The Best Swedish Meatballs

All hail tender, savory, creamy Swedish Meatballs!

I grew up eating a lot of Swedish meatballs, and I have to say – Swedish meatball recipes are varied and they all kind of have their own personality. But after testing several ingredient combinations and methods, this is the one that I like best:

Cream-soaked bread mixed with ground beef and ground pork with plenty of salt and pepper, baked to golden meatball perfection, and finally rolled around in a rich and savory cream-based gravy. It is mellow, ultra comforting, and deeply flavorful all at the same time.

How To Make Swedish Meatballs

Swedish meatballs may or may not be something that you want to make on a random Tuesday night because they’re gonna take a little time to make. You’ve got the rolling, you’ve got the baking, you’ve got the gravy-making…

But they are SPECIAL. And they aren’t hard. They are perfect for holiday meals or dinner club or just a little something extra when you’re looking for a good reason to live your best life.

Here are the basics:

1. You’re going to mix up your meatballs (pork, beef, BREAD, butter, onions, garlic, all that’s good).
2. Then you’ll roll them and bake them until they’re done.
3. Next up you’ll build the gravy: butter, flour, broth, Worcestershire, and some heavy cream for that delicious tangy bite.
4. Pop those meatballs back in the pan with the gravy and…

HELLO SWEDISH MEATBALLS. ❤️

What To Serve with Swedish Meatballs

The meatballs in and of themselves are a world wonder, but let me fill out the plate for you for what to serve with Swedish meatballs.

• Creamy Mashed Potatoes <– I like these, obviously, because they’re very easy and have so much garlic herb flavor.
• Tangy Cranberry Sauce, for which we use the recipe on the back of the cranberry package.
• Vinegary Cucumber Salad, which seems a little strange at first glance but is so delicious and essential for cutting through everything. It wakes the whole plate up.

May your gravy be creamy and your meatballs be extra-savory and your special dinner be one to remember. ♡

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Swedish Meatballs: Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use all pork or all beef?

You can, but if you are able to find it and you enjoy it, the flavor combo of the two meats is really, really good.

How do I make the gravy?

You can use pan drippings to make your gravy, but the gravy will be more lumpy and flecked with meatball bits. I prefer a smooth gravy, which is why I like to wipe out the pan first and just start fresh with butter.

What’s the meatball mixture like?

The meatball mixture is WET! That’s normal. We want that because it makes for a very tender meatball once it’s cooked. If you get your hands slightly wet, you’ll have an easier time rolling them. 

Can I use sandwich bread?

You can! If you are using thin, plain white sandwich bread, you may want to use 6-8 slices instead to make a thicker bread mixture.

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The Best Swedish Meatballs

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4.9 from 14 reviews

• Author: Lindsay
• Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings

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Description

Swedish Meatballs that are perfectly tender and spiced, served with creamy, savory, tangy gravy. Comfort food at its best!

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Ingredients

Units

Swedish Meatballs:

• 4 slices white bread, no crusts
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1/4 cup onion, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 pound ground beef (I like using 85/15)
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt (more to taste)
• a few shakes of black pepper

Gravy:

• 2 tablespoons butter (or grease from meatballs)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (more to taste)
• 1–2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Dash of nutmeg

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Instructions

1. In a small bowl, soak the white bread in the heavy cream for 5-10 minutes. Add the soaked bread and the onion and garlic to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse for 10-15 seconds until mostly smooth. Mix the bread paste in a large bowl with the meat, egg, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. When it’s all well-mixed, roll into smallish meatballs. 
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place meatballs in a casserole dish or baking dish with sides. Bake for 20-25 minutes until cooked through. (You can bake some or all — I often freeze half of the meatballs for later.)
3. Gravy time! Drain off and reserve the grease from the meatball pan. Add 2 tablespoons of the grease to a small skillet (alternatively, you can use butter). Over medium heat, whisk in the flour; sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add the beef broth, slowly, stirring after each addition. Gradually a smooth gravy should start to form. Stir in the heavy cream and season with Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt, and a bit of nutmeg if you want. 
4. Add meatballs in with the gravy in the skillet and cover to keep warm until you want to serve them. (The meatballs are already great on their own, but once soaked in sauce, they should get extra tender and very delicious.) Serve over mashed potatoes, with a cucumber salad and cranberries or lingonberries. 

• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour
• Category: Dinner
• Method: Sauté
• Cuisine: Swedish

Keywords: swedish meatballs, meatballs, swedish food, gravy recipe

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Soft Gingerbread Cookies with Maple Glaze

‘Tis the season, friends! But not the season for firm, crisp, dryish gingerbread that you can literally build tiny houses from. This season, let’s make some soft pillowy gingerbread with sunken centers and slightly crisped edges and open crackly crags of gingery spice and rich, but not overwhelming, molasses. Let’s roll them in sugar, get them baked to perfection, and dip them in a mapley glaze. Yes? Yes.

The hallmark flavors of gingerbread are molasses and ginger, so once we’ve got those going on in all the right proportions, who says that gingerbread cookies can’t be a textural wonder of soft and chewy and crackly and tender-buttery-crisp all in one glorious bite? 2021 is the year to reinvent “gingerbread” into a cookie that we really, truly love.

No gingerbread men splat flat on a pan. Go all out this year. Get your Christmas music playing, your cozy candles lit, get your tried and true baking sheets, your favorite mixing bowls, and your holiday spirit at the ready. Let’s do this.

Deliciously SOFT Gingerbread Cookies

It’s hard to describe just how good these are, these spicy-sweet little gingerbread pillows. There’s certainly a time and a place for the darker, more crisp peppery gingerbread, but that is not this. These cookies are suuuuper soft, light and coppery, almost melty in their ginger spice, with the slightest crunch from the edges and little sugar sprinkles.

And if your family has always gathered round a floured surface, armed with rolling pins and cookie cutters, fear not! Sure you may not be stamping out little shapes or battling with royal icing, making sure the gingerbread people don’t look like sorta scary clowns with drippy icing smiles, all while making sure your toddler isn’t eating too much dough…but will you miss that part? (Okay fine, maybe…these are the beautiful chaotic memories we cherish). 

But there are memories to be made around these as well. Gently rolling the soft gingerdough balls in the snowy sugar. Getting the perfect half dip of creamy maple glaze once they’re out of the oven. Going a little extra and piping tiny little holly leaves and berries on them or maybe just a few festive sprinkles. Gathering round the oven to see who can smell the warm sweet ginger bake first. 

Also, can we talk about that maple glaze? Subtle, sweet, and smooth taking these just one notch above magnificent. Just…come on.

Key Ingredients For Gingerbread Cookies

For these truly remarkable gingerbread cookies, you’ll need the staples — flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and salt. There’s a little extra baking soda in there to ensure a good spread, so they go wider and flatter in the oven. This is key to their positively clutch texture. Beyond that, let’s round up this delicious list, shall we?

• molasses
• ground ginger
• extra sugar for rolling
• maple syrup
• confectioner’s sugar
• lil’ holly sprinkles if you’re extra (so cute, so fun, so merry)

How To Make Gingerbread Cookies From Scratch

Once your ingredients are assembled and your heart is ready and your kitchen windows are fogged from the heat of your oven, it’s cookie-baking time, and is there any other better time on this planet?

1. Make your dough. Cream butter and sugar, and then incorporate egg and molasses. Add your dry ingredients and mix until you have a soft dough. Pinch off a piece because it’s the holidays, but also don’t eat raw dough, and also merry everyday to you.
2. Roll and bake. Scoop dough into small balls and then take one teeny extra step to gently roll them in sugar until they literally sparkle. Line your sheet and bake.
3. Maple glaze. Whisk together your glaze ingredients until smooth. Dip one side of your slightly cooled, slightly flattened cookies in to coat. Now’s the time to add sprinkles if you’re feeling it.

There is already so much joy in cookies and these are big-time joy-bringers. There’s just something so special about gingerbread, with all its cozy and merry and bright. So fill your jars, your holiday platters, your care packages and gift boxes, your kiddos’ eager hands. Leave them on your plates for Santa and sneak them in the night like magic.

We hope your holidays are filled with all the best things this year, like family and friends and gingerbread.

Soft Gingerbread Cookies: FAQs

How should I store these cookies?

Store these cookies in a sealed container at room temp for 3-5 days (if they even last that long in your house).

Are there any substitutes for molasses?

