Mashed potatoes, creamy gravy, Swedish meatballs, and lingonberry jam are some of my most comforting recipes for Swedish food when I want to remember my Grandma. You can make the meatballs from scratch, but I've included a hack to use frozen ones for convenience.
These recipes for Swedish food include mashed potatoes, onion gravy, meatballs, and lingonberry jam. This is one of my all-time favorite comfort meals because it's extremely flavorful yet incredibly simple.
And the more I learn about classic and vintage recipes, the more I realize just how simple they are. Standing at the stove for hours just isn't necessary to put a nourishing meal on the table.
Sometimes all you need is some good vegetables... and perhaps the convenience of a bag of frozen meatballs from IKEA. 🙂
These recipes for Swedish food are great year-round, but they're especially comforting around the winter holidays. For more Christmas recipes, try my oven roasted root vegetables, German Lebkuchen, and Yule log cake.
Swedish Roots
My Grandma was half Swedish. Besides having a voracious appetite for the symphony, she had an exquisite talent in art. She was particularly gifted at pastels, calligraphy and paper crafts. She was a lady of refined taste and class. I wish I could have spent more time learning from her when she was alive.
My Grandma passed away when I was in eighth grade, back when I didn't understand the value in learning from my elders. But I enjoy making recipes for Swedish food, as an homage to my Grandma.
An Authentic Swedish Meal
The book I often turn to for easy recipes for Swedish food is none other than IKEA's Food's Ready. I love this cookbook because all the recipes use minimal ingredients.
Thankfully my sister-in-law has strong Swedish roots. Her family cooks a giant Swedish meal including homemade meatballs, a special gravy sauce, steamed beets, rice pudding and mashed potatoes each year on Christmas Eve.
And EVERYTHING gets doused in lingonberry jam. So I am confident that meatballs with mashed potatoes and gravy counts as a comforting "Swedish meal".
Now, I did put my own twist on this dish. I am not a fan of touching raw ground meat, so I opted for vegetarian meatballs (called veggie balls) instead. And why not make it easier, and use IKEA's premade frozen ones called huvudroll, right?
And if you haven't heard already, my Dad makes the best mashed potatoes. I wish I could say that our secret family recipe was handed down from my Swedish/English grandma. But alas, she was actually not a successful cook.
I like my mashed potatoes on the sweeter side, so I substitute one of the Yukon Gold potatoes with a sweet potato.
And while there is the convenient option to buy the gravy cream sauce from IKEA, I chose to make my own. I followed the same recipe for vegetarian onion gravy that I made for English bangers and mash.
Easy Recipes for Swedish Food
developed & tested by:
Ingredients
- 32 meatballs or veggie balls
- 3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
- 1 medium sweet potato
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¾ cup whole milk (or substitute unsweetened non-dairy milk)
- 6 tablespoon butter, divided (or substitute dairy-free butter)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoon all purpose flour (or substitute a gluten free flour baking blend)
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)
- ½ cup lingonberry jam
Instructions
Mashed Potatoes
- To make the mashed potatoes, peel and quarter the Yukon Gold potatoes and the sweet potato. Feel free to use four Yukon Gold potatoes for a less-sweet flavor. Place them in a pot and fill it with water to cover the potatoes by about an inch of water. Bring the pot to a boil on high heat.Then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 25 minutes, or until a fork easily pierces the potatoes.
- Drain the potatoes into a colander. Add the potatoes back into the pot along with the salt, black pepper, nutmeg, milk and four tablespoons of the butter. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or a large fork until they are light and fluffy and everything is mixed together. Keep warm with the lid on the pot, either off heat or on a very low heat. *Note: don't over-mix the potatoes once they come together. Over-mixing can cause the starch in the potatoes to create a gluey gross mess.
Onion Gravy
- While the potatoes are boiling, heat the remaining two tablespoons of butter in a saucepan on medium-high heat.Reduce the heat to low and add the diced onion and cook over low heat until the onions are golden and caramelized, after about 30 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another few minutes, until the garlic is fragrant.
- Whisk the flour into the caramelized onions.
- Increase the heat to medium and add the broth and the optional liquid smoke. Whisk constantly until it forms a thick and bubbling gravy.
- Try a taste of the gravy, and add more salt if desired.
Serving a Swedish Meal
- Warm the frozen meatballs or vegetable balls according to the package's instructions. Ensure they are hot when you're ready to serve your meal.
- Place a few good-sized dollops of the mashed potatoes on a plate. Add half a dozen meatballs or vegetable balls and pour the onion gravy over everything.
- Spoon a side of lingonberry jam onto the plate, to be eaten with each bite.Enjoy!!
Yum-number1 says
IKEA meatballs are the best lol
It's so cool that you're making all of these dishes from your family's culture, so diverse!
strawberryandcream says
Haha thank you! I'm really grateful that my family comes from multiple backgrounds - more food to try!! ðŸ˜
infinitelyadaydreamer says
Ikea's veggie balls are such a comfort food! Delish x
strawberryandcream says
Aren't they so good!? Apparently there's a shortage of them at the IKEA nearby, because they were all out of them in the store and in the restaurant when we took a trip there this weekend.
Have you tried their plant-based meat balls? The texture is so strange because it's so similar to meat!
popsiclesociety says
What a comforting meal 😋
strawberryandcream says
It really is! 😠What is a comfort food for you? I feel like you just can't go wrong with potatoes... ðŸ˜
popsiclesociety says
Definitely potatoes in any way is a comforting meal for me 😋
strawberryandcream says
I agree 1,000% 😠And sweet potatoes in particular are my weakness!
apeacefultree says
This is such a nice way to pay tribute to your grandma. She sounds lovely! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
strawberryandcream says
She's one of my role models and heroes in life, without a doubt. Thank you so much for reading!