The Amazing Swedish Meatball

SAUCE REVIEW. This review is for the sauce only. I live in Sweden and needed a fast sauce to make with the meatballs that I had just made. I thought that I had a sauce pre-made, only to find out that I was wrong. Sheesh.... Anyway, I made this sauce, which looked strange to me, but, I was desperate. Well, I ended up making mashed potatoes and having the meatballs with slices of cucumber instead. A Swedish meat sauce should be brown like gravy, not creamy and definetly not like this one. And just another comment, the IKEA sauce for the swedish meatballs is actually very close to the made from scratch sauce.

Well, I wish I could write two reviews for this recipe. Good news or bad first? I'll start with the bad-we were not impressed with the sauce recipe by any means. Thankfully we all taste-tested it prior to adding the meatballs. I whipped up a white cream sauce as an emergency alternative since the other sauce was pretty much inedible. Ok, on to the good part. The meatball recipe here is excellent, I was very impressed with flavor and texture-they will be good with other sauces and I look forward to preparing them again. Hope others have better luck than I did with the sauce!

Yowza is right Kari! These were incredible to say the least. I don't normally eat red meat merely because I don't really care for it, however, there's always an exception to every rule and this was it! I've spent many years looking for the perfect S.M. recipe and my search has finally ended. I did make a couple of changes to suit out tastes. To the meat mixture I added more seasonings; garlic and onion powders, etc. After the meatballs were cooked in the oven, I took them out of the casserole dish and placed them on a separate plate. I added beef broth (not water) to the casserole dish and cooked on a low flame in order to loosen the browned bits from the bottom. I then used that to make the sauce. No matter what any recipe calls for, I always double the amount of liquid. In this case I added two cans of low salt cream of mushroom soup. Again Kari, I'm totally impressed with your wonderful recipe and so were my hubby and kids. Thanks!

This wound up being a great recipe, but I made SIGNIFICANT changes to the sauce. I hate it when people review when they've made a lot of changes, but I think the sauce recipe, as written, must be a mistake. I wouldn't want anyone to take the time to make this to be disappointed with the outcome. when just a few changes made a fabulous sauce. I did make the meatballs with ground turkey (since that was all I had), and they turned out quite well - other than that, I made them as written. For the sauce, I used butter instead of oil, chicken stock instead of water (but use beef stock if you are using beef/pork for the meatballs) and just a bit of salt. I'm not afraid to use salt in my cooking, but a whole tablespoon here has to be a mistake. The sauce turned out so good, I made it again and served it with roasted chicken.

Excellent with the sauce change left by another user: 2 cans cream of mushroom soup, hot sauce, 1/2 cup milk, 1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt. Very good, my husband was raving!

This review is for the meatballs ONLY as I used a different sauce. The mix of ground beef and ground pork is perfect for these. They were very good. I used 1/4 c. of finely chopped onion vs. 1/2 c. and upped the bread crumbs to 1 cup. I used 2 tbsp. of milk, added some garlic powder and 1/4 tsp. of allspice. I baked these at 450 for 15 minutes. For the sauce I used "Basic White Sauce" from this site that I added dried parsley, garlic, worchestershire sauce, dried minced onion, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a little sour cream. I served everything over egg noodles and my husband loved it.

DO NOT USE THIS SAUCE!!!! Whomever loved this recipe, I'm willing to bet they have a psychological addiction to salt. The meatballs were okay, but still contained WAY too much salt. I should have known, when I was adding the amount of salt they told me to add, a red flag went up and I thought... this is more salt than I have ever added to any recipe of this amount of meat and/or sauce ingredients. Don't ask me how I knew, it was just WRONG. I have not re-tried this recipe without the salt, but I'm suggesting that if you really want to use this recipe, you may try using 1/4 the pepper, 1/4 the salt in both the sauce and the meatballs and then, MAYBE it will be okay. I would not reccomend this recipe.

One must remember to read the reviews before trying any recipe. Too much salt in the sauce. End of story. Reduce salt to 1 teaspoon and everything comes out just fine. But, as written, the recipe gets only one lonely star.

This was an excellent recipe, but I was horrified when I read the nutritional information. I made a couple changes to make it less fattening - I used lean groud turkey instead of the beef and pork, and I also used skim milk. The only other changes I made was that I added fresh garlic and other spices. It was delicious! I used a different sauce which consisted of 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, 1 cup of reduced fat sour cream, skim milk, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. The recipe was incredible!

