beef stock gravy, spiked with sour cream and a little lingonberry jelly.

While both varieties include ingredients such as grated onion and panade (milk-soaked bread) or bread crumbs, plus the usual salt and pepper, Swedish meatballs traditionally use spices like allspice, nutmeg, white pepper, and sometimes ground ginger as flavoring.