Classic Swedish Meatballs – Like Grandma Used to Make

These Swedish meatballs are a classic recipe with a flavorful mix of spices and a deliciously creamy sauce. They’re a perfect appetizer at any holiday party.

Swedish Meatballs are a Long Holiday Tradition

Swedish meatballs bring me back in time to dinners at my grandparents house. For many years, Christmas Eve dinner would be at their house and these homemade Swedish meatballs were often on the menu. 

Grandma, of course, would have a creamy mashed potato side dish on the table along with homemade lefse (with butter and sugar or lingonberry jam!) to serve with her meatballs, which was also such a treat. This was definitely a favorite recipe for my whole family.

Looking for a Lost Recipe

Over time, I realized that I had never made these tasty Swedish meatballs myself and decided it was time I gave a nod to my Swedish heritage. I thought for sure I would be able to find my Grandma’s Swedish meatball recipe somewhere among my recipes.

I was quite certain I didn’t have her hand-written recipe, but I thought for sure she would have contributed her recipe to her old church cookbook, which I did have. But sadly, it wasn’t in there. (Side note: If you’re looking for some new recipes, the old-school church cookbooks are a great place to start!)

I’ll keep looking for it, but I fear it’s lost for good. I had some ideas of what went into her traditional Swedish meatballs, but still needed some help.  

A Swedish Meatball Recipe to Make my Grandma Proud

So with those ideas, along with some research, I came up with what I think is a fairly authentic Swedish meatballs recipe that my Grandma would approve of. As I said, she always served her meatballs with mashed potatoes and lefse, but I thought the meatballs on their own would make a great appetizer to add to any holiday spread.

These homemade meatballs are not difficult to make, but they do have a list of wonderful, warm spices that you may not think of putting into meatballs. The meatballs traditionally have allspice and nutmeg in them, which is something I suspected, but it’s certainly not an expected ingredient in a savory dish. More expected, is the addition of thyme and garlic.

Overall, the flavor of the meatballs as well as the sauce is supposed to be mild. For that reason, I used dried onion and onion powder to flavor the dish. I didn’t want any one flavor to be overpowering. 

The result, I believe, is spot on. The flavor is mild and the meatballs are soft, tender bites of perfection. As I said, these make a perfect holiday appetizer, but you certainly could serve them as a main course.  

Serve them with either mashed potatoes, as my Grandma did, or over rice or egg noodles. All are absolutely delish! 

Can You Make Ahead and Freeze?

You certainly can freeze this dish. The trick is that you do need to make the entire dish ahead of time. It’s really not feasible to make the creamy Swedish meatball sauce separate from the meatball mixture.

So, make the classic Swedish meatballs recipe and put the combined meatballs and cream sauce in an airtight container or a freezer bag. When you are ready use them, let them thaw to room temperature. 

​Once thawed, put the meatballs into a large skillet to heat them up. If the sauce is a little thick, use chicken stock to thin to a better consistency. In a short time, you have some delicious meatballs ready to serve!

Enjoy!

Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Swedish Meatballs

• Make sure you allow the bread crumbs to soak in the heavy cream for the full 10 minutes to make sure they get nice and soft.
• I highly recommend using heavy cream rather than half and half or milk. The heavy cream helps give the meatballs their soft and tender texture as well as keeping them nice and moist.
• Don’t skip the browning step. This will give the meatballs a nice, crispy outside and is a wonderful compliment to the tender texture on the inside of the meatballs. The crispy outside also adds a lot of flavor.

Ingredients Needed to Make Classic Swedish Meatballs

Full instructions are found below in the recipe card

• Lean ground beef – Using lean ground beef balances out the fat found in the ground pork.
• Ground pork
• Plain bread crumbs – You’ll want to use regular bread crumbs versus panko bread crumbs in order to get that perfect soft texture.
• Heavy cream – Heavy cream keeps the meatballs soft and moist.
• Water
• Dried onion
• Garlic powder
• Thyme
• Allspice
• Nutmeg
• Fresh parsley – Brightens the flavor and the color of the meatballs.
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Olive oil
• Pan drippings from the meatballs – This will be used for the creamy gravy sauce.
• Flour
• Sweet paprika
• Onion powder
• Chicken stock – If you don’t have chicken stock you can use chicken broth.
• Worcestershire sauce
• Sour cream – I recommend full fat or low fat sour cream rather than fat free. The sauce will turn out thicker with full or low fat.

How to Make Swedish Meatballs

Meatballs

• Combine bread crumbs with heavy cream and water in a small bowl and let soak for 10 minutes.
• Add remaining meatball ingredients on the list (through black pepper) to a separate large bowl.
• Once breadcrumbs are done soaking, add them to the meat mixture in the large bowl.
• Mix well with your hands until well-combined.
• Form into 1 inch meatballs.
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
• Brown meatballs on two sides.
• Remove from skillet and set aside.

Cream Sauce

• In a small bowl, combine flour, paprika, onion powder, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
• Heat meatball drippings in same skillet over medium heat.
• Add flour mixture to drippings, stirring with a whisk to coat with the fat.
• Gradually whisk in chicken stock.
• Cook until mixture comes to a bubble and thickens.
• Stir in Worcestershire sauce and sour cream.
• Reduce to low heat.

Combine and Serve

• Transfer meatballs back to skillet, cover and simmer in the sauce for 20 minutes until meatballs are no longer pink.
• Serve on their own or with mashed potatoes or rice.

More Meatball Recipes for Your Holiday Entertaining

• Lamb Curry Meatballs
• Instant Pot Cranberry Barbecue Meatballs
• Bacon Cheeseburger Meatballs
• Sweet and Sour Party Meatballs
• Honey Mustard Meatballs
• Asian Meatballs
• Bacon Wrapped Blue Cheese Meatballs