This is the best homemade Swedish meatball recipe i have ever used. Modified a little but great. I work at a restaurant and used this for a lunch special and it went off without a hitch. loved by all at the Greek restaurant I work in. THank you...After reading others reviews it seems many people were knocking the SAUCE...People if you cook your meatballs half way and then place them in the sauce to finish in the oven this sauce turns brown and has a true swedish flavor...remember a recipie is a base for your creation dont knock it till you have modded it... :)

My husband is the pickiest eater and loved them. I did use onion powder in place of the chopped onions. I also used olive oil instead of veg oil for the sauce. The sauce did not taste good alone , but when mixed with the meatballs was very good. I will make this again very soon. Thanks.

I was looking for a recipe for Christmas Eve and came across this one. If you authentic SM, don't use hot sauce or garlic or mushrooms. The spice the Swedish use besides salt and pepper is allspice. Butter is the correct fat and the flavor from the sauce is from the browned meatballs. If needed, use a little beef broth. This info comes from my brother-in-law directly from Sweden.

The sauce was very disappointing, it hardly had any taste to it.

The salt content in this recipe was WAY to high. I recognized this immediately and halved it. It was still too much. I would also recommend cutting down on the paprika. Cut down on the salt and I would give the meatballs 3 1/2 stars.

I have been looking for a good SM recipe, and this one was the best i have found since my mothers. i too, made a few adjustments: instead of water i used beef broth. i used more paprika and to the sauce i added garlic powder. i also added nutmeg to the meatballs. Thank you for posting this great recipe!

The meatballs were good but I did not care for the sauce.

It was very bland. Really all the sauce is made up of is flour, water and sour cream. Will definitely have to make changes next time. Heres some suggestions: use chicken or beef stock instead of water add cream of mushroom soup to the sauce as well put worcestershire in sause as well as meatballs add garlic or onion powder Hope that helps

We went to Ikea, a Swedish-based department store, and got Swedish meatballs at their restaurant. They were delicious and we wanted to find one exactly like it. This was the closest we've come. Made with 1 lb. ground pork, 1/2 lb. ground beef based to ingredients on hand. Cut the salt in sauce down to 1 teaspoon, and it was awesome!! Served with egg noodles and mashed potatoes. My mom claimed they were better than Ikea's!!!! Just made these for a second time, the RIGHT way, with 1 lb. ground beef and 1/2 lb. ground pork. Just as good, I could barely taste the difference! I also added a little more flour to the sauce to make it slightly thicker. Served to company and they loved it!

This is almost identical to my Swedish Meatball recipe. The difference is that I brown mine in oil on the stovetop, then make the gravy on the basis of the drippings. I use milk insted of water and usually add some beef base or bullion

Meatballs were great but the sauce was very very BLAND. I had to fool with it to make it eatible.

The meatballs were very good. I used my own sauce which is not Swedish at all. Thin a can of cream of mushroom soup with your favorite barbecue sauce until it is the right consistency. No one can ever guess what ingredients are in the sauce. Thanks for the meatball recipe. I may even try it with marinara sauce.

I just cooked this for my boyfriend and I thought it was really bland. I gave it a C+ and he gave it a B-. If you decide to do this recipe anyway, take it out at the 30 min and briefly fry them in butter or something that would give it some flavor. Then add the sauce, but instead of using boiling water, use beef stock. Then eat the meatball with lingonberries (or cranberries) to add some more taste to it.

The meatballs were good. The sauce was BAD. It was weak and had no flavor. I thought it was a bad idea to add water to the sauce, but I did it anyway.... I threw it out and made a different sauce.

TOOOOOO SALTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The meat balls recipe was awesome. Because of the sauce reveiw, I didn't even try it, but went with Linda McLean's sauce, and the whole thing just rocked. Awesome combonation! I would have given it a 5 star rating if it were'nt for the sauce listing.

I agree with previous posters: the meatballs themselves were great, the sauce was a little bland. I replaced the parsley in the meatballs with fresh cilantro, and it provided a nice kick. I put about a tablespoon of instant coffee mix into the sauce with the paprika, salt, and pepper. Then, when adding the boiling water, I threw in two beef bouillon cubes. Used a full cup of sour cream instead of 3/4 of a cup, per the instructions. The drippings from the meatballs do the rest. Good cooking, everybody!

Yucky. This one went into the trash. Cutting the salt to 1 tsp didn't help.

This recipe was awesome, but waay too salty. Definitely going to to cut the salt in half for next time so it's more edible. I replaced the water with 2 cups of beef stock and added 8 oz of sour cream AND a can of cream of mushroom soup. It really would've been fantastic with less salt. :(

We enjoyed these meatballs but weren't saying "Wow". I made a different sauce, and served them over egg noodles. I'd try the meatballs one more time.

