There are many versions of Swedish meatballs, and this is the way we like ours. They're juicy, tender, and flavorful in a creamy and rich sauce. We enjoy them over mashed potatoes or buttered noodles and served with lingonberry sauce or cranberry sauce.
Ingredients
- cooking spray:
- bread crumbs: 1 cup (fresh)
- milk: 0.75 cup
- lean ground beef: 1 pound
- lean ground pork: 0.5 pound
- onion: 0.5 cup (finely chopped)
- fresh parsley: 0.5 cup (finely chopped)
- celery: 0.25 cup (finely chopped)
- egg, lightly: 1 piece (beaten)
- garlic: 1 tsp (minced)
- white sugar: 1 tsp
- salt: 1 tsp
- black pepper: 0.5 tsp (freshly ground)
- unsalted butter: 3 Tbsp
- all-purpose flour: 3 Tbsp
- beef broth: 2 cups
- Worcestershire sauce: 1 Tbsp
- reduced-fat sour cream: 1 cup
- fresh dill: 3 Tbsp (chopped)
- lemon zest: 0.25 tsp
- salt and ground black pepper: (to taste)
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a baking rack on top. Spray the baking rack with cooking spray.
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Combine bread crumbs and milk in a large bowl. Allow bread crumbs to soak up the milk for about 10 minutes. Mix in ground beef, ground pork, onion, parsley, celery, egg, garlic, sugar, salt, and pepper until combined; mixture will be fairly wet. Shape into 36 meatballs with a 1-tablespoon cookie scoop. Place meatballs on the prepared baking rack.
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Bake in the preheated oven until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a meatball reads 160 degrees F (71 degrees C), about 18 minutes.
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While the meatballs are baking, melt butter for sauce in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in beef broth and Worcestershire sauce until smooth. Cook, stirring often, until slightly thickened, about 12 minutes.
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Remove meatballs from the oven and add to the sauce mixture. Simmer for 3 minutes. Stir in sour cream, dill, and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
