Ricotta takes the place of breadcrumbs in these gluten-free Swedish meatballs and they’re just as delicious as the more traditional kind!
I was in Sweden for a long weekend and I returned last night. I love everything about that place, but most of all – the people and the culture. I have an extremely soft spot in my heart for Sweden and Swedes and if I could live anywhere I wanted, I’d live in a small Swedish village in a cute red house overlooking a lake. But alas – there are high taxes to pay, jobs to be had, etc. But I have hope for the future. :)
I love Sweden so much that I chose to be an exchange student there in both high school and college. The first time, I was 16 and lived with a crazy family who happened to be vegetarian. It wasn’t a happy situation food-wise. When I knew they’d be gone, I’d go and buy a bag of frozen meatballs, prepare them really quickly and run away to my room and just devour them. It was great fun.
Then the second time I was in Sweden (which is where I met Mr. T, by the way) I decided I didn’t like Swedish meatballs and didn’t eat any of them. I’m weird like that. At least with food. Only recently was my passion for Swedish meatballs reignited and luckily, I no longer have to hide my meat eating.
These are super easy to make and relatively quick, too. Just mix everything together, bake the meatballs in the oven, and then pan fry a little so that they’re nice and crunchy. If you want, you can just bake them, but they won’t have that crust which I think is totally necessary for Swedish meatballs. Or you can just fry them in the pan without baking them first, but this will take a long time and you’ll need to stand over the meatballs to turn them every so often. The meatballs are spiced with both allspice and nutmeg so that they actually taste like something, which is something I’ve missed in other recipes.
This recipe was born out of a need to get rid of some ricotta. And it worked! The ricotta took the place of breadcrumbs and they unintentionally became gluten-free.
Another bonus with these meatballs – they’re not made from horsemeat! Yeah! :D
I know that Swedish meatball recipes usually have gravy recipes included, but I have never seen sauce served with meatballs in Sweden. It could just be who I’m hanging around with or have lived with, but I’ve always been served meatballs alongside mashed potatoes or buttered macaroni.
And not only that, but I don’t like sauce and therefore can’t judge what’s good. ;) So here you are – just the meatballs!
Prefer to use ground turkey? Try these gluten-free meatballs. And for dairy-free Italian meatballs, try these Gluten-free Dairy-free Meatballs!
Gluten-free Swedish Meatballs
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1.2dl) onion, minced
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (Lea & Perrins is gluten-free!)
- 1 pound (455 grams) ground pork and beef mix (mine was about 60% pork and 40% beef)
- 2/3 cup (160 grams) Ricotta
- 1 tablespoon butter
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C). Get out a 9" x 13" baking dish or another pan large enough for the meatballs.
- In a large bowl, mix together the first seven ingredients (onion through Worcestershire sauce). Then add in the meat and mix together, just until combined. Add in the Ricotta. You can add more or less if you like.
- Form into tablespoon sized balls, place in the baking dish, and bake for 10 minutes.
- The last two minutes of baking, melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Then fry the meatballs in the butter until nicely browned, about 5 - 10 minutes, and serve.
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77 comments on “Gluten-free Swedish Meatballs” — Add one!
This recipe was AMAZING. I just recently found out I am Coeliac and these meatballs are incredible! Had them with veges and scalloped potatoes and impressed my new boyfriend. Will definitely be making these again and again!
With scalloped potatoes! Yum. :) I’m so happy that you enjoyed them! Thanks a bunch for your feedback.
Tried these last night and we all found them to be rather bland. They went together easy, but we were disappointed.
Sorry that you were disappointed!
I just made these for a pot luck lunch in the office tomorrow and they turned out amazing!!! The ricotta gives the meatball an extra lightness, and the prep time and instructions are perfect. Thank you so much for sharing, I’m sure they will be a big hit tomorrow!
I’m so happy that you enjoyed them! Thanks a bunch for your comment and I hope that the others will like them just as much. :)
I think i’m one of the few people that actually made these, lol! Well they turned out amazing! Love the idea of no bread crumbs but they were a little harder to roll into balls being they were so sticky. I added about 1/4 cup flax seed and about 1/4 cup rolled oats (oatmeal) to help the consistency. More flax seed could be used in place of the oatmeal to keep it lower carb. Great flavor and thanks so much for the recipe!!!