This was an amazing sauce recipe. I used pre-made meatballs and altered the recipe slightly by increasing to a cup of sour cream and about a half tablespoon of dried onion. I baked the frozen meatballs while I made the sauce, but because they were precooked, it only took the dish about twenty minutes total: ten to warm the meatballs, and a little over ten after smothering them in the sauce. We put ours over buttered egg noodles... similar to beef stroganoff, but better!

As I read what other reviewers said about the salt in this recipe I was curious and so checked my 1976 Betty Crocker cookbook. I was surprised to find it is the identical recipe with the exception of the amount of salt and pepper. It used the same amount of salt in the meatballs but only 1/8 tsp of pepper and the sauce uses 1/2 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp of pepper. I did use this recipe then making a couple of changes from other recipes and reviews I read. I sauteed the onions first, used broth in the sauce instead of water and used 2/3 butter and 1/3 oil. It tastes good but I am taking it for a lunch at work tomorrow so will know then how everyone likes it. I'm going to add a little nutmeg as well. I'm sure the basic recipe is good if salt and pepper are modified.

I decided to try something different for dinner tonight. I should have known it would be too salty with the amount of salt called for (and I followed it exact) but you live and learn. I'm sure the meatballs themselves are great though. Sorry.

I was craving meatballs last night, and found this recipe. It was WONDERFUL!!!!! I was so impressed that I asked my best friend to stop in and try it,....well she is making it tonight!!! The only things I changed were #1 omit pork (I don't eat it),#2 add onion and garlic powder to meat mixture, and #3 I cooked the meatballs in the oil and then used that to make the gravy (I figured it would add a little more flavor to the sauce). Incredible recipe, it will be a regular at my house from now on. THANK YOU!!

this is a great recipe i cooked them about 30 min longer so they wouldnt be so soft they could use less salt, but other than that awsome

Easy to make and delicious! I however use Jessica's Swedish Meatball I's receipe for the sauce. But for the meatball, Kari got the greatest receipe. Taste just right (not too salty) and they are really juicy.

Cut the salt for the meatballs in half (from 2 tsp to 1 tsp), and we didn't care for the sauce for the meatballs until we added a packet of dry mushroom flavored gravy. Then it was delicious. Meatballs were a bit on the spicy side, and not very firm because of the addition of ground pork to the ground beef. I'll probably make again though.

Way, way, WAY too salty, as noted elsewhere, to the point of being inedible. We dumped the whole batch. I can only imagine that the people who rate this highly are cutting the salt by perhaps 75%.

This recipe is awful, the meatball was ok the sauce was gross paprika does not go into swedish meatballs

Everyone I have served this to has loved it. Thank you for sharing it.

great recipe a hit with the kids also great for them to help with husband said i had to make it more often thanks

Excellent meatballs - very good sauce. Very close to my Swedish grandmother's recipe.

These are just ok ,but really not Swedish meatballs without the addition of allspice ,I think that's what was missing here.

TOOO SALTY! I was disgusted! I do not understand why this recipe has four stars! I have had so much luck on this website with great recipes, especially when they have four or five stars. I could kick myself for not reading the reviews first! I made this for dinner and none of us could stomach it! Our dinner was ruined and we ended up eating pb&j's for dinner! What a waste of my time!

It's favor was very odd. I read the reviews before hand, cut back on the salt, added nutmeg, etc. and it didn't help. I didn't add the sauce over them to bake because I did not like it. Thinking I could salvage the meat balls, I made some strognaff hamburger helper and put the balls in with that, but even that did not work for me.

This recipe is very underrated! I have to agree with many of the contributors that you need to go easy on the salt, but other than that it's great! I do not always have ground pork on hand and it's still great with only ground beef!

Wanna make it fluffier? Use only 1/2 lb of beef! Wanna make it faster? Coat the bottom of a covered skillet or sauteuse (if you want more sauce) with the oil. Sear the meatballs, cooking and lightly browning the outside. Remove the meatballs and then add the flour, whisking continuously (like making white sauce). Then add the water to which you have added the paprika and the salt & pepper to taste. Mix well. Return the meatballs to the pan and cover. Simmer until done. Yummy!

I made this dish for my family and everyone ate them all up. I decided to make it with potatoes.

Good. I put to much pepper in the second time I made it but its good. I also added bell peppers the second time I made it (Seeking in some veggies for those that need them). If you reheat it put it and a couple table spoons of milk in a sauce pan and heat through. Add your egg noodles towards the end of heating. It will taste better then the first day you had it!

Way too much salt in both the meatballs and the sauce. I should have trusted my instincts and lowered the amount of salt but I did not and my families Good recipe but with 1/2 the amount of salt.

