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Köttbullar night

Köttbullar with parsley potatoes

Allspice-scented Swedish meatballs simmered in cream with mushrooms, served with parsley-buttered potatoes, chive cucumber, and lingonberry jam.

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A plate of Swedish meatballs with potatoes, lingonberries, cucumber, and creamy sauce.
The Swedish plate at its most comforting: tender meatballs, potatoes, cucumber, cream sauce, and a bright lingonberry accent.Photo by JIP · CC BY-SA 4.0
5reader rating
Prep
20 min
Cook
20 min
Total
40 min
Serves
2 persons

This is the cozy Swedish plate built around contrast: small browned meatballs, a creamy mushroom pan sauce, buttered parsley potatoes, cool cucumber, and a spoonful of lingonberry jam for tartness. The method is straightforward, but the finished plate feels complete.

“Köttbullar with parsley potatoes are a typical Swedish dish. Known from Ikea, but also easily made at home. Try different meatballs, try Swedish meatballs.”

Season small

Allspice, onion, breadcrumbs, and milk make compact meatballs that brown quickly and stay tender.

Sauce in the pan

Mushrooms and onion rings cook in the same skillet, gathering the browned bits before the cream goes in.

Brighten the plate

Chive cucumber and optional lingonberry jam cut through the rich cream sauce.

Visual notesBrown, cream, green

Small meatballs, soft potatoes, and a bright Nordic finish.

Hands shaping small Swedish meatballs on a tray before cooking.
Keep the meatballs small; the recipe makes roughly twelve to fourteen so they brown quickly and finish tender.Photo by Håkan Dahlström · CC BY 2.0
Kitchen truth

Brown the meatballs hard and fast, then let the cream sauce finish the cooking gently.

Boiled potatoes tossed with butter and chopped parsley in a pan.
Butter and parsley turn simple boiled potatoes into the soft, herbal side the meatballs need.Photo by Amadscientist · CC BY-SA 3.0
Swedish meatballs with lingonberries and mashed potatoes on a restaurant plate.
Lingonberry jam gives the rich cream sauce a tart red counterpoint.Photo by tuey · CC BY 2.0

RecipePrint ready

Köttbullar with parsley potatoes, cucumber and cream sauce

A forty-minute Swedish supper with allspice meatballs, mushrooms in cream, buttered potatoes, chive cucumber, and optional lingonberry jam.

SwedishMeatballsPotatoesLingonberryCream Sauce

Ingredients

Meatballs

  • 300 grams minced meat
  • 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 25 grams breadcrumbs
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • Allspice, to taste
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • Oil, for frying

Parsley potatoes and cucumber

  • 500 grams potatoes
  • 1/2 cucumber
  • Salt and sugar, to season the cucumber
  • Parsley, chopped
  • Chives, chopped
  • Butter, for the potatoes

Creamy mushroom pan sauce

  • 150 grams mushrooms, quartered
  • 1/2 yellow onion, sliced into rings
  • 200 milliliters cream, divided
  • 50 grams lingonberry jam, optional
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

  1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into medium cubes. Cook them in salted water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until tender.
  2. Cut the cucumber into small slices. Season the slices with salt and sugar, then set them aside while the rest of the dish cooks.
  3. Halve the onion. Chop one half very finely for the meatballs and cut the other half into rings for the sauce.
  4. Quarter the mushrooms, then chop the parsley and chives.
  5. Mix the minced meat with the finely chopped onion, breadcrumbs, allspice, salt, pepper, and milk. Roll the mixture into 12 to 14 small meatballs.
  6. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan. Fry the meatballs over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, turning until browned on all sides. Transfer them to a plate.
  7. In the same pan, fry the onion rings and mushrooms for a few minutes, scraping up the browned bits from the meatballs.
  8. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the cream. Add the remaining cream to the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper.
  9. Return the meatballs to the pan and simmer them in the cream sauce for 8 minutes.
  10. Mix the reserved 2 tablespoons cream and the chives into the cucumber slices.
  11. Drain the potatoes, melt a little butter over them, and toss with chopped parsley.
  12. Serve the meatballs with the creamy mushrooms, parsley potatoes, cucumber, and optional lingonberry jam.

Image credits

Photography is used under open licenses with attribution: JIP, Håkan Dahlström, Amadscientist, and tuey.