Swedish "Meatballs" Meat Sauce with Egg Noodles - The Spice Kit Recipes (2024)
· by Jenn @ The Spice Kit Recipes · 2 Comments
Swedish “meatballs” meat sauce with egg noodles is a delicious, quick, easy, inexpensive dinner and a nice change from the usual noodle, or Hamburger Helper routine.
Do you love meatballs but sometimes don’t feel like getting your hands all icky and taking the time to make them? Me too! I was recently having a random craving for Swedish Meatballs, which I’ve never made. I didn’t have a recipe of my own to reference so I did a Google search and a whole slew of recipes came up- they all looked so good! Which recipe do I choose?
I decided I wanted to do something Swedish Meatball-ish for the blog and, being the rebel I am, couldn’t conform to the standard Swedish Meatball recipe. I decided to kinda sorta deconstruct it- making a slightly different, easier, less messy, Swedish Bolognese, or dare I say, Swedish Hamburger Helper. Yikes!
Did I just say the “H.H.” words as in a meal from a box? Remember those? Maybe you still eat them. Nothing wrong with them. They’re certainly quick and get the job done, but they’re usually loaded with salt so we steer clear from the “helper” type purchases. Plus, we both like to cook so we’ll just make our own!
While this recipe looses the breadcrumbs and eggs, it still maintains the classic Swedish Meatball ingredients using ground pork and lean ground beef. I chose to use 90% lean ground beef because ground pork tends to be on the fattier side and I’m not a fan of really greasy, fatty meat. Ok. Sometimes I am, just not this time :).
I found the juices and grease that was leftover from browning the meat was a perfect base for making the delicious, creamy sauce. So to make up for my savings, I added 4 Tbsps. of butter. OK. So now I’m contradicting myself. It sounds like a lot, but this recipe should feed at least 4 people, so it’s not too bad. Right?
Whisk in the flour, broth, sour cream, allspice and nutmeg and you have a tasty, spicy, Scandinavian sauce to switch-up your usual dinner routine that is perfect for drowning egg noodles in. And since my daily to-do lists seem to be growing…. and growing…. that leaves me with less and less time for cooking and cleaning- which is bad…. and good. Adding the noodles in the sauce is a time and cleaning saver = SCORE! And voila! A delicious, comforting 1 pan meal. Hope you guys enjoy!
5 cups low sodium beef broth, divided ½ cup and 4½ cups
⅔ cup sour cream
1 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. each allspice, nutmeg, salt
Instructions
Heat oil in a large saute pan on medium heat. Add onion and saute about 5 minutes.
Add beef and pork and cook until browned, about 5-6 minutes. Use a potato masher to crumble the meat.
Sprinkle in salt and spices and mix to combine.
Using a large slotted spoon, transfer meat mixture to a plate leaving the juices in the pan.
In a measuring cup whisk together ½ cup broth with the sour cream until well combined and set aside.
Add butter and flour to the saute pan (the heat is still on medium) and whisk together until you get a smooth paste. Continue whisking for a minute or 2.
Turn off heat and whisk in the 4½ cups of beef broth stirring for about a minute. Now add the ½ cup broth mixed with the sour cream and continue whisking another minute until everything is well combined and smooth.
Whisk in sugar, salt and spices and increase heat to medium.
Add noodles and meat. Cover and bring to a boil. Uncover and simmer cooking 5-7 minutes until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally.
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.
Roll the finished meatballs in plain flour before frying. This is, hands down, one of the easiest ways I've discovered to prevent meatballs from falling apart when cooking.
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.
No, they're basically the same things, with a different sauce. Italian meatballs are flavored with garlic and parmesan cheese, Swedish with onion and nutmeg. The first gets tomato sauce, the latter beef gravy. Just choose the one you prefer, they're both tasty.
As the collagen in the meat dissolves over time, it transforms into gelatin, which not only adds a silky texture to the sauce but also contributes to the overall richness and depth of flavor. The longer the simmer, the more tender and succulent the meatballs become.
Egg and breadcrumbs are common mix-ins to add moisture and tenderness. Another binder option that people swear by is a panade, which is fresh or dry breadcrumbs that have been soaked in milk. “The soaked breadcrumbs help keep the proteins in the meat from shrinking,” as food writer Tara Holland explained in the Kitchn.
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.
Norwegian recipes are made with all beef, while some Swedish recipes also use pork. Norwegian meatballs tend to be larger and flatter than their Swedish cousins.
Made in Sweden to a traditional recipe combination of pork and beef, they are truly versatile and can be eaten cold, straight out of the pack as a snack, or heated up as a main meal.
With Swedish meatballs, the meatballs are usually made beef or pork (or both!) and smothered in a rich and creamy gravy. Sweden made this dish famous, but it was actually adapted from a recipe brought back from Turkey in the early 18th century by King Charles XII of Sweden.
The meatballs themselves are made with a combination of ground beef and pork, along with a touch of allspice and nutmeg. Onions and garlic add flavor and texture, and milk, egg, and breadcrumbs act as a binder. Finally, Parmesan cheese is a little “Cozy” touch that adds a subtle pop of flavor.
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.
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.
Mix ground beef, ground pork, egg, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger with onion in the mixing bowl. Lightly mix in bread crumbs and cream. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Pinch off about 1 1/2 tablespoon meat mixture per meatball; form into balls.
Flavored with nutmeg and cardamom, these little beef-and-pork meatballs are best served with a Swedish meatball sauce—a rich roux-based and beef stock gravy, spiked with sour cream and a little lingonberry jelly.
Address: Suite 228 919 Deana Ford, Lake Meridithberg, NE 60017-4257
Phone: +2613987384138
Job: Chief Retail Officer
Hobby: Tai chi, Dowsing, Poi, Letterboxing, Watching movies, Video gaming, Singing
Introduction: My name is Zonia Mosciski DO, I am a enchanting, joyous, lovely, successful, hilarious, tender, outstanding person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
