Everyone knows that the best part about Ikea — apart from it not being a haunted Orsk store — is the in-store restaurant. There’s just something exciting about grabbing that tray, standing on the line cafeteria-style, and being ladled up a giant spoonful of steaming Swedish meatballs smothered in gravy.
That’s what makes an Ikea trip so great — you can spend the entire day there, wandering around and being fed a hot meal without ever leaving the building. And, if you grew up in 1980s New Jersey like I did, you could also eat and watch the planes take off and arrive at Newark Airport, which was conveniently located across the Turnpike from the Ikea restaurant. (Cue Sia’s “I Love Cheap Thrills” here.)
As I was reading Horrorstör, it was pretty obvious what my book-inspired recipe was going to be: I had to make Swedish meatballs. I know you can now buy Ikea’s famous meatballs online (ah, the wonders of the Internet), but I wanted to make them from scratch. Plus, the last time Husband and I ate meatballs from Ikea, they were delicious in-the-moment, but we both became violently ill a few hours later. Soooo, yeah. Not taking any chances!
I make meatballs a lot during the winter. I do a relatively quick version that I bake in the oven and serve with packet instant gravy and mashed potatoes. Even though I have a good amount of Italian blood in me, I rarely make meatballs in tomato sauce. Why? Because my sister-in-law makes THE best meatballs n’ sauce in the entire world, and there’s just no point in trying to do what someone else already does so perfectly. So, I stick to my little meatballs n’ brown gravy recipe, and it usually suits me just fine when I’m craving some comfort food.
However, I’m the first to admit that baking the meatballs, mashing the potatoes, and making (okay, emptying a packet of) the gravy is a bit of a process. We’re talking at least two pots, a potato masher, a colander, various spoons, plus the whole cooling-rack-and-baking-sheet set up. That’s already a daunting amount of dishes, particularly after a long workday.
That’s why I love this One-Pot Swedish Meatball Pasta recipe. True to its name, everything is cooked up in one large pot, and you’ve got yourself a meal in about 30-40 minutes. I don’t have to drain the pasta (one of the aspects of culinary life I hate the most…usually because it means clearing out my kitchen sink beforehand to make room for the colander), and if there are leftovers, I can just pop the lid back on the pot and shove it in the fridge for another day.
Plus, it’s the ultimate comfort food dish. This meal delivers on full-flavored taste with its slightly peppery meatballs blanketed in a luscious cream sauce. I also really love the hints of nutmeg and allspice that bring some warmth to an otherwise ordinary meat mixture. The egg noodles are the perfect cushion for the little meatballs, and they are the best vehicle for soaking up that extra sauce.
And, of course, it’s best to grate copious amounts of cheese on top. I prefer pecorino romano for its sharpness, but feel free to use good ol’ Parmesan instead.
I like to use a big Dutch oven for this meal because it’s big enough to accommodate most, if not all of the meatballs at one time. This makes the browning step a cinch and the cook time even quicker. If for some reason all the meatballs don’t fit in the pot at once, I’ve found that you can squeeze in the stragglers after you’ve flipped the first round. Just nudge the half-browned balls (…am I the only one who thinks that sounds wrong??) over a little bit to make room for the extras.
A helpful hint about browning, if you’re a compulsive sear-checker like I am: Don’t touch the meatball once you place it in the pot; if you try to turn it too early, it will stick to the bottom and fall apart. Let it cook a few minutes on one side, and once the meatball can be easily pulled away from the bottom of the pan, it’s usually formed a nice, brown crust and is ready to be flipped. When I made this recipe, this took about 3-4 minutes. Apply the same method for the other side, and you’ll have the best lookin’ balls in town. *cough*
The first time I made this recipe, I was afraid that the meatballs wouldn’t cook through in the time it takes to cook the pasta. However, I’ve since made this recipe numerous times, and the meatballs magically always come out perfectly done. And, keep in mind that the pasta continues to cook in the sauce as you mix in the grated cheese and the slurry, so it’s okay if it’s a little underdone when you take the pot off the heat. I used No Yolks Extra Broad egg noodles for this recipe, as they cook pretty quickly.
Make this dish when you’re too tired to walk through the entire Ikea showroom just to get a hearty meal. Or, y’know, when you’re too terrified to set foot in an Orsk-type store but are craving Swedish meatballs anyway.
One-Pot Swedish Meatball Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
- 1/4 onion, grated
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 tsp salt (for the meatballs)
- 1/2 tbsp ground black pepper (for the meatballs)
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp salt (for the sauce)
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper (for the sauce)
- 1 tbsp Worcester sauce
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard**
- 2 cups 2% milk
- 4 cups uncooked egg noodles
- 1.5 cups grated pecorino romano cheese + more for serving
- 1.5 tbsp cornstarch
- 1.5 tbsp cold water
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
Instructions
PREP INSTRUCTIONS
- Grate cheese and set aside.
- Chop parsley and set aside.
- Whisk together cornstarch and cold water in a small prep bowl to make a slurry, then set aside.
- Grate onion into another small prep bowl and set aside.
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
- Combine beaten egg, grated onion, ½ tsp salt, ½ tbsp pepper, allspice, and nutmeg in large bowl. Whisk together, then add ground beef and breadcrumbs. Using clean hands, mix together beef, breadcrumbs, and other ingredients in the large bowl until combined.
- Roll meat mixture into small, golf ball-sized meatballs and place on a dinner plate. (Should yield 20-25 meatballs.)
- Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Place meatballs in a single layer in the bottom of the pot, leaving some space between each meatball. Brown meatballs on one side, about 3 minutes, then flip and brown on the other side.
- Once meatballs are browned on both sides, lower the heat to medium. Add the chicken broth, stirring with a spatula to deglaze the bottom of the pot. Add mustard, Worcester sauce, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper, and milk, stirring continuously.
- Bring liquid to a boil, stirring regularly to ensure that milk doesn’t curdle. Once boiling, add the egg noodles to the pot.
- Stir constantly until the pasta is cooked to al dente and the liquid has reduced by half, around 8-9 minutes.
- Remove pot from heat, then add 1.5 cups grated cheese and half the chopped parsley. Stir to combine.
- Slowly whisk your cornstarch and water slurry into the pot. Stir with the spatula and cook 1-2 minutes, until sauce has slightly thickened.
- Serve immediately, garnishing with additional grated cheese and remaining chopped parsley.
Notes
