Swedish Meatballs

I remember my Norwegian grandma making meatballs at Christmas, as an alternative to lutefisk.  After a fantastic Swedish meatball lunch at Ikea, I decided to try making meatballs from scratch at home.  I started with Grandma Gunda’s recipe for Norwegian meatballs.  True to her roots, Gunda’s recipe called for mashed potatoes instead of breadcrumbs, and added ginger to the spices.  She also used chopped onion.  This was a very traditional Norwegian recipe for meatballs, and I used it when Patrick’s cub scout den had a pot luck of “foods from your family tree”.  Unfortunately, my Norwegian meatballs were a flop.  They were very soft, and the kids objected to the lumps of onion.  After that, I tried several variations of Swedish meatballs which required cooking the meatballs in a skillet and using the drippings to make gravy.  They were a lot of work, the meatballs often fell apart in the pan and the gravy was inconsistent.  I rarely have leftover mashed potatoes lying around, but I’ve always got dried breadcrumbs in the pantry.  Using grated fresh onion instead of diced onion works really well and doesn’t leave onion lumps.  And cardamom, a common Scandinavian spice, gives a real Swedish meatball taste and smell. Instead of browning them in a pan, I bake them in the oven.  Brown gravy is easy enough to make on the stove using butter, flour and beef broth.  I like to add a can of cream of celery soup to make it a little creamier, and to stretch out the sauce.  Swedish meatballs can be served with either wide egg noodles or boiled potatoes.  When the boys were little and we were running around to sports practices every night, I made Swedish meatballs by starting with frozen turkey meatballs and cooking them in the crockpot all day.  The homemade variety is a lot better.

Quicker Alternative
Frozen turkey meatballs
1 can of  beef broth
1 can of cream of celery soup
½ teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

Stir together soup and broth in a large crock pot. Add meatballs, and cook on low all day.  Sometimes I add quartered potatoes to the pot, and sometimes I cook wide egg noodles separately and serve them on the side with butter.  

Swedish Meatballs

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 50 minutes mins

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Norwegian

Servings 6

Ingredients

  

Meatballs

• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs. ground meat a combination of beef and pork
• 3/4 cup dried breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup grated onion use a cheese grater
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2 eggs

Potatoes

• 2 1/2 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes

Gravy

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups beef broth or one 15 oz. can
• 1 can cream of celery soup optional

Instructions

 

• Mix all meatball ingredients, except the meat, in a large bowl. Add the ground meat and mix to combine using a fork or your hands.
• Use your hands to shape into 1 inch balls (or slightly larger) and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes.
• Wash and cut the potatoes into approximately 1 inch cubes. Place the potatoes into a large stockpot and cover with water. Boil for about 20 minutes, or until a fork can be easily inserted into the potatoes.
• To make the gravy, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the flour and whisk to combine. Gradually add the beef broth and continue whisking and stirring until the gravy is thickened. Add cream of celery soup and additional water, if needed, to reach the desired thickness. If you opt not to use the soup, you may want to double the gravy recipe.
• Serve meatballs and potatoes topped with gravy.