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    Home » Mains

    Author: Emily Krill | Published: Oct 19, 2021 | Modified: Nov 23, 2021

    Keto Swedish Meatballs Meal

    Jump to Recipe

    This recipe for Keto Swedish Meatballs in Cream Sauce is a delicious taste of Sweden. Add some mashed cauliflower and berry jam and you've got a tasty low carb meal with just 11g net carbs.

    a close up of Swedish Meatballs Keto Mashed Cauliflower, Cream Sauce and Cranberry Jam
    Jump to:
    • Components of the dish
    • The Meatballs
    • The Cream Sauce
    • The Mashed Potatoes
    • The Lingonberry Jam
    • 📋 Recipe
    • 📋 Recipe


    Hallå! 👋

    Today I’m going to share my recipe for Swedish Meatballs, a dish I will forever associate with IKEA.  Back before my low carb diet, when I was tired of arguing with my husband over the BJÖRKSNÄS bed frame or the MÖRBYLÅNGA table or even the FJÄLLBO shelving, we could always take a break in the cafeteria and enjoy their famous Swedish Meatball meal. The meal is truly epic, but unfortunately for me, it is very high in carbohydrates.

    But fear not, this recipe for Keto Swedish Meatballs will give IKEA a run for its money.

    an IKEA Swedish Meatball Meal
    The classic IKEA Meatball Meal

    Components of the dish

    Swedish Meatballs with mashed potatoes, a cream sauce, and lingonberry jam 

    These are all things we can make low carb without too much trouble.  We'll make the meatballs with almond flour instead of breadcrumbs, the cream sauce without flour, and we'll use mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes and cranberries in place of those sugary lingonberries in the jam. And while IKEA’s meal has upwards of 60 grams of carbohydrate, our version will have just 11 grams net carbs. 

    a low carb take on a classic IKEA meal
    My Keto Swedish Meatballs Meal

    The Meatballs

    So many Keto meatball recipes fall flat for me.  They are just balls of solid ground beef.  But not the ones we are going to make today, my friends.  No, we’ll be adding almond flour and parmesan cheese as fillers that will act like the breadcrumbs that go into regular high-carb meatballs. And we are going to use the golden ratio of 50/50 meat to breading. This will make softer, more meatbally meatballs.  

    Meatball Ingredients

    You’ll need: ground beef and ground pork for the meat, garlic and onions for flavor, almond flour and parmesan cheese as fillers, salt, and pepper because you always use salt and pepper, heavy whipping cream to add moisture, and eggs to bind the little meatballs together.  

    Meatball Mix Ingredients
    • Ground Beef and Ground Pork: This recipe calls for a blend of beef and pork like the Swedish Meatballs that IKEA makes. Try and choose ground meat with the most fat, because more fat makes for happy Keto dieters and softer meatballs.
    • Almond Flour: This used to be a specialty flour that you had to buy online or in health food stores, but nowadays you can find it at Costco, Walmart and even Aldi. Almond flour is just ground blanched almonds, so the brand you choose doesn't matter so much. Just pick up what's available at the store and costs the least amount of money.
    • Parmesan Cheese: The epic battle between sprinkle cheese and shakey cheese rages on. You can use fancy style grated parmesan cheese or you can use the low brow shakey cheese that comes in a can. Either one works fine in this Keto meatball recipe, so again, I think you should just buy the cheaper one.
    sprinkle cheese vs shakey cheese
    • Eggs: Make sure to use the Large size because this, like all recipes, was designed to work with Large, not Jumbo or Extra Large eggs. No need for bigger eggs.
    • Garlic: You can often find peeled garlic in the produce aisle of the supermarket. I always buy that because I hate fussing with garlic. But if you do use whole garlic, make sure to do the knife trick to get the skin off. Place the garlic clove on a cutting board and press down on it with the flat side of a chef's knife. That will pop the skin and make it easier to peel.
    • Onions or Shallots: You can use white onions like IKEA does, or choose lower carb shallots. Onions have 6g net carbs per ½ cup, while shallots have 2.5 grams.
    • Cream: The recipe calls for heavy whipping cream, which will add softness and moisture to the Keto Swedish Meatballs. When you add liquid to a meatball mix, it steams the meat as it evaporates, making the meatballs soft and delicious.

