I was sure I had posted about this before, but now I can't seem to find it. Oh well! Swedish meatballs are absolutely necessary for christmas. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that it's my ONLY necessity. And I hate store-bought meatballs, so I insist on making my own. Which is always somewhat of a hassle, because of the frying. So this year - huge revelation. You can make them in the oven. Completely. No frying. At all. Did everyone else already know this? It feels like I'm the last person on earth to discover it. In case I'm not, I'm sharing it with all of you, dear readers. This is definitely the way to go.
I didn't measure my spices, just add quite a bit of the white pepper, and just a dash of everything else. You can fry (sorry, for this you'll have to) one to try out the seasoning, but I never bother. And they're always good.
You can serve these with anything - potatoes and gravy, macaroni and ketchup, as part of a large buffet, with any vegs, the possibilities are endless.
Swedish Meatballs, oven-baked
900 g ground meat
1 yellow onion, very finely chopped
1-2 small cloves of garlic, minced
1 egg
salt
white pepper
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of ground ginger
pinch of cardamom
pinch of allspice
Mix everything to an even batter, and form small, round balls. Put in a large roasting pan, and bake for about 15 minutes at 175°C. (I'm using a convection oven, if you're not, add a few minutes.) Shake the pan a few times to ensure an even surface on your meatballs.
Recipe in Swedish:
Julköttbullar
28 comments:
What a relief!!! Now I won't spend half my day making the meatballs.
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Hi Anne, what kind of meat do you use? I've been making meatballs with beef and frying them but baking sounds much easier. Hadn't thought of that!
The only way I've ever made meatballs is by baking them. So much easier, isn't it?
It's nice to see a nice savory picture on a blog this morning after all of the sweet photos! Looks good!
Anne,
Yes, you were the last person to know. We've been keeeping it from you so we could laugh about it every Christmas.{g}
Monica - merry christmas to you too! :)
Elegant sniff - just pure beef, for these! :)
Kristen - thank you!
Kevin - I *knew* it! :)
I made Italian meatballs last night, just because! I always add three slices of whole grain bread, soaked in water and an egg, and get very soft meatballs. I usually bake them too, as they keep their shape better. I use the convection oven, so they get a lot of carmelization - yum!
I will definitely be making these!
Oh, and that picture of your cat in the hat, I hate to admit it, but it's pretty cute... Yes, I said it, cute.
Here's my recipe, made these for xmas and they are absolutely divine.
Swedish Meatballs. (I halved this recipe from the original to make enough for two to three people.) I served this with potatoes au gratin from the box, and green beans with bacon. Apple Cider for a beverage.
INGREDIENTS:
* 3/4 cups saltine crackers
* 1/2 tablespoon dried minced onion or 1/8 cup finely chopped onion
* 3/4 teaspoons salt
* 1/8 teaspoon pepper
* 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
* 3/8 cup milk
* 1 pound ground beef OR a combination of ½ pd of beef + ½ pd pork
* 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 tablespoon flour
* 1/2 can condensed beef broth
* 1/2 cup half-and-half or light cream
PREPARATION:
Combine bread crumbs, onion, salt, pepper, nutmeg and 3/8 cup milk in a large mixing bowl. Let milk soak into crumbs for a few minutes. Gently stir in ground beef until well blended; form into balls about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
Brown meatballs in butter and oil in a large skillet; remove with a slotted spoon to a 2 1/2-quart baking dish. Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of drippings; stir flour into drippings. Cook, stirring constantly, until bubbly. Stir in beef broth and cream. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens and boils for a minute. Pour over Swedish meatballs in baking dish. Bake Swedish meatballs at 325° for 35 to 45 minutes.
Enjoy!
great meatballs just made them mmmm..the only extra I put was the yeast free ray bread with flaxseeds...and I made them from Organic beef, egg...and all the rest ingredients..amazing..they love me now ;) thanx!
