How to Make Swedish Meatballs With Already Made Meatballs

Cooking Swedish meatballs using premade meatballs saves time and delivers an easy meal for your family. Swedish meatballs are traditionally served with sweet lingonberry preserves and a creamy brown gravy but with some smart substitutions, you can recreate a similar taste in your own home.

Although Swedish meatballs are usually made of seasoned pork or beef and are smaller than the Italian or German versions, you can use premade meatballs to create your own quick version of Swedish meatballs. These savory meatballs are traditionally served at buffets or smorgasbords, but with this easy version, you can enjoy Swedish meatballs almost anytime.

Things You'll Need

• 2 lbs. premade meatballs
• Crock Pot
• 2 eight-ounce cans cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 dash Tabasco sauce
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 package of brown gravy mix
• Parsley sprigs for garnish
• 1 jar lingonberry or raspberry preserves

Instructions

Crockpot Swedish Meatballs

1. Purchase premade meatballs. Most often, they are found in the freezer section in the Italian entree section. Usually, a majority of the premade meatballs are made of a mixture of beef, pork and veal and have Italian seasonings. This is acceptable for this recipe.

   You may also be able to find fresh-made meatballs in the fresh meat section of your market. If your market makes fresh meatballs, ask the butcher if he will make meatballs half the size they usually make them just for you. The butcher may need 24 hours or more to special order custom-sized meatballs.

2. Take out a crockpot and put the cook setting on high. Don't worry about defrosting the meatballs if they are frozen. This recipe can be used with either fresh or frozen meatballs.

3. Dump into the crockpot two 8-ounce cans cream of mushroom soup, 1 cup of sour cream, 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, a dash Tabasco sauce, 1/4 cup milk and 1 package of brown gravy mix.

4. Stir together completely and toss in the meatballs. Stir again to mix and cover the meatballs with the sauce. Turn on the crockpot for a three-hour setting.

5. Remove the meatballs after three hours of cooking and place in an attractive platter. Drizzle the sauce on top of the meatballs and garnish with parsley.

   On the side, serve either lingonberry or raspberry preserves. The combination of the savory and sweet is a classic Nordic flavor combination.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't have cream of mushroom soup, you can use cream of chicken as a replacement.

• Add noodles or rice on the side to complete a family meal.

References

• Food Timeline Organzation
• Recipezaar

Resources

• More Swedish recipes