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Glazed Swedish Meatballs Appetizer

Classic Swedish Meatballs get a retro glaze with lingonberry preserves and chill sauce. Perfect appetizer for your next cocktail party, but feel free to serve these over rice for a great meal!
Course Appetizer
Cuisine North American, Swedish
Keyword chilli sauce, glaze, lingonberry preserves, meatballs, swedish
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings 8

Ingredients

Meatballs

  • 2 tbsp olive oil divided
  • 1 medium onion small diced
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or as desired
  • 1 lb lean ground beef
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1/2 cup Panko or any fresh breadcrumbs, can use gluten free
  • 1 extra large egg
  • 1/2 tsp ground allspice
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
  • kosher salt and cracked black pepper, don't skimp on the pepper, this is what this meatball loves!
  • 2-4 tbsp milk, only use as much as needed

Glaze

  • 1 3/4 cups lingonberry preserves, or 14 oz see Notes
  • 1 1/2 cups Chilli Sauce, or 12 oz see Notes
  • 3 tbsp runny honey
  • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp Sriracha or other hot sauce, or to taste
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Instructions

Meatballs

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring regularly, until onion has become translucent and just starting to turn golden, about 5-6 minutes. Sprinkle with the cayenne pepper and stir well. Remove from the heat. Let cool slightly.

  2. In a large bowl, using your hands, combine ground beef, ground pork, Panko, egg, allspice, nutmeg and cooked onion and parsley; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Start with 1 1/4 tsp of each.

  3. Once combined well, stop. (to keep working it, will cause the meat mixture to become tough when cooked)

  4. Add 1 tbsp of milk at a time till the mixture binds but isn't watery. If you use panko breadcrumbs, you may need all four tablespoons.

  5. Reheat the skillet to medium high. Take a small portion (about the size of a thick quarter, and place in the skillet. Sauté until cooked through, about 4 minutes.
  6. Taste. If you are happy with the flavour continue to next step. If you feel it could still use more salt, pepper, or spices, now is the time to re-season.

  7. Roll the mixture into 1 inch or so meatballs, You should get at least 40 meatballs.

  8. At this point you can proceed with the recipe.
  9. * However, If you don't need them all immediately, spread them out on a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet and freeze them. Once frozen, they can be removed and stored in freezer bags, in meal sized portions- approx 6-8 per person depending on how large you rolled them.

Oven Method

  1. Place the desired amount of meatballs onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in a 425F heated oven till cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. If you want some extra colour, switch to Broil and broil till you are happy with the colour, keep an eye on them though. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate.

Stove Top Method

  1. Add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the skillet. Add meatballs, in batches, and cook until all sides are browned, about 4-5 minutes. You may need to add more oil. Adjust the heat if you see that they are browning too harshly. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

Glaze

  1. Combine all the glaze ingredients except the parsley in a large skillet, or heavy dutch oven. Bring the ingredients to a boil over medium low heat. Once the sauce is well combined, taste and adjust seasonings. Increase the heat to medium, bring it to bubbling for a minute, and then add the meatballs, stir to coat, and simmer on medium low for about 10 minutes, till heated through. Serve with skewers and fresh parsley.

  2. See blog post for more details.

Recipe Notes

If you can't find lingonberry preserves, feel free to use whole berry cranberry jelly. Cook the sauce to a bubbling boil for a minute, remove it from the heat, and then carefully use an immersion blender to break up the berries so that they can cling to meatballs. Return to medium low heat and add the meatballs.
Use a sauce like Heinz for best consistency.