Dairy Free / Gluten Free Swedish Meatball Recipe

I started making Swedish meatballs years ago after realizing that tomato sauce doesn’t really work for me. Now that I have a Tomato Free Sauce, I get to have spaghetti and meatballs again but I like to make Swedish meatballs as well.

A couple of quick notes on the recipe:

If you can have dairy replace the almond/hemp milk with heavy cream. If you are DF don’t use rice milk as it is too thin. If you have to, then you may want to add a little additional flour to the gravy.

Why add bread/bread crumbs to meatballs? It turns out, bread or bread crumbs in meatballs makes them significantly softer. In this recipe, use a middle slice of bread, not the end (I usually save the ends of GF bread to make bread crumbs) as the end may not fall apart as easily.



Gluten Free / Dairy Free Swedish Meatballs

 Ingredients:
1 slice gf bread
1/4 cup almond/hemp milk
olive oil
1 medium white onion, chopped fine

1# ground beef
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste


Gravy Ingredients:
1/4 cup almond/hemp milk
2 cups gluten free beef broth
1/4 cup gluten free flour mix
dash nutmeg
dash allspice
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Jam:
Lingonberry, (cranberry, currant, blackberry, raspberry)

How to prepare GF/DF Swedish Meatballs:
Soak bread in milk using the bare minimum of milk (you can always add more).

Sauté chopped onion in olive oil (about 3-4 minutes) in a high rimmed sauté pan.

Whisk milk/bread mixture until bread fully falls apart (again adding more milk as needed).

Mix bread/milk ingredients, onions, ground beef, allspice, nutmeg, parsley, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Form into 1” meatballs (recipe should make 20-24). If you used too much milk on the bread the meatballs may not hold their shape well. If so, cool in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.

Fry meatballs in batches until browned on the outside, transfer to a paper towel lined plate as done.

Drain off some fat as needed/desired.

To make the gravy:
Combine the milk and gf flour in a covered container and shake well. Deglaze the sauté pan with a bit of the beef stock/broth before adding the rest. Stir in the flour/milk mixture. Add the nutmeg, allspice, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Return meatballs to pan and simmer until gravy is desired consistency and meatballs are cooked fully through.

Serve over Gluten Free noodles with a bit of jam (lingonberry is traditional, but currant, cranberry, blackberry or raspberry jam can all be used in a pinch.)

Enjoy!

Note: the jam can be mixed into the gravy as well.

If you make this recipe and enjoy it, let me know in the comments below!