Swedish Meatballs with Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

If you have ever been to an Ikea, or have any awareness around their Swedish meatball situation, you may have similarly assumed that the gravy was a crucial part of the dish. Well, I’m here to tell you it is absolutely not customary. In fact, the Swedes like to serve their meatballs with casserole noodles just as much as they do mashed potatoes. Insert head explosion emoji.

One of my best friends from high school is Swedish with strong ties back in Sweden. “How could I have not known this?” I thought as I dove deeper and deeper into the gravy-gate betrayal scandal of 2021. The dish I saw in my head was so dry and so lackluster without it. I just couldn’t let it go and ditch the gravy. I wouldn’t.

Luckily, luckily, luckily, gravy is not dead. In fact, gravy has recently been adopted by the Swedes! Mostly due to the exposure the saucy dish has received through Ikea’s promotion of it with the gravy. So, because I am a sauce girl, I decided it was absolutely okay to keep this component in my recipe of Swedish Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes.

I make a fuss only because I wanted to honor this delicious meal, and make a traditional Swedish meatball meal. It was going to be in the title, after all! So, in an attempt to give a major nod to the tradition of this dish, I decided to focus on what made the meat seasoning so special. Queue the Grillkydda! Now this, my friend, is the thing to know about.

Grillkydda, or Piffi, is an all-purpose seasoning used in Swedish cooking. Made up of common spices that you likely have already in your spice cabinet, the homemade spice mix will elevate your meatballs tenfold. Plus, this seasoning would be amazing on chicken, fish, in creamy salad dressings, or anything else you can dream up.

A few recipe notes:

• 50/50 split of ground pork and ground beef. Feel free to do more pork, all pork, or all beef if you have a preference. I like to buy 90/10 fat content.

• Breadcrumbs. I actually personally use panko because it’s what I typically stock in my cabinet. Breadcrumbs is customary and what I have written in the recipe. Use what you have!

• White pepper. This is the only ingredient that I would guess you might not have on hand. I really enjoy cooking with white pepper and suggest you buy it and play with it. I think you’ll be surprised how nice of a flavor it is.

• Replace old seasonings! This is a must. I’m guilty of this myself, but it’s absolutely so important to discard any old, expired spices. Not because of mold or anything, but because of flavor. The more they are exposed to air (especially ground versions), the more they lose flavor. The whole purpose of spices is of course to add flavor, and if your spices are stale you’ll end up with a lackluster dish. Trust me when I say, freshen them up frequently.

• Meat substitutions. I mean, why not? Who wants to try this with Impossible ground beef? Maybe tempeh? Let me know how it goes! Just make sure to swap the beef stock for veggie stock in the gravy.

• GF substitutions. Swap the gluten-ous components for GF breadcrumb, GF ap flour or cornstarch, tamari, and you’re golden!

• Dairy substitutions. I think you should have no problem swapping dairy ingredients for unsweetened dairy-free versions.