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 the Swedish Meatballs, scaled to US measurements. Here's what I learned!
Ingredients
Ikea Meatballs
- 1 pound (16 ounces) ground beef (See Tip 1)
- ½ pound (8 ounces) ground pork (See Tip 2)
- 1 cup chopped onion (1 medium onion)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ¾ cup (3.2 ounces) dried breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- 5 Tablespoons (2.5 ounces) milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons Kosher salt (See Tip 3)
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
Cream Sauce
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (4 ounces) vegetable broth (See Tip 4)
- ½ cup (4 ounces) beef broth (See Tip 4)
- ½ cup (4 ounces) heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce (See Tip 5)
- Salt and pepper to taste (See Tip 6)
Instructions
Meatballs
- Add ground beef and ground pork to a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process for 10 seconds or until combined. Add remaining meatball ingredients. Process for 20 seconds or until combined.
- Take a small amount of meatball mixture; microwave for 20 seconds or until done. Taste for seasonings. Correct if necessary.
- Form mixture into golf-ball-sized meatballs. Refrigerate for 2 hours. (See Tip 7)
- Heat oven to 350°F
- Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add 9 to 10 meatballs; brown on all sides. Remove from pan; drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining meatballs. Place browned meatballs in an ovenproof dish. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 30 minutes.
- Yield: 28 meatballs.
Cream Sauce
- Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of flour; stir for two minutes.
- Whisk in vegetable broth and beef broth until bubbly and thickened. Whisk in cream, mustard, and soy sauce until smooth and bubbly.
- Yield: 1 ¾ cups of Cream Sauce.
Video
Tips/Notes
- I used 90% lean 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 to 1 ¼ teaspoons.
- You can use chicken broth in place of vegetable broth and/or beef broth.
- I used low-sodium soy sauce. 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 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.
Nutrition
Calories: 453kcalCarbohydrates: 17gProtein: 26gFat: 31gSaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 151mgSodium: 996mgPotassium: 470mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 573IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 79mgIron: 3mg
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