Swedish meatballs with creamy mustard sauce

IKEA has released the recipe for their famous Swedish meatballs, complete with instructions for making their mouthwatering creamy mustard sauce. If like me, you’ve been missing these delicious morsels, I’m sharing the recipe with you so you can make them yourself at home.

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Swedish meatballs with creamy mustard sauce

I really enjoy the meatballs you can buy from IKEA, and I used to buy them all the time. Unfortunately, I moved house recently and my nearest IKEA is now over an hour’s drive away which makes it rather inconvenient. So you can probably imagine my delight when I found that IKEA had published their meatball recipe online. It even looks like the instructions for assembling a flat-pack!

I couldn’t wait to make them, but once I tried them I was a bit disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, they tasted good, but not quite what I was expecting. The texture wasn’t quite right, and they didn’t have the exact flavour that I was hoping for.

IKEA meatballs have a smooth, rather dense texture, whereas these meatballs in the recipe I tried have more of a crumbly texture – similar to the meatballs I normally make for these recipes:

• Meatball soup with vegetables and tomatoes
• Spicy meatballs with tomato sauce
• Spaghetti and meatball bake

And there was just something not quite right about the taste. The flavour wasn’t quite the same as I remembered.

So I tried again and made a few tweaks to the recipe. The result was much better, and a lot closer to the Swedish meatballs that I love.

Here is the original recipe if you would like to try it. If you want to see how I adjusted it, please read on ….

How to make Swedish meatballs

See the printable recipe card at the end of this post for the full list of ingredients and complete instructions for making my version of Swedish meatballs.

Ingredients

I found the original recipe made too many meatballs for 4 people so I’ve adjusted the quantity to 225g (or 8 ounces) each of ground beef and pork. If you prefer you can use just ground beef.

If you don’t have fresh breadcrumbs you can just grate 2 or 3 slices of day-old bread and add those to the meatball mixture. You will need 1 cup of breadcrumbs.

I also used 2 small eggs instead of the 1 egg in the original list of ingredients.

For the remaining ingredients, I stuck to the original recipe but added a quarter teaspoon of ground nutmeg and half a teaspoon of dried dill, and 1 teaspoon each of allspice, oregano, and parsley.

For the sauce, I stuck mostly to the original recipe but added Worcestershire sauce for extra zing.

What to do

Make the Swedish meatballs:

Place all the ingredients for the meatballs into the bowl of a food processor, fitted with a steel cutting blade, and then whizz them around to process the meat. This makes the texture of the meatballs less crumbly.

If you don’t have a food processor, you can just mix everything thoroughly with your hands. The texture of the meatballs will be more crumbly than dense though.

Roll golf-ball-sized pieces of the meat into balls and place them onto a plate. Put the plate into the fridge and leave for half an hour or so to allow them to firm up before cooking. Depending on the size you make these meatballs, you should get approximately 20.

Top tip – when rolling the meatballs, keep a dish of clean, cold water to dip your hands into. The meat will not stick to wet hands.

Fry the meatballs gently in a little olive oil until they are nicely browned on all sides. Use a pair of tongs to turn the meatballs so that they brown evenly. Once browned, reduce the heat and continue to fry until cooked through. This should take about 5 minutes. Test for doneness by cutting one meatball in half. There should be no pinkness showing.

Depending on how many meatballs you have made you may need to fry them in batches. Don’t overcrowd the pan or the meatballs will stew in their own juices rather than brown.

Transfer the cooked meatballs to a serving dish and keep warm while you make the creamy mustard sauce.

Make the creamy mushroom sauce:

For the cream sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan and then stir in the flour until there are no lumps. Continue to cook, stirring over low heat, for another minute.

To make the stock, dissolve 1 vegetable stock cube and 1 beef cube in one and a half cups of boiling water and pour into the butter and flour mixture. Whisk over low heat until the mixture thickens, then remove from the heat and mix through the cream, soy sauce, and dijon mustard.

Pour the sauce over the meatballs in the serving dish, garnish with chopped parsley and serve over a pile of spaghetti.

How to serve Swedish meatballs

Why not try serving these meatballs on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes, or fluffy white rice, pour the sauce over the top, and serve them with a side dish of fresh green vegetables, such as broccoli or peas.

Cut the meatballs in half, top with a slice of lettuce, tomato, and onion, and serve them inside a hamburger bun with your favourite burger sauce.

Make smaller meatballs, skewer them on toothpicks, and serve as an appetiser with a bowl of the creamy mustard sauce for dipping.

And of course, don’t forget a side helping of IKEA’s Lingonberry jam. If you can’t get your hands on that, you could use cranberry jam instead.

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Can I freeze Swedish meatballs?

These meatballs freeze really well.

Arrange the raw meatballs in a single layer on a baking tray that has been lined with baking parchment to prevent the meatballs from sticking to the tray. Place the tray in the freezer and leave until the meatballs are frozen solid, then transfer the meatballs to a large plastic Ziploc bag and freeze for up to 6 months.

To use, allow to defrost in the refrigerator and then fry as per the recipe instructions.

Can I make Swedish meatballs in advance?

You can make and assemble this dish up to 3 days in advance, allow it to cool, and then and store covered in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat it.

To heat, cover the baking dish with tinfoil and place in a hot oven (200C / 400F) for between 10 and 15 minutes until heated through.

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