swedish meatballs & cream sauce

More often than not, a trip to IKEA for us includes a stop for some Swedish meatballs. It’s been awhile and there’s no IKEA here on Vancouver Island so I decided I need to start making some myself. These are so good AND I make a dairy-free cream sauce (thanks for nothing lactose intolerance) which tastes totally spot on.

for the meatballs:

~45O grams ground beef / ~450 grams ground pork / 1/2 cup panko crumbs / 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley / 1/2 tsp ground allspice / 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg / 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped / 1/2 tsp garlic powder / 1 tsp sea salt / 1/2 tsp ground black pepper / 2 large eggs / 2 tbsp unsalted butter / 1 tbsp olive oil

for the cream sauce:

6 tbsp unsalted butter / 7 tbsp all-purpose flour / 3 cups beef stock / 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce / 2 tsp dijon mustard / 3/4 cup heavy cream OR plant-based cream (I like Earth’s Own ‘for cooking’ oat cream) / salt and pepper to taste

optional: chopped fresh parsley for garnish

First, in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, heat up 1 tbsp of the butter and then add in your chopped onions. Cook while stirring until soft and translucent. Then in a large mixing bowl, add in the cooked onions, beef, pork, panko, chopped parsley, allspice, nutmeg, garlic powder, salt and eggs. Using your hands, mix everything together until just combined – over-mixing will make the meatballs tough so mix just until it’s all come together.

Using your hands, roll the mixture into 1 inch meatballs and set aside on a tray.

Preheat the oven to 200F.

Using the same large skillet as for the onion, heat up the remaining 1 tbsp of butter and the olive oil over medium to medium high heat. Add the meatballs, working in batches, and cook while turning occasionally so that all the sides brown up nicely. Keep cooking until the meatballs are cooked through; about 10 minutes or so (I like to just cut one open to check, just to be sure).

When your meatballs are cooked through, transfer to an ovenproof dish and and cover with aluminum foil. Put in the preheated oven to keep warm and get started on your next batch of meatballs. Continue and repeat until you’ve finished cooking all the meatballs.

Then it’s time to do the sauce. In the same skillet without cleaning it, add in the butter for the sauce over medium high heat and once melted, whisk in the flour to make a roux. Cook while giving it a stir for a few minutes and then add in the beef stock. Whisk while cooking until the stock has thickened up and then add in the Worcestershire sauce, dijon and cream. Whisk until smooth and the sauce is the consistency of a thick gravy. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Take the meatballs out of the oven and ladle the sauce over top. You’ll have more than enough sauce which is perfect so you can serve alongside some cooked egg noodles or mashed potatoes. If you’d like, scatter some chopped parsley on top. Enjoy!

turkey meatballs

These are the best meatballs, seriously.  And they’re made out of extra lean turkey so that’s a bonus!  This is adapted from a recipe by Jessica Alba (yes, the actress who I’m not sure actually acts anymore) from when she appeared on Martha Stewart.  She uses pretty basic meatball ingredients (except for maybe zucchini and carrot) but what I really like about her recipe is that she simmers the meatballs in chicken broth. Turns out this is a fantastic trick to keep them from turning out dry and makes them extra tasty.

This makes about 1 and 1/2 dozen meatballs

5oo grams of extra lean ground turkey  /  1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs  /  1 large egg  /  1/4 cup finely chopped onion  /  1/4 cup finely chopped carrot  /  1 tbsp Italian seasoning  /  1/2 tbsp salt  /  1 tsp garlic powder  /  1 tsp ground black pepper  /  1/2 cup chicken broth, no salt added (if you have regular sodium chicken broth, you’ll definitely want to cut out or cut down the salt in the recipe) /  avocado or grape seed oil

*I didn’t have any on hand and couldn’t be bothered to go out and get one but you can also add in 1/4 cup finely chopped zucchini

Toss all the ingredients except for the chicken broth and the oil into a large bowl and simply mix it all up with your hands until everything is well combined.  Then roll them into meatballs that are roughly the size of golfballs.

Heat up a thin layer of avocado oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat.  Add the meatballs and cook, giving them a flip every now and again, until they are browned.  This takes about 5 to 7 minutes.

Once your meatballs have browned up nicely, turn the heat down to low and add half of your chicken broth.  Cover with a lid and let it cook until the chicken broth is almost all absorbed, which will take another 7 minutes or so.

Take off the cover and add the rest of your chicken broth.  Turn your heat back up to medium and then let your meatballs cook uncovered until all the liquid is gone.  And that’s it!  We’ve eaten these before with just some salad and tonight we had them with some spaghetti.  Enjoy!