I used all pork for the meatballs and in addition to the regular recipe for the sauce I added 1 can undiluted mushroom soup just so that I had lots of sauce to cover the meatballs in my casserole dish ( I browned the meatballs in my teflon frying pan first then transferred them to simmer in a casserole on a very low oven for a couple of hours). Nice savoury flavour without being spicy that should appeal to a lot of adults and kids, will make again for sure.

Just looking at the ingredients in the sauce left something to be desired, so I omitted some items and added some. I only used 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, instead of water I used beef stock and added a quick sprinkle of onion powder over the top of sauce while boiling. I poured the sauce over frozen meatballs (I work and thats just quick and easy)in my slow cooker then added sliced mushrooms. It turned out pretty good, the original recipe seemed bland.

Who needs all that oil to a make a sauce.

I should have read the reviews first. This was BEYOND too salty. I love salt, so if it was too salty for me, WOW. The salt in the meatballs was probably too much as well. Otherwise I guess it was ok.

I use a different sauce but this recipe is very much like my grandmother's, she's Norwegian. I make these meatballs to go with our ham at Christmas and everyone loves them.

these meatballs were great! i'm not sure what others were saying about the sauce because it turned out really good. it tasted kinda bland on its own but went really well with the meatballs. i cut down on the cooking time by frying the meatballs with pam first and adding sauce and cooking in the over for the last 15 minutes.

These are so great! I made a batch for dinner and my family just loved them. Thanks Kari!

I used turkey instead of beef/pork and everything went well except they needed less time in the oven. My only real concern here is the 'sauce', it has absolutely no flavor! I needed to add one can of Campbell's Mushroom cream soup as well as one can of Campbells Chicken cream soup for flavor/texture. Otherwise, a good recipe!

The sauce for these meatballs was awful, and came out something akin to salty flour water. I would reccommend using beef broth or cream of mushroom soup instead of the flour and water combo. You could definitely taste the flour.

I thought these meatballs were great. The meatballs themselves could use a little less salt, maybe a quarter to a half less. I read the reviews beforehand so I wasn't too surprised with the spiciness of the sauce. It was quite spicy and not very creamy. I don't think this is bad, it just depends on your taste. I might add Cream of Mushroom soup next time to reduce the spiciness and increase the creaminess. I used 1 tsp of salt instead of the misprinted 1 tbsp. I also added nutmeg to the sauce (the same amount as the other spices). I also used margarine instead of the oil for the sauce. It was pretty good, but I think it'd be better with the soup. I tried to cook the meatballs in a loaf pan, but they didn't brown very well that way. I used a cookie sheet for ones that wouldn't fit in the loaf pan and they browned very nicely. I used 3/4 pound of ground beef and it yielded 13 meatballs.

I'm not going to lie - the sauce wasn't that great. I needed a sauce mix because I messed up my McCormic packet (accidentally cut it wrong and put everything in the meatball mixture- that I actually really do recommend by the way, lol). Anyway, I used maybe a pinch of salt because there was no WAY I was going to put that much into it.. The flavor came close but it was missing something, and unfortunately I'm not sure what. The consistency, etc was all great, it was just very mild. I'm going to try it again with some of the previous suggestions.

Way tooooo salty in sauce and meatballs, I should have read the reviews, my fault dinner is in the garbage now!

Should have known better than to put that much salt in the sauce but did anyway. If you make this, DRASTICALLY reduce the salt, better yet, find a different recipe!

while the sauce leaves a bit to be desired, the meatball itself is excellent!

Yucky. I made this for a new romance of mine (a chef, of course) and had to massively revamp the sauce so it was at least edible. Salty Salty Salty and BLAND!

These were just what I was looking for! I could tell that 1 tbsp. would be too much salt in the sauce, so I reduced it to 1 tsp. and it came out great!

I have never tasted anything as bland as this recipe. I prepared it for dinner last night and was extremely disappointed as was my family.

This would have been perfect. The sauce should only have a teaspoon of salt. Wow it was tooo salt w/ a tablespoon

I used ground turkey instead of beef, but sill a good meal.

1 tablespoon of salt is TOO SALTY!! Try with 1/2 tsp first and then if more is needed it can always be seasoned at table. Other than that, quick and excellent recipe.

meatballs were delish. After reading reviews about sauce I just added can of mushroom sauce, no flour 1/2 cup broth

I did not care for this recipe.

I wish I would have read the other reviews before diving into this recipe. The meatballs were OK so the three stars is for that. The sauce is terrible and I think it must be written wrong. It tasted like too thick salty flour. I followed the directions with the exception of adding a tablespoon of salt. That seemed too much and I used 1 teaspoon. Still it was too salty. Also I think it had too much pepper and paprika. So, I dumped half of the sauce down the drain and began adding more liquid to tone down the thickness, salt and other seasonings. I added a splash of Worcester and a quarter teaspoon of beef bouillon. It is now edible, but I would not make it again.