It won’t taste exactly the same, but maple syrup can work in a pinch.

Can you freeze these cookies?

Yes! Just bake ’em up and freeze any leftovers in an air-tight container.

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Soft Gingerbread Cookies with Maple Glaze

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• Author: Eman @ Pinch of Yum
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 24 cookies

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Description

Let’s make Soft Gingerbread Cookies this holiday season! Soft, pillowy gingerbread with sunken centers and slightly crisped edges, plus little nooks and crannies packed with ginger spice and molasses. These are SO GOOD!

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Ingredients

Units

Gingerbread Cookies

• 3/4 cup salted butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1–2 teaspoons ginger
• Granulated sugar for rolling

Maple Glaze

• 2 tablespoons melted butter

• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup

• 3/4 to 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

• pinch of salt, to taste

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and molasses; mix until incorporated.
3. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and ginger. Mix until a soft dough forms.
4. Scoop into small balls (a little smaller than the size of a golf ball) and roll in sugar. Bake for 8-10 minutes; remove from pan so the cookies can flatten slightly as they cool.
5. Whisk maple glaze ingredients together until smooth. Dip one side of the baked cookies into the maple glaze and add a few festive sprinkles.

Notes

Give these cookies some holly sprinkles to bring them over the top.

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Category: Dessert
• Method: Bake
• Cuisine: American

Keywords: soft gingerbread cookie, gingerbread cookie, christmas cookie

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More Favorite Cookie Recipes

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I Tried All of the Holiday Products at ALDI, and These Are The 12 Items You Absolutely Need In Your Life

This post is sponsored by ALDI

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So here’s what happened.

I went to ALDI and I bought just about every single holiday product I could find. The candies. The cookies. The special flavored snacks and drinks and cheeses and crackers and chocolates and OMG. There was a lot of food. And a lot of festive feelings.

I took it home, and I basically tried all the food (happy to do all this hard work for you), and I made my lists of favorites so that I could share the best of the best with you today.

Now, if you’ve been around the blog for even a teeny bit, you know we at Pinch of Yum have a lot of love for ALDI. Like, a lot. We’ve worked with them for many years. But it is especially fun to talk about ALDI during the holidays – take one quick loop around the store in December and poof! Instant cheer. Something new over here, something unexpected over there, something classic over here. ALDI is where it’s at for your weekly basics, as we’ve discussed before, but it’s also the place for affordable, sparkly, try-a-little-bit-of-everything holidays, which is exactly how I like my holidays to be.

So, of all the holiday products that I tried, this is it. This is my list of the top 12 holiday favorites I keep coming back to again and again.

And I’m stocking up before they’re gone for the season. I mean, can you ever have too many packages of fudge coated peppermint creme cookies in the depths of your cabinets? No, the answer is no.

1: Specially Selected Artisan Crisps

Why I like it: I’m sorry, what? FIG AND BLACK SESAME CRISPS?! From ALDI?! Too fun! Could not love this any more! And yes I am eating them with the gingerbread goat cheese as I write this post, in case you were wondering.

These extra-crispy, super-crunchy, artisan-fancy crackers are the kind of thing that you are going to want to stock up on, and then re-stock up on, then stock up on again before they are gone. They are a match made in heaven with many of the other items in this list (gingerbread goat cheese, plum spread, truffle goat cheese…), so read on.

Holiday snack spread: handled.

2: Emporium Selection Cheese Logs

Why I like it: ALDI has so many fun goat cheese varieties for the holidays right now, and if you see a woman in the cheese aisle with a cart that is half-full of mini goat cheese logs in every flavor, that is me. My two favorites of all the ones I’ve tried:

1. Gingerbread goat cheese – it’s golden and sweet, just barely spiced, and goes perfectly with those artisan crisps or an almond coconut caramel cookie or on French toast or pancakes! So festive.
2. TRUFFLE goat cheese – yes, truffle. Big, earthy, delicious truffle flavor packed into one tiny log of creaminess. The truffle goat cheese was a mega hit amongst the POY team when we tried all the products together. There was talk of throwing a few hunks of this goat cheese into a hot bowl of pasta. BRB, need to go try that.

