Ikea’s Iconic Swedish Meatballs

Ikea’s Swedish Meatballs are legendary. Up until a few days ago, the recipe was a carefully guarded secret. However, like several other organizations responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ikea released the recipe for its iconic meatballs so that fans could enjoy them at home. I tried my hand at making Swedish Meatballs. Here’s what I learned!

First, in the interest of full disclosure, I’ve never had Ikea’s meatballs. Therefore, I didn’t have anything really to compare them to. After two attempts at making them, however, my view is that they are amazingly delicious and super easy to make!

About the Recipe Ikea Released 

The meatball ingredients are pretty standard. They include ground beef, ground pork, onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, egg, milk, salt, and pepper. 

However, weights in the recipe that Ikea released were metric, i.e., in grams. Therefore, I spent some time converting from grams to US cups and ounces. The conversion yielded some non-standard weights. For example, the Ikea recipe called for 500 grams of ground beef which is 17.637 ounces, or slightly over a pound.

Because of the non-standard US weights, I scaled the recipe back such that it used one pound or 16 ounces of ground beef and comparable proportions of the other ingredients.

If you’ve read my blogs, you probably know that I’m a major geek when it comes to recipes and weighing the ingredients. No exception here!

The Ikea recipe called for mixing the meatball mixture by hand after successive additions of the ingredients. The first time I made the meatballs, I followed the published procedure. However, as I was making the meatballs, I kept thinking that I should have just combined all ingredients in the food processor.

I used the food processor the second time. The meatballs made with the food processor were superior in all respects!

The cream sauce for the meatballs is made like a standard béchamel sauce. However, the ingredients differ somewhat. In addition to the standard butter and flour, the cream sauce included vegetable broth, beef broth, heavy cream, Dijon mustard, and soy sauce.

The first time I made the cream sauce, I thought that it was all right but not exceptional. The second time I made it, I added some salt and pepper at the end. That made all the difference in the world! 

The soy sauce that I used was low sodium. Perhaps if I had used regular soy sauce, I wouldn’t have needed to add the salt!

Making the Ikea Swedish Meatballs – What I Learned

As I previously indicated, I used the food processor to combine the ingredients for the meatballs. This produced a finer texture for the meatballs not unlike the texture of British sausage if you’ve ever had that. Both the Master Taste Tester and I thought that the resultant texture using the food processor was superior!

I started by adding ground beef and ground pork to the food processor fitted with a steel blade. I processed the meats for about 10 seconds to combine them.

Next, I added the onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, egg, milk, salt, and pepper to the meat mixture and processed it for about 20 seconds.

I took a small amount of the meatball mixture and cooked it in the microwave for about 20 seconds to see if the salt and pepper amounts were correct. It was perfect for my taste! Had I needed to add more salt and/or pepper, this would have been the time to do it.

I formed the meatballs by scooping the mixture into a 1 ¾-inch ice cream scoop and rolling it into a ball between my hands. I ended up with 28 meatballs.

Per Ikea’s recipe, I refrigerated the meatballs for 2 hours before cooking them. The reason given was that refrigeration helped to hold the mixture together. This was definitely the case when I mixed everything together by hand. However, because of the consistency from the food processor, I’m not really sure that refrigeration was necessary. 

When the time came to cook the meatballs, I heated some vegetable oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, I browned the meatballs on all sides. Then, I transferred them to an ovenproof dish. I covered the dish with aluminum foil and baked the meatballs in a 350°F oven for 30 minutes.

Making the Cream Sauce for the Ikea Meatballs

As I previously indicated, the cream sauce was made like a béchamel sauce.

I started by melting the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Then, I whisked in the flour. I let the mixture cook for several minutes to get rid of the flour’s taste. Then, I whisked in the vegetable broth and the beef broth. 

Once the sauce started to thicken, I added the cream, Dijon mustard, and soy sauce. I whisked the sauce until it was smooth and bubbly. I tasted the sauce and thought that it needed a bit of salt and pepper, which I added. That’s it!

The Verdict

After the two attempts at making Ikea’s Iconic Swedish Meatballs, my conclusion is that they are amazing, especially when the meat mixture is combined in the food processor.

The meatballs were tender and flavorful. The garlic really contributed to the flavor. The cream sauce was delicious and perfectly complimented the meatballs.

I served Ikea’s Swedish Meatballs with some sauce spooned over them, along with mashed potatoes and green peas. I added some sliced beets for color! Yum!

Chula’s Expert Tips

• I used 90% lean ground beef. In pinch, you could also use 85% ground beef.
• I actually used the food processor to “grind” the pork. To do this, I put 2-inch chunks of Boston butt in the food processor fitted with a steel blade and processed it for 10 seconds. The result – perfectly ground pork!
• If you use regular table salt in place of Kosher salt, reduce the amount by about ¼ teaspoon. Table salt is finer than Kosher salt, so a teaspoon of table salt actually has more salt than a teaspoon of Kosher salt.
• You can use chicken broth in place of vegetable broth and/or beef broth.
• I used low-sodium soy sauce in this recipe. If you use regular soy sauce, the salt content might be all right. I would suggest that you taste the sauce to see if more salt is needed.
• I thought that the cream sauce made with the low-sodium soy sauce needed a bit more seasoning. Therefore, I added ¼ teaspoon of Kosher salt and a few grinds of black pepper.
• I used a 1 ¾-inch ice cream scoop to initially form the meatballs. Then I rolled them between my palms to round them off.

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