Hallå and Hej Hej (that’s “hello” in Swedish)! If you’ve been to a certain, well-known giant blue and yellow Swedish furniture store to get items you can’t quite pronounce, chances are you made a stop at the cafeteria for their famous Swedish meatballs. (Confession: I’ve gone there strictly to eat a plate or two of them). Well now you’re going to make it at home where they’re way easier to make than putting together furniture and, dare I say it, taste way better! Serve over a bed of egg noodles for maximum comfort.
Making The Meatballs
Pressure Cooking
Boiling Egg Noodles
Making The Gravy
Serving the Swedish Meatballs
The Taste Test
Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs
If you've been to a certain, well-known giant blue and yellow Swedish furniture store to get items you can't quite pronounce, chances are you made a stop at the cafeteria for their famous Swedish meatballs. (Confession: I've gone there strictly to eat a plate or two of them). Well now you're going to make it at home where they're way easier to make than putting together furniture and, dare I say it, taste way better! Serve over a bed of egg noodles for maximum comfort.
Ingredients
The Meatballs
- 1 1/2 pounds ground meat of your choice (I use a meatloaf mixture of beef, veal and pork, but any ground meat you prefer will work - see Jeff's Tips)
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg, slightly beaten
- 3 cloves (1 tablespoon) garlic, crushed or minced
- 2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
- 1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice (secret ingredient!)
- 2 cups beef broth
The Gravy
- 5 tablespoons salted butter
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 (1-ounce) packet beef gravy or au jus mix
- 1 teaspoon - 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (optional - add up to 1 tablespoon if you want more of that flavor in it)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch + 2 tablespoons water
The Bed (all cooked separately according to package instructions)
- Wide ribbon egg noodles
- Rice
- Steamed Vegetables
Instructions
- With clean hands, mix all of the meatball ingredients (except for the broth) in a large mixing bowl until a giant meatball is formed. Pinch some meat off and roll into balls around the size of Ping-Pong balls or Pinballs. Depending on the size rolled, you'll get about 24-36 meatballs.
- Pour the broth in the Instant Pot. Then, add the trivet or a steamer basket to the pot. One by one, place the delicate meatballs on the trivet or in the basket. Secure the lid, move the valve to the sealing position, and hit Manual or Pressure Cook for 10 minutes. When done, allow a 5-minute natural release followed by a quick release.
- Meanwhile, as the meatballs are cooking, prepare any of The Bed options according to their package instructions, if desired. Also, make a cornstarch slurry by mixing together the cornstarch and water. Set aside.
- Remove the cooked meatballs from the pot and hit Cancel followed by Sauté and Adjust to the More or High setting. Add The Gravy ingredients except for the cornstarch slurry. Once the butter's melted and all is combined into the sauce (you can whisk or stir), stir in the slurry where the gravy will thicken immediately. Hit Cancel to turn the pot off.
- Return the meatballs to the pot and stir into the sauce. Add The Bed options to a bowl and serve with meatballs and gravy over it. Perhaps add a dollop of lingonberry jam, if desired.
Jeffrey's Tips
For vegetarian meatballs, use Impossible or Beyond Meat for the ground meat!
You can make them keto and gluten-free by using breadcrumbs compliant to those lifestyles.
You can make these meatballs dairy-free by replacing the milk and cream with an unsweetened nondairy milk. Use a plant-based butter in place of the regular butter for the sauce.
You can make it paleo by following the keto and dairy-free suggestions above.
Sandie
When and where is the 2 cups of beef broth used?
Jeffrey
Check the recipe card at the bottom 😉
Jennifer
I thought you were Jewish not Swedish! 🤣
Just kidding. these look delish. already saved and I’m thinking (dreaming) about tonight’s supper.
Donna Kirby
I have frozen meatballs I can just make the gravy in the pot right?
Jeffrey
Yup!
Celia Frost
Have you tried browning with the airfryer top yet?
Jeffrey
Many times! My books provide info on that!
