Easy Swedish Meatballs in Sauce
Easy Swedish meatballs are a delicious combo of beef and pork simmered in a creamy Swedish meatball sauce. Ready in less than 30 minutes, this is delicious comfort food that makes the perfect weeknight dinner or yummy party appetizer.
These easy Swedish Meatballs are comfort food at its finest and after today you won’t have to wait for your next trip to Ikea to enjoy them!
The homemade meatballs are made with a mix of ground beef, ground pork, breadcrumbs, onions, and spices.
It’s the spices that make these meatballs so different. Nutmeg and allspice are used to give the meatballs a sweet, spicy taste that sets them apart from our Italian meatballs (we have an air fryer version and an Instant Pot version), and our baked turkey meatballs.
The meatballs are delicious but it’s the amazing Swedish meatballs sauce that is the key to the dish. It’s a perfectly creamy gravy that the meatballs finish cooking in that is out of this world.
This is a family friendly dish that you can serve over egg noodles, rice, mashed potatoes, or even keep the carbs lower by pairing them with options like cauliflower rice, cauliflower mash, or zoodles.
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Ingredients You’ll Need
You’ll need ingredients for both the meatballs and sauce. Here is what you’ll need to get and some substitution ideas.
For the meatballs:
- Ground meats – You’ll need both pork and beef for the best flavor combination. If you don’t want to use a combination of meat you should use ground beef only. I do not recommend using ground turkey as a substitute for the particular recipe as it don’t give you the same level of flavor.
- Yellow onion – A white onion would also work.
- Egg – The large egg helps keep the meatballs together so do not skip this ingredient.
- Unseasoned Bread crumbs – You can use your preferred bread crumbs for this dish. I prefer traditional bread crumbs verses panko but both will work. Make sure they are not seasoned as that will change the flavor.
- Seasonings – To season the meatballs, you will want ground nutmeg and allspice, fresh parsley, salt, and pepper.
- Butter – You could use olive oil if you prefer, but butter gives the meatballs a richer flavor.
For the sauce:
- Butter – You could use olive oil, but butter makes a richer flavor.
- All-purpose flour – This helps to thicken the sauce to get the perfect texture.
- Beef broth – While beef broth will give you the best flavor you can substitute with chicken broth if needed. Still delicious but not exactly the traditional flavor.
- Worcestershire sauce – There really is no good substitute for this.
- Heavy cream – The sauce will be thinner, but you could use whole or reduced fat milks, but the sauce will not get as thick.
How to Make Swedish Meatballs
Step 1: Mix and form the meatballs. In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, ground beef, onion, egg, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, allspice, and parsley and mix until combined. Next, use your hands to roll the mixture into roughly 1.5 inch balls.
Step 2: Cook the meatballs. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter, and then cook the meatballs in batches. Brown the meatballs on all sides and make sure they cook all the way through, which will take about 10 minutes.
Tip: The size of the meatball will affect how long you need to cook it so make sure you test one to ensure they are fully cooked.
Step 3: Make the sauce. See below for instructions.
Step 4: Add the meatballs to sauce. Once the sauce is ready, add the meatballs back in and cook for about 5 more minutes. Serve the meatballs and sauce over egg noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes.
Swedish Meatballs Sauce Recipe
Step 1: Remove meatballs from pan and make a roux. Once the meatballs are removed from the skillet, add the butter to the pan drippings and let it melt. Then whisk in the flour to form a roux. As it comes together, cook for about 1 to 2 minutes or until it begins to turn a golden brown.
Step 2: Stir in the broth. Once the roux is ready, slowly stir in the beef broth, whisking it as you go to ensure no lumps form. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes once the broth has been added or until the sauce begins to thicken.
Step 3: Finish the gravy. Finally, stir in the heavy cream and Worcestershire sauce and continue to cook until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add the meatballs in and continue to cook for 5 more minutes before serving.
If you love comfort food like this make sure you try our beef stroganoff, Salisbury steak, and chicken fried steak with gravy too!
How to Store Them
First, allow the balls to cool completely and then store in an airtight container with the sauce.
You can store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or up to 2 months in the freezer.
Allow frozen meatballs to thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
To reheat, place the meatballs and sauce in a saucepan with ¼ cup of beef broth or water and then cover with a lid. Heat the skillet over medium heat for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, or until warmed through.
If the sauce gets too thick as you reheat, you can turn the heat down to medium low.
Note: If you feel like the sauce is getting too thick as the meatballs reheat you can turn the heat to medium low.
While I like baked meatballs for this recipe I think pan frying is necessary.
It gives them a nicely browned crust on the outside that I love AND you get to use all of the pan juices for your Swedish meatball sauce which greatly enhances the flavor.
Traditionally, you serve Swedish meatballs with egg noodles. You can also serve them over rice, mashed potatoes, or with your favorite fresh bread.
