Editorial: Kockums JernverkPublished: 2026-11-06

Swedish meatballs in cream sauce with lingonberries

Name: Swedish meatballs in cream sauce with lingonberries
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 50 min
Cuisine: Swedish
Ingredients: 40 g dried breadcrumbs; 150 ml milk; 1 onion; 500 g mixed beef and pork mince; 1 egg; 1 tsp salt; ½ tsp ground white pepper; 2 tbsp butter for frying; 1 tbsp plain flour; 200 ml beef stock; 200 ml double cream; 1 tbsp soy sauce; Salt and pepper; 2 tbsp chopped parsley; 1 cucumber; 2 tbsp white wine vinegar; 100 ml water; 2 tbsp caster sugar; ½ tsp salt; 1 kg potatoes; Lingonberry jam

Serves 4 · 50 minutes · Classic frying pan

Everyday Swedish meatballs, browned and juicy, in a cream sauce made from the pan juices in the same pan. Served with boiled potatoes, lingonberries and pickled cucumber.

Swedish meatballs in cream sauce are a home-cooking classic: the meatballs are browned, then the sauce is made from the pan juices in the same pan with stock, cream and a dash of soy sauce. They stay juiciest when the breadcrumbs soak in milk before the mince goes in and the mixture is not overworked.

Swedish meatballs in a light brown cream sauce with parsley in a classic carbon steel frying pan, with boiled potatoes, lingonberries and pickled cucumber

Ingredients

Serves 4

Meatballs

40 g dried breadcrumbs
150 ml milk
1 onion
500 g mixed beef and pork mince
1 egg
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground white pepper
2 tbsp butter for frying

Cream sauce

1 tbsp plain flour
200 ml beef stock
200 ml double cream
1 tbsp soy sauce
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp chopped parsley

Pickled cucumber

1 cucumber
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
100 ml water
2 tbsp caster sugar
½ tsp salt

To serve

1 kg potatoes
Lingonberry jam

Method

Stir the breadcrumbs into the milk in a bowl and leave to soak for 10 minutes. Thinly slice the cucumber, mix the vinegar, water, sugar and salt and pour it over. Chill the cucumber.
Peel the potatoes and put them on to boil. Grate or very finely chop the onion.
Add the mince, onion, egg, salt and white pepper to the soaked breadcrumbs and mix quickly until even. With wet hands, roll about 30 meatballs.
Heat the pan over a medium heat with half the butter. Fry the meatballs in two batches, 6–8 minutes per batch, rolling them often until browned all over and cooked through. Set aside.
Leave about 1 tbsp of fat in the pan. Sprinkle in the flour and stir for a minute. Whisk in the stock a little at a time, scraping up the browned bits as you go.
Add the cream and soy sauce and simmer for 3–4 minutes until smooth and slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
Return the meatballs to the sauce and heat through for 2–3 minutes. Scatter over the parsley and serve straight from the pan with potatoes, lingonberry jam and pickled cucumber.

Why it works

Carbon steel gives the meatballs an even brown crust, and what sticks to the base is exactly what gives the cream sauce its flavour and colour. The wide 28 cm base takes half the meatballs at a time without crowding.