Copycat IKEA Swedish Meatballs

These copycat IKEA Swedish Meatballs are easy enough for your family to indulge in any day without dragging them all to the store.

IKEA Meatballs at Home

Classic Swedish Meatballs are a comforting yet nutritious meal to enjoy when hosting a dinner party or a night in with family or friends. Best of all, everyone will love you for making them. Who knew you could make this IKEA favorite at home?

Sure, you can buy a bag of them frozen but we’re showing you that they’re not as intimidating or hard to make as one may think. All you need are the right spices and an easy way to make the sauce. (We also recommend buying a jar of this lingonberry jam to serve on the side.)

Making Swedish Meatballs

The meat used in a typical Swedish meatball is a combination of ground pork and ground beef, which is what I used in this recipe. This meat duo is incredibly flavorful and makes the perfect meatball, especially paired with the sauce.

Speaking of sauce, I told you I have an easy way to make it. One shortcut you can take is using condensed cream of mushroom soup if you are anxious about making the sauce from scratch. However, I am sharing just how easy it is to make the sauce/gravy from scratch for that authentic Swedish meatball flavor. Really, all you need to know how to do is whisk together the butter and flour to make the roux and slowly add in the liquids being used. (By the way, I recommend using a flat whisk like this when making roux. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes).

In this recipe we use heavy cream. Just go with it. No skimping because you simply won’t get the right consistency and flavor if you use milk.

Serve over egg noodles and garnish with parsley then serve to your family and watch their excitement over enjoying their favorite copycat IKEA meal at home.

Copycat IKEA Swedish Meatballs

Contributor: Tawnie Kroll

These copycat IKEA Swedish Meatballs are easy enough for your family to indulge in any day without dragging them all to the store.

• Author: Tawnie Kroll
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: 28–30 meatballs 1x
• Category: Entrée
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: Swedish

Print Recipe

Ingredients

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• ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
• 2 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• 1 lb. ground pork
• 1 lb. ground beef
• ½ tsp. white pepper
• ½ tsp. granulated garlic
• ¼ tsp. allspice
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 and ½ cups heavy cream
• ¼ cup beef broth
• Parsley for garnish

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200°F.
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together panko breadcrumbs with eggs and milk. Then with clean hands, mix in ground pork, ground beef, white pepper, garlic, allspice, and salt. Mix well and roll into golf ball sized meatballs.
3. In a large frying pan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter and place half of the meatballs in the hot pan, about 1 inch apart from each other. Cook on one side for 3-4 minutes and then flip. You can hold the handle of the pan to push the meatballs around to roll them instead of having to flip them individually. (This helps to retain their shape).
4. Once the meatballs are cooked through, put them on a baking sheet in the oven to keep them warm while you cook the second batch of meatballs. After each batch, de-glaze your pan with ¼ cup cold water to clean the little bits of meat up. Reserve this liquid each time to use for your gravy in the next step.
5. When you have finished cooking the second batch of meatballs, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in the pan. Take it off of the heat. Add the flour and whisk to form a roux (a thick smooth paste). While continuing to whisk, drizzle in the reserved deglazing liquid.
6. Gradually pour heavy cream in, about ¼ cup at a time, whisk until smooth before adding ¼ cup more. Repeat until cream is gone. Then whisk in beef broth.
7. Return pan to heat and cook over medium until it comes to a simmer. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.
8. Combine meatballs and gravy then serve over egg noodles. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

This post originally appeared in February 2018 and was revised and republished in January 2021.