Haha. You’re right. I’m so happy that someone finally made these and that you liked them! Flax seed sounds like a great, healthy addition. I’ll have to try that! Thanks so much for your feedback. :)
I am swedish…and I rarely eat meatballs! :P I think gravy/brown sauce is most common when you eat the meatballs along with boiled potatoes. Never had meatballs with Worcestershire sauce either…but I guess one can put in whatvere one fancy in meatballs anwyay! :) Oh, one more thing! If served with boiled potatoes and gravy we also use Lingonberry jam along with it! ;)
Mmm! Jag saknar Sverige :) How could I have forgotten the lingonberry sauce?! And yeah, I know this isn’t the most authentic recipe but it tastes just like I remember! :D
This is awesome! I’m of Swedish decent, and we had Swedish Meatballs at every special occasion growing up. But now that I’m gluten-free, I forgo the pleasure. I’ll be giving this recipe a try TONIGHT! :)
That’s awesome! So happy that you’ll be able to enjoy Swedish meatballs again. I hope you’ll like them! :)
Looks great to try–never thought of ricotta instead of bread crumbs. Haven’t found GF worcestershire sauce–we use A-1 Steak Sauce as a substitute. It has a similar flavor, but GF.
Sorry for my incredibly slow reply! I was in the US in June and seem to have failed miserably at commenting. I used this type, which is GF: http://www.leaperrins.com/products/the-original-worcestershire-sauce.aspx I hope you can find it!
I LOVE IT.Thanks for your post.I will review it again.Recipes
One day I will visit Sweden. How cool that you got to live there. Did you learn the language? LOVE these fabulous meatballs and of course, the ricotta makes me want them more!
Be careful with your brands of worcestershire sauce… some of the cheaper brands will contain wheat flour. The one I bought recently without checking the label first did, anyway. Had to get rid of it :(
I love meatballs, I will be making these for sure!
I looooove meatballs in all forms, and yours look fantastic. I'm impressed at what a pretty pic you got of them, too – meatballs aren't easy to photograph! =) Yum!
Oh wow, thank you for the compliment! I have to admit that I was laughing like a maniac when I got those pictures. "HAHAHA! I did it! Meat is so ugly!" Normally I look at my pictures and want to cry a little. Not here. :) So yay!
Wow never heard of ricotta, all spice and nutmeg on meatballs? They must have tasted awesome!! I know my kids and husband would love these. Keeping the recipe :-)
I hope you'll like them, too! :) And those spices just make them so much more yummier!
Love Swedish meatballs but I've never seen them without gravy or sauce, and that is interesting that you haven't seen them in Sweden with the sauce, maybe just an American thing. I like the idea of using your ricotta cheese in them, I'm sure they were extra good and moist. Too funny that you had to make meat while your host family was gone.
I had such a lack of energy without my meat! It had to be done. ;) A Swedish girl posted a comment here saying that sauce with meatballs does exist in Sweden, it just depends what you serve it with. So it turns out it's not an American thing!
I've yet to visit Sweden but I love Swedish meatballs! Great use of ricotta here. :)
Thank you! :)
These look and sound divine! I am half sweedish and it is on my bucket list to visit there. Sounds like you had a grand time there. Lovely photos!
Thanks! And you have to visit. Go see your relatives (if you have any over there!) and let them show you Sweden. It's a great place. :)
These look and sound delicious! I spent a summer working in Sweden years ago and these bring back wonderful memories!
Oh really?! That sounds fun. I hope you write about it some time on your blog. I'd love to hear about it. :)
Hehe! I loved your story about hiding while eating meatballs! I felt like doing the same thing when I lived in Cali and had a strict vegetarian roommate.
Love stories about your life :)
Which is so silly! It's like not I told them that they had to eat their vegetable eating from me. ;) And thanks, I'm sometimes worried about writing about my life because who would be interested? So at least there's one person – yay! :D
I would love to visit Sweden one day and for sure I would try the meatballs!!!
Being a huge meatball fan I have to say these look delish and gluten free -all the better;-)
Thank you! And hehe, yes, go to Sweden and eat meatballs. Sounds like an awesome plan! :)