Swedish Meatballs, Kottbullar with Potatoes and Cream Sauce Original ALLEMANSRÄTTEN Recipe from Sweden

from Thomas Sixt
Hi, I am a German Chef and Food Photographer. The imparting of cooking knowledge is my great passion. Everyone can cook for himself and with this website I would like to contribute to its success. Cooking questions I answer you gladly at the end of the articles. Have fun and good luck!
Today I’ll show you my Kottbullar Swedish Meatballs Recipe. The original recipe comes from a colleague from Sweden.
Köttbullar is a traditional Swedish dish and most of us know the Swedish meatballs from the shopping trip to the furniture store Ikea.
Erik, the chef from Sweden, has created a homemade version of the Köttbullar together with me. This is a recipe refined by his grandmother in a chef’s style.
For our Köttbullar cream sauce we use veal stock. Thus the sauce becomes particularly fine and also exists in the star kitchen. In addition, we show a simple variant based on broth.
Be sure to pay attention to the potato variety when making your own mashed potatoes. Mealy potatoes or potatoes that are mainly firm are ideal. This gives your puree a nice consistency. You can also serve the Swedish Pflanzerl with boiled potatoes, which is even easier and tastes delicious!
We prepare the Köttbullar with mixed minced meat. You can also take beef or elk meat. With veal prepared you would have another noble variant for your guest kitchen. Wish you good luck!
Table of Contents
1. Prepare Koettbullar in the Oven
You can easily prepare the Köttbullar in the oven. Place the formed Köttbullar balls on an oiled baking tray and cook the Köttbullar at 140-150°C hot air for about 35-45 minutes. I advise against higher temperatures, because otherwise the meat balls can rise and break too strongly.
Due to the selected temperature range the meatballs cook evenly and get a nice colour at the end.

2. Prepare Koettbullar in a frying Pan and Cook Sauce
This is the traditional way of preparation for Köttbullar… Brown the formed meatballs in a pan in oil or as Erik says with clarified butter. Then place the fried Köttbullar on a plate.
The frying in the pan has formed roasting substances, which you use for the sauce. Remove the remaining oil from the pan, add the onion and garlic cubes and prepare a light brown sauce with tomato paste.
Clarified butter produces the typical Swedish Köttbullar taste, says Erik the cook!
Deglaze the sauce with white wine or red wine, add stock or veal stock, bring to the boil and slowly add the cream. You can bind the Köttbullar sauce later with some mashed potatoes.

3. Recipe Koettbullar Swedish Meatballs
The following is the recipe with all ingredients and further tips for your perfect Köttbullar experience!
Here is the meatballs and meatballs comparison:
The Koettbullar are in comparison to Bavarian Meatballs Fleischpflanzerl in the consistency firmer and drier. “Fleischpflanzerl” contain eggs and bread, which makes them fluffier.
The Kottbullar receive the desired binding and firmness by the addition of breadcrumbs.
I wish you good success. Questions about the recipe? Write me about the comment function at the end of the page.
Köttbullar with potatoes and cream sauce
Köttbullar original recipe for Swedish Meatballs presented by Erik the Swedish chef and Thomas Sixt.

Cousine
Keyword
Preparation Time
30 Min.
Cook Time
20 Min.
Ingredients
mashed potatoes |
||
400 | g | big potatoes |
4 | g | Salt |
40 | g | butter |
1 | pinches | Pepper |
1 | pinches | nutmeg |
150 | ml | Cream |
Köttbullar/swedish Meatballs |
||
2 | pc | shalotts |
10 | g | butter |
1 | pc | Bay leaf |
500 | g | minced meat (You can use beef/pig, beef, elk minced meat.) |
50 | ml | Cream |
40-80 | g | breadcrumbs (Reference value! Gluten-free variant: rice flour) |
5 | g | Salt |
6-8 | pinches | Pepper |
15-25 | g | Dijon mustard |
50 | g | clarified butter |
cream sauce |
||
1 | pc | big onion |
1 | pc | glove of garlic |
10 | g | clarified butter |
15 | g | tomato puree |
50 | ml | wine |
250 | ml | veal stock (or beef broth) |
5 | g | corn starch (I like to use puree to tie sauce!) |
150 | ml | Cream |
50 | g | butter |
1 | pinches | Salt |
1 | pinches | bell pepper yellow |
Prepare peas |
||
15 | g | butter |
300 | g | peas (green peas) |
4 | pinches | Salt |
3 | pinches | Pepper |
Decoration and Additions |
||
40-70 | g | Cranberries (Cranberries cofitüre) |
4 | pc | Parsley |
Instruction
Prepare mashed potatoes
Wash and peel the potatoes, cut into even slices and cook until soft in boiling salted water. Drain the remaining water and season the potatoes with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix the potatoes quickly with a mixer and add the cream little by little. As an alternative to mashed potatoes, boil the potatoes with or without peel in salted water, then drain, (peel), toss in butter, finish with parsley, salt, pepper and nutmeg and keep warm.
Preparing Köttbullar
Finely dice the shallots and sauté in butter with the bay leaf for 15 minutes at medium temperature until colourless. Erik told me his grandmother used to do it this way. The bay leaf gives the meatballs a special flavour. Then remove the bay leaf and mix the shallots with the remaining Köttbullar ingredients in a large bowl. Season the meat mixture with salt, pepper and mustard. Form small Köttbullar balls and fry in clarified butter in a pan. Alternatively, you can also prepare the meatballs in the oven, see the note in the article above. Keep Köttbullar warm in the oven at 100°C until serving.
Prepare Köttbullar cream sauce
For the Köttbullar sauce, remove the fat from the pan, finely dice the peeled onion and garlic and sauté in the pan. Add the tomato paste and brown until light brown. Deglaze with wine, add stock or veal stock and bring to the boil. You can bind the sauce now with starch mixed in cold water or later with mashed potatoes. Bring the sauce to the boil, slowly add the cream and season with salt and pepper. Prepare the sauce next to the stove for serving.
Peas Preparation
Heat the butter in a saucepan, add the peas and pour in a little water. Season the peas with salt and pepper, cover and cook quickly. At the end of cooking, remove the lid and let the liquid evaporate. Place the peas in the butter stock ready for serving.
Sideboards and decoration
Prepare heated plates, arrange the mashed potatoes, add Köttbullar and cover with the sauce, add peas, serve decorated with cranberries and parsley.
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