Slow Cooker Swedish Meatballs Recipe - The Recipe Critic (2024)

FAQs

What is the sauce for Swedish meatballs made from? ›

The sauce for Swedish Meatballs is a creamy gravy that is made with butter, beef broth/stock, thickened with flour and made creamy with cream. But the most important flavour for the a really good creamy gravy is the pan drippings after searing the meatballs.

One disadvantage to the slow cooker is that meatballs may fall apart if you put them in the pot raw. By partially cooking the meatballs before you put them in the slow cooker, you can ensure your meatballs do not fall apart.

Add a lightly beaten egg, but not too much. Egg acts as a binder for the ingredients, but you only need a small amount. One small egg will do for one pound of minced meat. Alternatively, if you're following an egg-free diet, you could soak fresh bread in milk, squeezing out any excess milk, to use as a binder.

Norwegian meatballs are served in a brown gravy, while Swedish meatballs are made with a cream sauce.

The Seasoning

While both varieties include ingredients such as grated onion and panade (milk-soaked bread) or bread crumbs, plus the usual salt and pepper, Swedish meatballs traditionally use spices like allspice, nutmeg, white pepper, and sometimes ground ginger as flavoring.

How to Thicken Swedish Meatball Sauce. The all-purpose flour in this recipe should do the trick to thicken your Swedish meatball sauce to the right consistency. But if it doesn't, you can add a cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 2 tablespoons of water) to thicken it up.

Leaving the meatballs out of the sauce until the last 30 minutes of cooking ensures that they stay juicy and tender.

The longer the simmer, the more tender and succulent the meatballs become. 3. Concentration of Flavors: Simmering at a low temperature for an extended period also encourages the sauce to reduce and thicken.

I have done them with panko, crusty bread, crushed Ritz crackers, and once a few packages of Cheese sandwich crackers because I didn't have anything else that night. All of them add different characteristics to the end product but all came out good and unique. Try both and see how you like it.

How do you cook compliments Swedish meatballs? ›

Cooking & Usage Tips

Preheat oven to 180℃ (350ºF). 2 Heat remove frozen meatballs from packaging and place in a single layer on a baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven and heat for 20-25 minutes, turning halfway, until heated through.

Traditional Swedish way: Do not make the cream sauce at all. Serve meatballs over plain or stewed macaroni, plain or mashed potatoes, and lingenberry jam (optional)

They're made with all-natural ingredients

The Ikea website lists the ingredients of their meatballs (which Ikea calls ALLEMANSRÄTTEN), and the rundown is surprisingly simple: Meat (a combination of pork and beef, for texture, flavor, and juiciness), onion, breadcrumbs, egg, water, salt, and pepper.

Meatballs are as quintessentially Swedish as it gets. In their most traditional form Swedish meatballs ('köttbullar') are made of ground pork and beef, cream, egg and onion, and are served with creamy mashed potatoes, a thick, brown gravy, lingonberry jam and pickled cucumber.

Iconic Swedish cream sauce: Melt 40g of butter in a pan. Whisk in 40g of plain flour and stir for 2 mins. Add 300ml of bouillon (or consommé) and continue to stir. Add 150ml double cream, 2 tsp of soy sauce and 1 tsp of (Dijon) mustard.

Stroganoff sauce has mushrooms, while Swedish meatball sauce does not. Another key difference is the seasoning for each sauce. Swedish meatballs are typically seasoned with spices like nutmeg and ginger, while Stroganoff sauce includes paprika, onion powder, and thyme.

McCormick Sweedish Meatballs Sauce Mix (2.11 oz Packets) 4 Pack.

Traditional Swedish way: Do not make the cream sauce at all. Serve meatballs over plain or stewed macaroni, plain or mashed potatoes, and lingenberry jam (optional)