    Meatball Instructions

    Mix everything up, roll it into balls and either fry them in oil, air fry or bake them. Frying the meatballs in oil is the messiest, least satisfying way to do it, so I don't think you should do that. I usually spray my meatballs with cooking spray and bake them in the oven. But you can also get good results if you air fry your Keto Swedish Meatballs. I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of this method before. An Air Fryer is a newfangled device that uses air to "fry" foods. I won't pretend to understand how it works, but I have one and I highly recommend it.

    low carb Swedish Meatballs on a plate

    The Cream Sauce

    IKEA has this hilariously long name for the thin yellow sauce that their cafeteria workers ladle over your Swedish Meatballs.  It’s called "ALLEMANSRÄTTEN" which roughly translates to “everyone's right to field, forest, and a fine meal, with savoury sauce”.  I don’t know if it actually means all of that, but that’s what it says on the package of powdered sauce you can buy in the food section of the store. 

    a package of ALLEMANSRATTEN IKEA cream sauce powder

    Cream sauce ingredients

    Traditional high-carb cream sauces use a roux (pronounced roo), which is a mixture of oil or butter and white flour, that thickens broth or milk. But we are low carb dieters, you and I, so that is not the path we will tread. No, we’ll be using heavy whipping cream, cream cheese, beef stock, soy sauce or coconut aminos, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and ground turmeric. It'll make for a very mellow yellow cream sauce.

    So no roux for you!

    IKEA Cream Sauce Ingredients

    Cream sauce instructions

    You start by adding all of the cream sauce ingredients to a medium-sized saucepan. Bring the liquid to a low boil and simmer for 10-20 minutes until the cream cheese has melted and the sauce has thickened to your liking. This makes a rather thin cream sauce like the one that IKEA makes, but you can thicken it more by whisking in Xanthan Gum and simmering for a few minutes more.

    Keto Swedish Meatballs Meal

    The Mashed Potatoes

    This is an easy one.  Time to turn to our good friend the cauliflower.  You just need 2 bags of cauliflower florets, some cream cheese, butter, salt, and pepper.  You’ll microwave the cauliflower right in the bag, and then mix it with the remaining ingredients in a high-powered blender.  

    Keto Mashed Cauliflower, Cream Sauce and Cranberry Jam

    The Lingonberry Jam

    Funnily enough, lingonberries are actually low carb already.  They would be perfectly acceptable to use, if only there was any place you could buy them.  But unfortunately, I have never found any lingonberries in any store anywhere in this big world of ours.

    So we’ll need to use cranberries.

    It’s always a good idea to buy some extra bags of cranberries during the short window of time when they are available in stores, and throw them into the freezer to use on a later date.  But if you can’t lay your hands on a bag of cranberries to make this recipe, you can use raspberries.  

    Just add a bag of cranberries, water, and Allulose to a pan and simmer for 8-10 minutes.   

    a bowl of Keto Cranberry Sauce

    And that’s it.

    It might seem like a lot of work, but you can actually make it in about 30 minutes if you know what you are doing.  You can have all the components of the meal cooking at the same time. So the meatballs will be frying or baking, while the cauliflower is in the microwave and the cream sauce and cranberry jam are happily simmering in pots. 

    You’ll be like the Swedish chef, cheerfully cooking away.

    So Hürdy Gürdy Børk Børk Børk! 👨‍🍳  

    the Swedish Chef in a messy kitchen
    Print

    📋 Recipe

    Keto Swedish Meatballs

    Keto Swedish Meatballs Meal
    Print Recipe

    You really can’t beat these Keto Swedish Meatballs in Cream Sauce.  

    • Author: Emily Krill
    • Prep Time: 10
    • Cook Time: 20
    • Total Time: 30 minutes
    • Yield: 4 servings 1x
    • Category: Main
    • Method: Stovetop
    • Cuisine: Swedish
    • Diet: Diabetic

    Ingredients

    Units Scale

    Meatballs:

    • ¼ cup shallots, small diced
    • 1 clove garlic, minced
    • ½ pound ground beef
    • ½ pound ground pork
    • ½ cup parmesan cheese
    • ½ cup super fine almond flour
    • 1 egg, beaten
    • 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
    • ¼ teaspoon pepper
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • cooking spray or olive oil

    Cream Sauce: 

    • 4 oz cream cheese (half a block)
    • 1 ½ cups beef stock
    • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
    • 2 teaspoons soy sauce or coconut aminos
    • 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
    • ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
    • ¼ teaspoon pepper
    • ¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
    • ½-1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum (optional)

    chopped parsley for garnish 

    Instructions

    Step 1. Mix all meatball ingredients together in a large bowl.