Erin
Do you empty the broth when you take out the meatballs or use it as per of the gravy?
Jeffrey
It stays in the pot – check out the video!
Linda Wiley
Sounds so good, but sadly, as in so many of Jeff’s great recipes, I have not found a replacement for heavy cream for us WW Life Members!
Jeffrey
Try an unsweetened nondairy milk such as almond, soy, cashew or oat! You na also try light cream.
Jennifer
I made this with skim milk instead of the whole milk and heavy cream (I didn’t have them on hand) and the recipe turned out great! I think it’s the gravy mix that helped thicken the sauce. I also used 4 tablespoons of butter instead of 5. I think you might be able to tweak it to make it more points friendly
Mikey
He’s making a copy cat version of Ikeas Swedish meatballs. Tweaking isnt necessary.
Diane Cuthbertson
We can use evaporated light milk.
Diane Cuthbertson
Also Anna van Dyken has Swedish meatballs on the app, she uses 70ml light cream, I’ve cooked this one and it’s beautiful.
Theresa
My 95-year-old father cannot have dairy products. I have used oat milk in place of dairy milk. He was a dairy farmer (Wisconsin folks) and to go from dairy to no dairy has been quite a challenge. There is dairy in so many tasty recipes.
Try using oatmilk as many meatloaf recipes ask for “oat flakes” so I think you would have great success using an oat milk in place of the dairy milk.
Vicki T
I use nonfat or lowfat Greek yogurt all the time as a replacement for heavy cream and it tastes wonderful!
Robin Hadley
I’m new with the instant pot and your presentation is helping me “get to it.” Thank you so much for squelching my fear of my marvelous IP!
Jeffrey
This is everything to me! You’re so welcome!
Allison
Saw this recipe and immediately had to make it. I can’t believe how easy it was in the instant pot. The gravy was a bit to salty for me but could be because I used au jus. Really great recipe will be making again.
Jeffrey
So glad you enjoyed! And yes – Au Jus is a bit saltier than beef gravy.
Beverly Schutt
I used the beef gravy packet and I also found that it was overwhelmingly salty almost to the point of ruining the meal
Betsy Parker
Could I make and freeze these and take out a few at a time and make a small amount of gravy? Just two of us here!
Hilary Van Drunen
These were amazing!
Colleen Chennell
What is lingoberry jam
Shelley
The elixir of Swedish summer–you can find it at Ikea 🙂
Mike
I am curious–could cream of mushroom soup be used in place of the gravy / au jusM packet?
Jeffrey
Give it a shot!
Liz Barron
This turned out great!!! I melted the butter in the microwave first (didn’t read the directions completely) but it didn’t affect it at all. My husband absolutely loved it.
HollyHolly Brynjulfson
I’m enjoying using my instant pot for so many recipes. These are next! My grandmother used evaporated and condensed milk for her Swedish meatballs if anyone is interested in that.
Svetlana
I made this for dinner tonight. I didn’t change a thing. This is another great recipe I will put in my mix (most of the recipes I use are yours). The meatballs smelled great before cooking, I could’ve eaten them raw (just kidding). Very yummy!
Sam Welch
can I use the frozen meatballs?
Suz IP Queen
Made this tonight and it was excellent. I had half and half instead of whole milk and it worked out great. Another one for the rotation…!!! Thanks, Jeffrey!
Teresa Branham
I’ve made this recipe several times now and every time I make it its a huge hit with my family!! I absolutely love it and it’s so easy to make!!
Jeffrey
Win Win!
E Marie Ramczyk
Can I use my own cooked ahead frozen meatballs and what would the cooking time be? Thank you!
Laurie
Oh my goodness. So delicious! Made this for the first time and will definitely make it again!
Jeffrey
Fab!
Dianna
Jeffery can I use a silicone basket instead of the mesh basket. Excited to try this recipe. The IKEA meatballs are not what they used to be (flavor wise) and the price has gone way up. I am sure your version will be much better!
Jeffrey
Enjoy!