Not a good sauce. I made a large batch for an anniversary party and it stayed in the pot. I followed the recipe to the letter except used less salt because of other reviews and it tasted like salty flour soup. Will not make this one again, sorry.

This sauce was RIDICULOUSLY salty!!! I had to throw the whole first batch out. Thank goodness I was able to salvage the meatballs! I cooked it the second time with only a teaspoon of salt and it was actually quite good!

this was easy to follow -easy to make and was gobbled up by my picky eater children. My seven yr old loved how there was so much sauce!( just the right amount for the noodles) and my four year old would not even slow down to talk at dinner.. she shoveled it in and asked for seconds.. the meatballs are just perfect!

Very similar to the meatballs at Golden Coral. Probably needs some minor tweaking, but otherwise very good.

Really good but a little to salty for my liking

I had never made Swedish Meatballs before but my husband told me how much he likes them. I made this recipe and "Amazing" they are. Easy to make, absolutely delicious. I'll be making this recipe for my family regularly. Thanks!

Way too much salt in the sauce, should have probably been 1 tsp instead of 1 tablespoon. Meatballs themselves are great though.

the meatballs were very good. i added a little nutmeg to the meat & used a different sauce. i kept them warm in a crockpot & they were the hit of the party! (leftovers were even better w/ egg noodles)

Made this for my family they love it but to much salt. cut the salt in half for this recipe and I think it will be great. I will try again on making with less salt.

Way,way,way too much salt!!! Otherwise, it was a big hit.....will definately make again.....with less salt!!

Excellent! We'll probably have once a WEEK! I did add a can of mushroom soup to the sour cream, because I was making more meatballs. Good thing I made more too.... They were all gone.

I only used the meatball recipe. It was very good meatballs, expecially with the ground pork! My family enjoyed it

Fantastic. My husband loved this recipe! I served it with the egg noodles as suggested. Also the meatballs freeze well.

Great meatball recipe, didn't use the sauce recipe as I have one I like. Maybe I'll try it someday! But the meatball is a keeper!

I'll make the meatballs again but the sauce is not good at all.

I only made the meatballs and today I am making them for the 2nd time. They are so yummy and easy to make!

I just made this and it turned out great. I read some of the reviews and made a few mods to the sauce. Used beef broth, and a can of cream of mushroom soup, also used smoked paprika instead of regular. So yummy. It's not very healthy, but I would make it again.

This recipie has become one of our families fav's. My husband often asks these for sunday dinner. easy to prepare and are absolutly awesome. Thank you so much for sharing the recipie with us all.

We used vegetarian meatballs and only made the sauce. I added garlic and mushrooms and it was a big hit with everyone forgot to add we left out the salt all together

I am so disappointed in the sauce! I wish I had read the reviews instead of just looking at the star rating. It tastes like flour, isn't creamy and is the wrong color even! I made a lot expecting to make several dinners from it.

Definitely cut that salt down!! Or serve with bland noodles or rice. Other than that, very very yummy. Just make sure to rotate them frequently. Mine were a bit under-cooked.

I cut the salt and pepper in half, and it was still pretty salty/spicy. Seems like a good recipe with some typos perhaps. Also, maybe the author should suggest plain breadcrumbs? I used flavored which probably contribute to the too spicy taste.

i took everyone's advice and cut down the salt, i thought the meatballs were pretty good, but while i was cooking the sauce (and taste testing) i knew i had to doctor it up a bit so i added onion powder, and a few extras . . . . came out good.

THIS SAUCE IS SO TO SALTY. The meatballs are pretty good.

The meatballs were definitely fantastic, but this sauce needs help! First, Swedish Meatball sauce needs nutmeg. Second, 1 TBSP of salt is WAY too much -- that's got to be a misprint. I could barely finish my bowl of these. Third, there's too much sauce for the meatballs, and it really doesn't cook well in the oven -- it dries out on top. I would recommend adding the meatballs to the sauce in a stockpot. I also substituted butter for the vegetable oil -- vegetable oil does not make a good roux. For those who said the sauce tasted too much of flour, you didn't cook the roux long enough, and the recipe isn't very clear on that, either. You should cook the flour and oil for a couple of minutes, at least, or it will still taste like flour.

The sauce was not great!

I'm not in love with meat balls, but my husband loved them. I don't know what everyone says about them being too salty. Mine weren't, but I didn't make the sauce. We ate them with spagetti.