Swedish Meatballs

February 18, 2026 • 0 comments

We keep experimenting with using lamb in place of pork and so far everything has been really good. Here is another thing we tried. It is adapted from a recipe I found at allrecipes.com. We made it with half ground beef and half ground lamb and it was delicious the first night and as leftovers. I used panko crumbs instead of white bread crumbles, since we don't keep much white bread around. Super tender meatballs and tasty sauce. Worth the effort!

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Servings: 6

Ingredients

(2 slices) day-old white bread, crumbled
(1/2 cup) heavy cream
(1 teaspoon) butter
(1 small) onion, minced
(1/2 lb) Ground Beef
(1/2 lb) Ground Lamb
(1 large) egg
(1 tablespoon) brown sugar
(1/4 teaspoon) black pepper
(1/4 teaspoon) ground nutmeg
(1/8 teaspoon) ground ginger
(1 tablespoon) butter
(1/4 cup) chicken broth
(3 tablespoons, approx) flour
(2 cups, approx) beef broth
(4 oz) sour cream

Directions

Adapted from this recipe.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Place bread (or panko) crumbs into a small bowl; mix in cream. Allow to stand until crumbs absorb cream, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt 1 teaspoon butter in a skillet over medium heat; cook
and stir onion until light brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer onion to a
mixing bowl.

Mix ground beef, ground lamb, egg, brown sugar, salt, black pepper,
nutmeg, allspice, and ginger with onion in the mixing bowl. Lightly mix
in bread crumbs and cream.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Pinch off
about 1 ½ tablespoons meat mixture per meatball; form into balls. Place
meatballs into the skillet and cook, turning often, until browned, about
5 minutes. Insides of meatballs will still be pink.

Place browned meatballs into a baking dish, pour in chicken broth, and cover with foil.

Bake in the preheated oven until meatballs are tender, about 40 minutes. Remove meatballs to a serving dish.

Pour pan drippings into a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk flour into drippings until smooth.

Gradually whisk in enough beef broth to total about 2 ½ cups liquid.

Bring gravy to a simmer, whisking constantly, until thickened, about 5 minutes.

Just before serving, whisk in sour cream. Season with salt and black pepper. Serve gravy with meatballs.

by Lori Anne Lau