If you have ever been to an Ikea store, you must have tried the popular IKEA Swedish Meatballs. It’s really hard to walk through the floors of the store without wanting to taste these meatballs covered in a delicious, creamy sauce that melts right in your mouth, right?
The recipe for Ikea Swedish meatballs was one of their closely guarded secrets for years, but not until recently when the company decided to share it with their customers so that anyone can make it from their homes.
Since the coronavirus pandemic has forced them to temporarily close their stores like many other businesses and companies around the world, they didn’t want to deprive their customers of their signature meal. That’s how they’ve come up with the idea of making an alternative recipe for one of their most popular meals.
They even made an illustration with some of the directions in the same way they do for assembly instructions. Namely, the taste and texture of this popular Ikea meal were developed with the help of Ingvard Kamprad, Ikea’s founder. Ever since then, the meal is served in more than 430 stores around the world, selling over 1 billion meatballs per year.
Even though the recipe they shared isn’t exactly the same as the original, it’s still the closest thing you can get to their Swedish meatballs. And, it’s a million times better than the frozen bags you buy in the Swedish Food Market.
How to Make Ikea Swedish Meatballs
Meatballs is probably the most popular Swedish dish, but Ikea’s version is probably even more popular. The traditional Swedish meatballs are typically served with cream sauce, potatoes, and lingonberry jam.
The Ikea’s recipe explains how to make their delicious meatballs with creamy gravy, but it’s up to you how you’ll enjoy them. It’s super easy and makes the perfect meal for any day of the week.
You may wonder why your standard meatballs don’t taste like the ones you buy at Ikea, but there are a few things you do differently. One of the key differences between the meatballs you make at home and Ikea’s meatballs is the ground meat.
While you probably use only ground beef, their recipe includes pork and beef. That’s one of the secrets to making the perfect Ikea Swedish meatballs.
All ingredients for this recipe are easy to find. You can even cook the meatballs in advance and freeze them so you can have dozens of them ready when you crave for the Ikea classic meal.
However, if you plan to make an extra batch of meatballs that you’ll store in the fridge for later use, make sure you cook them just before they are browned.
In fact, this is how Ikea cooks them. They use frozen, pre-cooked meatballs which are only warmed through. So, feel free to roll them, put them in the fridge, and cook them frozen.
Read on to find out how to make one of Ikea’s most popular recipes.
Ikea Swedish Meatball Recipe
Course: MainCuisine: SwedishDifficulty: Easy4
servings10
minutes15
minutes280
kcalThe reward at the end of your IKEA trip has to be getting your hands on the IKEA Swedish Meatballs. Skip having to go into IKEA with this recipe.
Ingredients
- Ingredients for the Meatballs
1/2 pound 1/2 ground pork
1 pound 1 ground beef
1 finely chopped onion
2/3 cup 2/3 breadcrumbs
1 garlic clove, minced or crushed
5 tbsp. 5 whole milk
1 egg
Salt and pepper
- Ingredients for the Cream Sauce
3 tbsp. 3 butter
Dash of oil
3 tbsp. 3 plain flour
2/3 cup 2/3 vegetable stock
2 tsp. 2 soy sauce
2/3 cup 2/3 beef stock
1 tsp. 1 Dijon mustard
2/3 cup 2/3 thick, double cream
Directions
- Directions for the Meatballs
- Mix the ground pork and beef in a large bowl, making sure there are no lumps.
- Stir in the chopped onion, breadcrumbs, garlic, and egg.
- Once everything is combined well, add the milk and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Form small, 2-inch meatballs from the mixture and put them on a plate. Cover them and put them in the fridge for 2 hours, or at least 45 minutes. In that way, they’ll preserve their ball shape, brown evenly, and don’t form into lumpy looking rocks.
- Heat oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, place the meatballs carefully and brown on all sides.
- Place them in an oven-safe baking dish and cook in a preheated oven to 350°F/180°C for 30 minutes.
- Directions for the Cream Sauce
- Melt the butter in a frying pan or skillet.
- Whisk in the flour constantly stirring for two minutes.
- Stir in the beef stock and the vegetable stock.
- Add the double cream, Dijon mustard, and soy sauce. Bring to a simmer and let the sauce thicken on low heat constantly stirring to prevent sticking.
- Set aside from the heat.
- Once you have your meatballs and cream sauce ready, all you have to do is pour the sauce over them and devour.
Notes
- If you prefer eating the meatballs without the savory sauce, fry them for five more minutes.
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How to Serve Ikea Swedish Meatballs
You can always enjoy them covered in the delicious, creamy sauce, but you can also combine them with mashed or boiled potatoes and lingonberry jam, pasta, noodles, or topped with chopped parsley.
Some even love them without the sauce, so it’s really up to you. No matter how you eat your Swedish meatballs, we’re sure you’ll enjoy them!
Conclusion
If you’re one of the many Ikea customers that can’t walk through the stores without buying Ikea’s signature meal, we have some good news for you.
Ikea has recently published the alternative recipe for their Swedish meatballs covered with a thick, savory cream sauce that tastes almost as good as the original.
Now, you can make your own copycat IKEA Swedish meatballs at home and enjoy them with your entire family. They are a million times better than the frozen ones you buy from the Swedish Food Market.
Enjoy them covered with the thick, cream sauce, or combine them with some mashed or boiled potatoes just as they are traditionally served in Sweden.
The best thing about knowing how to make these meatballs is that you can make a huge batch of them and store them in the fridge for later use. Bon appetite!
