Swedish meatballs or köttbullar, my simple recipe that guarantees success. If you’ve ever been to an Ikea restaurant, you might have tasted Swedish meatballs. I first tried them at Ikea and then directly in Sweden in many different versions, the most typical being the one with reindeer meat! It had been a long time since I’d made them at home, and I realized I didn’t even have the recipe on my Blog. So, here it is today, I want to share my recipe for making delicious Meatballs with béchamel sauce and lingonberry jam. They are very tender and slightly spiced meatballs immersed in a sauce made like béchamel but with broth instead of milk, and then served with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam. A perfect combination of aromas and flavors that I’m sure will win you over if you try them. You can even prepare the meatballs in advance and freeze them; in fact, in the Swedish specialty store found within the most famous furniture store, you can buy them frozen. What do you say, have I convinced you to try them? Let’s head to the kitchen and make Swedish meatballs together
AND DON’T MISS THESE RECIPES TOO:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: For 4 people
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Swedish
- Energy 283.91 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 8.60 (g) of which sugars 0.45 (g)
- Proteins 11.02 (g)
- Fat 22.86 (g) of which saturated 7.33 (g)of which unsaturated 11.21 (g)
- Fibers 0.92 (g)
- Sodium 1,029.00 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 165 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Homemade Swedish Meatballs
- 14 oz mixed ground meat
- 1 potato
- 3 slices white bread
- 1 egg
- 1 oz flour
- as needed extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- as needed salt
- 10 fl oz vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
How to Prepare Ikea Meatballs
Peel a medium-sized potato, wash it, and let it cook in water for about 20 minutes. If you prefer, you can also cook it in the microwave. Mash the potato with the help of a potato masher or simply with a fork.
Put the mixed ground meat in a bowl. Add the ginger, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Also add the mashed potato and the finely crumbled white bread. Add an egg and mix well with a fork.
Now form the meatballs. Take a small ball of mixture, flatten and roll it between your hands to form a meatball. Form all the meatballs in the same way until the mixture is used up.
Roll all the meatballs in a bowl of flour. Heat 3-4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a pan and brown the meatballs well on all sides. Transfer the meatballs to a plate.
Using the same pan, prepare the brown sauce. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of flour. Let it toast slightly, stirring with a wooden spoon, then add the boiling vegetable broth. Let the sauce thicken over low heat, stirring often. Adjust the salt.
When the sauce reaches a creamy consistency similar to béchamel, put the meatballs in the pan and let them season over low heat for 5-6 minutes, covering the pan with a lid. Serve the Swedish meatballs with their sauce, accompanied by mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam
See you tomorrow with a new recipe, hugs, Loredana
Loredana’s Tips
You can freeze the Meatballs before cooking them by placing them on a tray, but also after cooking them in the pan
If you prefer, you can replace the vegetable broth with meat broth
If there are leftover Meatballs, store them in a container in the refrigerator for 2 days
If you can’t find lingonberry jam, you can replace it with classic blueberry jam or a currant or berry jam
Don’t miss my recipe for Lemon Chicken Meatballs