3: Specially Selected Plum Fruit Spread

Why I like it: Fig spread is something I often add to my cheeseboards, but plum? That is a whole new level of holiday charm. If you want to experience snack perfection, layer it on a fig and black sesame cracker and smear the whole thing with a knob of truffle goat cheese. You’re welcome.

4: Friendly Farms Peppermint Mocha Almondmilk Creamer

Why I like it: I am normally not a huge fan of almond or dairy-alternative creamers, but I’ve been using this stuff everyday for the last month and I am INTO it. It’s very good. It has just the right amount of sweet pepperminty flavor, but more importantly, it’s actually smooth and creamy. Without the dairy. Three cheers!

5: Specially Selected Caramel Stroopwafels

Why I like it: If you’ve got a steaming hot mug of coffee in your hand, you’re not complete until you have one of these caramel stroopwafels in the other hand. I have definitely eaten these plain and they are a fabulous little treat, but add a mug of hot coffee and you’ve gone to a new level of holiday cheer.

6: Emporium Selection Baking Brie

Why I like it: Okay first of all, YUM.

Second of all, the best part of this little baking brie kit is that it comes with THE CERAMIC DISH! Which you can reuse for MORE BRIE! The brie wheel is perfectly sized for the dish, so you pop it in, bake it up, and finish with the included toppings. I can think of no easier way to impress others (or… yourself?) at a neighborhood happy hour party or a holiday movie viewing with friends.

7: Fresh Pomegranates

Why I like it: For all your decorating, garnishing, and snacking needs: fresh pears, fresh cranberries, and most excitingly – FRESH POMEGRANATES – are now ready for you at ALDI! Bring it on! I bought cranberries for decorating at home, and I’ve bought multiple pomegranates for topping various salads and dips. (And my girls love to snack on the seeds.)

8: Park Street Deli Greek Olive Spread

Why I like it: This olive-loaded, creamy, tangy, roasted red pepper and feta-speckled dip is not a holiday-specific product, which is good news because it’ll be around for a few months. My tip: BUY AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. I have been eating this nonstop, with ALDI’s sweet potato chips or pita crackers for a snack. It’s a great last-minute-friends-coming-over solution. But it’s also great to go with meals! Chicken pitas, salads, sheet pan salmon and veggies. Can you tell that I love this? I love this.

9: Simply Nature Coconut Cashew Crisps

Why I like it: Okay these are also a non-holiday specific item that work really well around the holidays for situations like: people coming over and you don’t know their dietary needs / preferences? Kids who want to eat cookies round the clock and moms and dads who would rather not with all the sugar? People who just love to snack on munchy little things that taste like a caramel dream? These are a must-keep-on-hand 5 ingredient miracle.

10: Friendly Farms Peppermint Mocha Whipped Dairy Topping

Why I like it: This peppermint mocha whipped cream is the appropriate topping for… everything. But obviously the best use for this is with hot chocolate. Bougie that mug up with your peppermint mocha whipped cream, your candy cane crumbles, and a few cookies of choice, flick on the fire, and you have the magic of the holidays right there in your hands.

11: Benner Holiday Candy Cane Tea

Why I like it: I’ve been enjoying a mug of this tea in the evening literally every night for the last three weeks. It has become my *something cozy* when we finally get the girls in bed and have a moment to light up the fireplace, turn the TV on, or just sit and talk. I love that it’s pepperminty but also sweet and warm, with a little extra cinnamon, licorice, and even roasted carob (!!) in there to give it the candy-like mood. Big fan!

12: Benton’s Fudge Coated Peppermint Cremes

Why I like it: This is, hands-down, my favorite holiday item that I got from ALDI this year. OHHHH MAN these are good!

Sometimes when you buy this style of cookie, they are too thick. Do you know what I mean? It’s like the cookie gets lost in the coating. But not these! These have just the right amount of fudge coating where they are solid and heavy, but not, like, overwhelming. They have a good cookie crunch, an appropriately hefty amount of fudge on the outside, and those little crispity bits of candy cane on top. ALDI is speaking to me with these. I can’t get enough.

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And there you have it! 12 products on the tip-top of my ALDI grocery list during the holiday times.

I would obviously love to hear from our ALDI squad out in the wild, too! Do you have any must-have ALDI finds that are just perfect for this time of the year? I’ve got my paper and pen ready to take notes.

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Thank you to ALDI for sponsoring this post!

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