    Step 2. Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out the meatball mixture, roll into a ball, and place onto a foil-covered baking sheet.

    BAKED METHOD:  Spray the meatballs with cooking spray.  Bake them in a 350 degree F oven for 20 minutes.  Scoop the meatballs up from the released fat on the baking sheet.

    OIL FRIED METHOD:  Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to a large frying pan over Medium-High heat.  Add half of the meatballs to the pan and cook for 6 minutes, stirring the meatballs to cook evenly on all sides.  Remove from the pan and repeat with the remaining meatballs.

    AIR FRYER METHOD:  Spray the bottom of the air fryer basket with cooking spray.  Add half of the meatballs and spray with cooking spray.  Air fry for 10 minutes at 360 degrees F, shaking the basket halfway through.  Repeat with remaining meatballs.

    Step 3.  Add all cream sauce ingredients except salt and Xanthan Gum to a medium-sized saucepan and heat over Medium-High heat until it reaches a low boil.

    Step 3.  Lower the heat and simmer for 10-20 minutes until cream cheese has melted and the sauce has thickened to your liking.  

    Step 4.  For a thicker sauce, whisk in ½-1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum and simmer for 2-3 minutes until thickened.

    Step 5.  Taste for saltiness and add salt if desired.

    Equipment

    utility knife

    5-Inch Utility Knife

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    chef's knife

    8-Inch Chef's Knife

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    medium saucepan

    Medium 2 QT Saucepan

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    a Ninja Air Fryer

    Air Fryer

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    Nutrition

    • Serving Size: 5 meatballs and ¼ cup sauce
    • Calories: 810
    • Fat: 82g
    • Carbohydrates: 8g
    • Fiber: 2g
    • Protein: 40g

    Keywords: Keto Swedish Meatballs, Low Carb Swedish Meatballs, Paleo Swedish Meatballs

    Print

    📋 Recipe

    Mashed Cauliflower and Jam Recipes

    low carb Swedish Meatballs on a plate
    Print Recipe

    This recipe for mashed cauliflower and berry jam goes great with Swedish Meatballs.  

    • Author: Emily Krill
    • Prep Time: 5
    • Cook Time: 10
    • Total Time: 15 minutes
    • Yield: 4 servings 1x
    • Category: Side Dish
    • Method: Stovetop
    • Cuisine: Swedish
    • Diet: Diabetic

    Ingredients

    Units Scale

    Mashed Cauliflower:

    • 2 (10oz) bags of cauliflower florets
    • 1 oz cream cheese
    • 2 tablespoons butter
    • salt and pepper to taste

    Cranberry Jam:

    • 1 (12 oz) bag of cranberries or 2 (6oz) cartons of raspberries
    • ½ cup water
    • 1 ½ cups Allulose sweetener

    Instructions

    Step 1.  Punch holes into the bags of cauliflower florets and microwave for 6-7 minutes until tender.

    Step 2. In a high-powered blender or a food processor, puree the cooked cauliflower with cream cheese and butter until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste. 

    Step 3. Mix all the ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over Medium-High heat until it boils.

    Step 4. Lower the heat to medium and simmer for 8-10 minutes until the cranberries pop and the sauce thickens.

    Step 5. Check for sweetness and add more sweetener if necessary.

    Equipment

    6oz ramekins

    Colorful 6oz Ramekins

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    medium saucepan

    Medium 2 QT Saucepan

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    large soup bowl

    Large Soup Bowls

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    Blender

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    Notes

    • Nutritional Info for Cranberry Jam:
    • Servings: 8 Serving Size: ¼ cup Calories 9 Fat <1g Protein <1g Carbs 2g Fiber 1g 
    • Nutritional Info for Mashed Cauliflower is below.

    Nutrition

    • Serving Size: ½ cup
    • Calories: 111
    • Fat: 9g
    • Carbohydrates: 7g
    • Fiber: 3g
    • Protein: 3g

    Keywords: Keto Mashed Cauliflower, Low Carb Mashed Cauliflower, Keto Cranberry Jam, Keto Raspberry Jam

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Cora says

      November 07, 2021 at 6:30 am

      Loved these meatballs! I actually just made the meatballs and gravy alone and served them as an app. I didn't feel like making the jam, so I cheated and used sugar-free jelly. Still good!

      Reply
      • EmilyKrill says

        November 07, 2021 at 6:40 am

        No shame in that! Glad you liked the meatballs. Hope you used some cute little toothpicks!

        Reply

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