Swedish Meatballs with Cream Sauce (Ikea Recipe)

Ikea has made known their Swedish dishes around the world, especially the Swedish meatballs attract countless fans. Every now and then, my hubby and I would drop in their restaurant to taste their signature dish. To me, the lingonberry jelly is a must-have add-on. If without it, I’d feel it won’t be Swedish at all.

You can tell how I’m addicted to Ikea meatballs, when spotting the picture of Ikea cookbook below. Yes, I did buy their cookbook just for wanting to make the dish at home. The original recipe in the cookbook, uses Swedish measurement, that is dl instead of ml. Although I tweaked slightly by replacing breadcrumbs with the unsweetened rusk flour simply because I couldn’t find any here from supermarkets, my family was very satisfied with the end result.

Do you like Swedish meatballs? Or do you whip up your own meatball recipe? If so, feel free to drop a line to share with us.

Swedish Meatballs with Cream Sauce (recipe from Ikea's Real Swedish Food Book ) (Printable recipe)

Ingredients:

• 250gm minced beef
• 250gm minced pork
• 1 egg
• 200-300 ml cream and water (or milk and water) (I used half milk and half water)
• 2½ Tbsp onion, finely chopped
• 50 ml unsweetened rusk flour (I used ½ cup of breadcrumbs.)
• 2 cold boiled potatoes
• 4-5 Tbsp butter, margarine or oil
• salt, white pepper (allspice)

Method:

1. Heat the onion till golden in a couple of tablespoons of lightly browned butter.
2. Mash the potatoes and moisten the rusk flour in a little water.
3. Mix all the ingredients into a smooth mixture of the right consistency and flavour generously with salt, white pepper and (optional) a little fine-crushed allspice.
4. Use a pair of spoons rinsed in water, shape the mixture into relatively large, round balls and transfer to a floured chopping board, then fry them slowly in plenty of butter.

Ingredients of cream sauce:

• 100 ml cream
• 200 ml water or beef stock
• Chinese soya sauce (I used 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce.)
• 1 Tbsp white flour
• salt, white pepper

Method:

1. Swirl the water or beef stock in a pan. (Cook over medium heat.)
2. Add cream and thicken with white flour if preferred. Season well with salt and pepper.
3. Serve the meatballs with the sauce, freshly boiled potatoes (I used extra potatoes to make mashed potato), uncooked lingonberry jam and salad.

Enjoy the authentic taste of Swedish meal!

Note: 

• As a few readers asked me whether the potatoes are for making meatballs or for making mashed potato. Sorry for a bit of confusion. The "2 cold boiled potatoes" in the section of "ingredients" are for making meatballs. Whereas the mashed potato served on side shown in the above pictures are extra.