I have always been frying...no longer!! Thanks for sharing. :)
Hi Anne ~ Just wanted to let you know that I did your Swedish meatballs for my family's Christmas Eve supper -- I used part beef and part veal and they were just perfect with my World's Best Green Bean Casserole and mashed potatoes and carrots. Since everything was prepped in advance, we went to church, came home to a few appetizers while everything heated in the oven. My family some times calls my cooking 'too fancy' but I got nothing but raves about this plus there are more unbaked balls in the freezer to enjoy another time. As always, many thanks for the inspiration ...
Alanna - yeay, glad it worked out :)
Hi Anne,
Just letting you know I'm featuring this recipe for South Beach Recipes of the Week, where I spotlight South Beach friendly recipes I see on other food blogs. It includes your photo, with a photo credit for you of course, plus a link to your recipe.
(And I see that Alanna has given them her seal of approval, very fun.)
Kalyn, oooh, how fun! Thank you! I feel very honored! :)
Hi Anne!
I´m a huge fan of swedish meatballs but the closer I´ve got here in my country is the ones from Ikea ...
So now I´m keeping this recipe. Never tried making them in the oven, I always fried them, but Im always trying to make oven things besides frying, I really don´t like my kids eating many fryed stuff.
Just asking but have you ever tryed to make the shnitzel (I don´t know how do you call them, here it´s Panados...)in the oven, just to know because my kids really crave them.
From Portugal goes a big Thank you for your recipe and Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Hi Anne :)
I tested them for this Christmas..just: thank you for the recipe!!
Have a nice sunday!
Hi Anne,
Made these last night. I made some changes as I went along and they weren't as perfect as I had hoped...but I know what to do the next time to improve! I've put pictures and my notes here:
http://sseichinger.blogspot.com/2008/02/brk-brk-brk.html
Thanks for the recipe!
Hi, Anne
My 1st visit here. I like to pay a visit to IKEA here in HK from time to time. Not for furnitures and household stuffs but to grab Swedish meatballs and Pricess tart, LOL ! I even bought cream sauce for meatballs there and they were still in my kitchen (blushed). Actually I can buy frozen meatballs from IKEA but I do want to make on my own.
The funny thing was I forgot to try Swedish meatballs when I came to Sweden for a business trip years ago, that's pretty silly of me as I like it a lot !
Would like to try your recipe, thanks for sharing
Anne, have you ever frozen these after baking them with the sauce? I'm wondering how the sauce holds up in the freezer. I love Swedish meatballs but IMHO, it's the sauce that makes them! However, it's only me in my household now so I like to be able to freeze some leftovers. Thanks for posting this recipe.
Well... that would depend on the sauce, I suppose. I never make a sauce for meatballs, unless I'm eating them with potatoes and then it's a simple cream sauce. That would not freeze very well, I think. Sorry! I think your best bet is to freeze the meatballs, and make the sauce fresh.
Anne-
Just got in a disagreement with my husband (who moved to US from MAlmo 3 years ago) as to whether allspice is an independent spice or if you mean to use Piffe here (which his mother sends us)
Thank you!!
Cary
Cary, I mean allspice the actual spice - kryddpeppar in Swedish - and definitely NOT Piffi. :-)
Sounds like you are not a Piffi fan? I find it too salty. My hubby seems to think it defines Swedish cooking.....
Cary
Cary, I'm not a fan. We never used it in my house, and now that I look at the label, it's mostly salt and msg. I try to steer clear of unnecessary additives in food, so Piffi is decidedly out :-)
I like using mushroom soup and sour cream or unsweetened and unflavored yogurt
I dont like making gravy!!!
What about a dash of oregano?
I know I lean more towards Italian meatballs -- so I will try other spices such as nutmeg and cardamom
I am so glad to see this receipe. All my Swedish cooks,Mom and Grandma or I should say Murmur are with the Lord so I really needed the correct amounts that a never had. Thank or tack from Svea Erickson.
i have do a report on sweaden so i choose food to report on in this is the perfect food to make
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