While the meatballs and sauce aren’t low carb or keto, if you want to cut back on the carbs and calories you can serve them over cauliflower rice, cauliflower mash, zoodles, shitake noodles (like we used for our keto beef stroganoff) or palm noodles (like we used for our keto Cajun chicken Alfredo)
Looking for More Classic Comfort Food?
- Instant Pot Pork Roast and Gravy
- Keto Instant Pot Roast
- Beef Braciole {Italian Stuffed Steak}
- Red Wine Braised Short Ribs
- Chicken Fried Steak with Gravy
- Salisbury Steak Recipe
- Beef Stroganoff
- Beef Enchilada Casserole
- King Ranch Chicken Casserole
- More Comfort Food Recipes…
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Easy Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 8 ounces Ground pork
- 8 ounces Ground beef
- 1 medium Yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 large Egg
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Pepper
- 1/4 cup Unseasoned Breadcrumbs
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground allspice
- 2 tablespoons Fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons Butter
Sauce
- 3 tablespoons Butter
- 1/4 cup All-purpose flour
- 3 cups Beef broth
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup Heavy cream
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine ground pork, ground beef, onion, egg, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, allspice, and parsley. Mix the ingredients thoroughly then roll into 1 1/2 inch balls.
- Place butter in a large skillet and, working in batches, begin frying the meatballs, cooking them on all sides until they are perfectly browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes.
- Once meatballs are cooked set them to the side and begin making your sauce. Add butter to the skillet and once it is melted add the flour whisking quickly and forming a roux. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until it begins to turn a golden color.
- Slowly add beef broth whisking the whole time to keep it from getting lumpy. Once all of the broth has been added cook for 5-7 minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken.
- Add Worcestershire and heavy cream and continue cooking until the sauce is thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Add the meatballs to the sauce and cook them together for about 5 minutes.
- Serve over egg noodles or mashed potatoes.
Notes
Nutrition
This post first appeared on The Slow Roasted Italian website.
So good!
I haven’t made these yet, but I want to thank you for including the nutritional values with your recipes. I rarely visit blogs or pin recipes when this info isn’t included. Pinned! Are the noodles included in the values? T Y
Hi Vicky, I love having nutritional values on recipes too! We did not include the noodles in this nutritional information since people can serve these meatballs over rice, noodles, or potatoes.
This recipe was easy to follow and turned out awesome my family loved it. Thanks.
Great easy to fallow
Can these be done in the crockpot?
DELISH sauce! I substituted the heavy cream for Oat Milk Creamer and added a bit more butter towards the end and it was perfect!
My husband and I made your recipe together and it turned out great. Served over egg noodles. Oh , had to replace heavy cream with sour cream, so I guess it was ok! Thank you!
I can’t wait to try this recipe. It looks delicious. Thank you for sharing.
Can these go in the freezer?
After cooking, cool and chill the meatballs and sauce as quickly as possible (and within 2 hours of making) and then transfer to airtight containers and freeze for up to 3 months.
Came out delicious 🌷Thank you. I may try a dash of Marsala in the sauce next time.
Could I bake the meatballs and then add to the sauce?
Once meatballs are cooked set them to the side and begin making your sauce. Add butter to the skillet and once it is melted add the flour whisking quickly and forming a roux. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until it begins to turn a golden color.
I made the sauce, and rather than making the meatballs myself, I used store bought turkey meatballs and added them to the sauce in the same step where it says to add the meatballs back into the sauce. I thawed them first and let the sauce heat them the rest of the way through over the stovetop. It does work quite well. So making the meatballs separately is definitely a possibility. I know this is quite late, but I hope this actually answers your question.
Anyone know how many meatballs this recipe makes?
This makes about 20 meatballs.
This dish is absolutely delicious! My husband really likes it alot!!
I would like to make this and sub in xanthan gum for the flour.I have read that it should be 1 to 1 for the substitutions. When I have done that,it was in stew and the texture was kind of strange. Is there something I can do to avoid this?
Hi Jeri, It takes very little – start with as little as 1/8th of a teaspoonful to a cup of liquid. Xanthan gum gets slimy when too much is used.
Is the nutrition information for the whole recipe? Some big numbers there and no serving size is stated.
Hi Sandy, the nutritional information is for 4 servings so you would divide the meatballs and sauce into 4 equal portions.
Fabulous 👌
Curious if it matters if my butter is salted or not?
No just adjust your additional salt if you use salted butter.
Meatballs were very tasty. But the sauce was very salty. Will use unsalted next time
I made beef broth from bullion and I only had salted butter, so I didn’t add any salt to this recipe. It turned out great and we really enjoyed it. I had my kids help me so it took me closer to 90 minutes instead of 30, but that’s ok. I left a couple of the meatballs out of the sauce for them, but they liked them about equally both ways. The adults had mashed potatoes but the kids had Parmesan noodles since they don’t like potatoes.