Swedish meatballs with lingonberries and cream sauce

Swedish meatballs with lingonberries and cream sauce: tender meatballs with allspice, a creamy sauce and mashed potato.

At a glance

• Serves 3
• Prep time: 15 min
• Cooking time: 20 min
• Total time: 35 min
• Calories: 520 kcal per serving
• Protein: 32 g
• Fat: 30 g
• Carbs: 30 g

Ingredients

• 400 g beef mince
• 1 onion
• 1 organic egg
• 3 tbsp breadcrumbs
• 200 ml cream
• 200 ml beef stock
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 500 g potatoes (floury)
• 100 ml milk
• 100 g lingonberries (fresh or frozen)
• ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground allspice
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 pinch of pepper

Method

You’ll need: frying pan · saucepan · chopping board · knife · sieve · wooden spoon

1. Peel the potatoes, cut them into pieces and boil in salted water until soft. Then drain and let them steam dry briefly.
2. Chop the onion very finely and knead it thoroughly with the beef mince, egg, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, allspice, salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into small balls.
3. Heat the butter in a large frying pan and fry the meatballs in batches until golden brown all over. Then take them out of the pan and set aside for a moment.
4. For the sauce, melt butter in the pan juices, stir in the flour and cook briefly. Stir in the beef stock and cream and simmer until the sauce thickens.
5. Return the meatballs to the sauce and let them sit in it for a few minutes. Mash the potatoes with a little milk and butter and season to taste.
6. Plate the meatballs with the cream sauce and mashed potato and serve with the lingonberries.

Good to know

This dish has something wonderfully down-to-earth about it. Warm, creamy and exactly the kind of food that feels cosy straight away. The sweet-sour note at the end rounds it off.

Swaps

Breadcrumbs → oats (more fibre; oats contain gluten unless labelled gluten-free) | cream → additive-free cooking cream, or a smaller amount of crème fraîche (often a little less processed) | butter → ghee (can take high heat for frying) | potatoes → celeriac and potato mash (a little more veg, a little less starch)

Allergens

Contains egg, gluten (breadcrumbs, flour) and milk, and possibly celery depending on the stock. Usually fine for children if seasoned sparingly; in pregnancy it's fine as long as the mince is cooked right through. If you're pregnant, or cooking for children or older people, boil frozen lingonberries for 2 minutes first and let them cool.