You'll love these bite-sized Swedish Meatballs and sauce nestled over creamy egg noodles. This is an easy and delicious alternative to traditional Italian meatballs.
The sauce is a very simple broth-infused cream sauce with a bit of tang from whole grain mustard and is ready in minutes!
You can cook the meatballs on the stovetop or bake them, either way, you'll enjoy the tangy flavor of these nestled over creamy egg noodles.
You'll love this recipe!
- Quick and Easy - make Swedish meatballs in advance and freeze them; noodles and sauce take 10-minutes!
- Flavorful - just enough savory and tangy sauce...with seasoned meatballs and creamy egg noodles
- All-natural - only pure ingredients - no additives or preservatives
Make the Swedish meatballs any size you like; I usually get 25 bite-size per pound and 7-8 larger ones per pound.
Here's what you'll need:
Meatballs: Ground beef, milk, eggs, oil, Worcestershire sauce, whole grain mustard, breadcrumbs, onion and garlic powder.
Sauce: Beef broth, heavy cream, whole grain mustard, oregano, cornstarch, onion and garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce
How to make it:
Meatballs
- In a large bowl, combine ground beef, all seasonings, lightly beaten eggs and breadcrumbs
- Mix together well using your hands; do not overwork the meat
- Form into 1"inch meatballs
- At this point, you have to decide if you're going to bake the Swedish meatballs or cook them on the stove
Stovetop Method:
If using the stovetop method, freeze the meatballs for 10-minutes; then heat oil in pan, add meatballs in a single layer (cooking in batches) to skillet and cook until the internal temperature is 160ºF
Oven Method:
If baking, place meatballs on a lightly oiled broiler pan (with dripping pan underneath) and bake @ 375ºF until the internal temperature is 160ºF
Swedish Meatball Sauce
The sauce for Swedish meatballs is a very simple beef broth-infused cream sauce with a bit of tang from whole grain mustard. If you don't have whole grain mustard, use mustard powder or a little vinegar.
The yield for the sauce is enough to thoroughly coat, if not drown, a plate of noodles and meatballs.
If you find you have too much sauce, the remainder can be frozen in an airtight freezer container for up to two weeks or refrigerated for up to three days.
Tips:
25 meatballs per pound
Making meatballs isn't difficult, just time consuming. That's why I make meatballs in three-pound batches. One pound of meat yields about 25 tablespoon-size meatballs.
I roll and cook 75 meatballs; take out what I need for dinner and freeze the rest.
Since the meatballs are generically seasoned (not Italian, not Greek, not spicy, etc.), it's easy to grab what I need from the freezer and make a different sauce for each batch.
If you cook the meatballs in the oven, it isn't necessary to freeze them for 10-minutes; only freeze the meatballs if you're going to cook them on the stovetop (so they won't fall apart)
Storage
Store extra meatballs (cooked or uncooked) in a secure plastic bag for up to three months. Store sauce in refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to two weeks.
How to thaw frozen meatballs
- If you made a 3-lb. batch of meatballs and froze some of them, you'll want to thaw them first before cooking.
- Allow frozen meatballs to thaw in the refrigerator while in the plastic bag or, place the bag of meatballs in cold water until thawed.
- Once thawed, resume recipe
The beauty of this meatball recipe is that it's universal. Seasoned with just enough spices and herbs to easily fit into an Italian, Asian, Cajun or Mediterranean sauce.
Related recipes:
- Rum Glazed Scandinavian Almond Cake
- Meatloaf with Tomato Sauce
- Beef Tips with Gravy
- Natchitoches Meat Pie
If you make this recipe, please scroll down and leave a rating and comment below!
Swedish Meatballs with Sauce and Noodles
Ingredients
Meatball Ingredients
- 3 lbs. ground beef
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 whole eggs lightly beaten
- ½ cup oil vegetable or canola if using stovetop method; no oil if baking meatballs
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1½ tablespoons whole grain mustard
- 1 cup breadcrumbs plain
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon black ground pepper
Meatball Sauce
- 3 cups beef broth
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons whole grain mustard
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano or marjoram
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¾ cup water
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1½ teaspoons ground black pepper
Egg Noodles
- 12 oz. Egg Noodles
- 5 quarts water
Instructions
Making the Meatballs: Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine all meatball ingredients except the oil; do not overwork the meat
- Measure meat into a tablespoon and form a ball; place on parchment-lined baking sheet
Cook the Meatballs: Oven Method (easiest method and doesn't require freezing)
- Preheat oven to 375ºF
- Lightly spray oil on broiler pan (with dripping pan underneath it)
- Place meatballs in a single layer on broiler pan; cook until internal temperature reaches 160ºF
Cooking the Meatballs: Instructions for stove top
- Chilled meatballs on a parchment lined baking pan in the freezer for 10 minutes; heat a heavy bottom skillet with oil on medium heat
- Add 7-8 meatballs to the hot oil; allow meatballs to cook about 2 minutes, then roll them over and cook the other side another 2-3 minutes; the safe internal temperature should be 160ºF
- Cook in batches; after each batch is done, place the cooked meatballs on a paper towel
Meatball Sauce Instructions
- Combine water and cornstarch; mix well and set aside
- In a large skillet on medium high heat, add all ingredients except the cornstarch mixture; bring to boil
- Once sauce has started to boil, stir in the cornstarch slurry; continue to stir until sauce thickens; reduce heat to low and cook the meatballs
- Once they're all cooked, add them back into skillet with sauce; cover, reduce heat and cook the noodles
Noodle Instructions
- Bring stockpot of water to boil; add egg noodles and stir;
- Cook noodles for 10-12 minutes; drain
- Place drained noodles on plate or in large bowl; add meatballs; cover with sauce; garnish with chopped parsley
Notes
- This recipe yields about 25 meatballs per pound of meat; since the meatballs are small, I usually allow 6-8 meatballs per plate (for men) and 4-6 meatballs for women and kids.
- I usually make this recipe using 3 lbs. of beef. If you only need a few meatballs, divide the recipe ingredients by 3.
- If you make more meatballs than you need, just place the uncooked meatballs in a freezer bag and freeze them for up to 3 weeks
- If you're going to cook the meatballs in the oven, it isn't necessary to freeze them for 10-minutes
- If you're going to cook them on the stovetop, a quick 10-minute freeze is recommended so they won't fall apart
- If you have leftover cooked meatballs, they can be frozen as well for about 2 weeks.
- This recipe makes a lot of sauce; I've found that I need more sauce to coat the noodles and meatballs. If you don't use all of the sauce, it can be frozen for up to two weeks in a freezer-proof container.
I'd love to hear from you!