Gluten Free Swedish Meatballs
With a rich, savory cream sauce, these gluten free Swedish meatballs are just as good as Ikea, but they're safely GF. Serve them over rice or gf egg noodles for a complete, delicious meal!
Yield: 36 mini meatballs
Ingredients
For the meatballs
- 1 small onion
- 3 (75 g) egg yolks at room temperature
- ½ cup (4 fluid ounces) milk at room temperature
- 1 cup (120 g) panko-style gluten free bread crumbs (homemade or store-bought; See Recipe Notes)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 pound ground pork (See Recipe Notes)
- 1 pound 90% lean ground beef (See Recipe Notes)
For the gravy
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons (27 g) basic gum-free gluten free flour blend (See Recipe Notes)
- 1 tablespoon gluten free soy sauce or tamari
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 cups (24 fluid ounces) chicken stock
- 3 tablespoons (1.5 fluid ounces) heavy whipping cream
- Fresh flat leaf parsley chopped
For serving (optional)
- Fluffy white rice or gluten free egg noodles
Instructions
Make the meatballs.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper, and set it aside.
- Peel and grate the onion on a standard size cheese grater. Squeeze out the excess moisture.
- In a large bowl, place the egg yolks, milk, bread crumbs, prepared grated onion, salt, pepper, and allspice, and mix to combine well.
- Break up the ground pork and ground beef with your hands, so it’s a bit loose, and add it to the bowl. With a large mixing spoon, mix everything together gently but completely, taking care not to squeeze the meat too much.
- Using a small spring-loaded ice cream scoop or wet hands, portion the meatball mixture into golf ball-size balls and place on the prepared baking sheet about 1-inch apart from one another.
- Shape gently with wet fingertips to ensure that the balls are relatively round.
- Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until firm to the touch and at least 160°F in the center when probed with an instant read thermometer. Remove the meatballs from the oven.
Make the gravy.
- Place a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and melt the butter. Add the flour blend and cook, whisking constantly, until it has begun to thicken and brown very slightly and smells nutty (about 1 minute).
- Add the soy sauce and vinegar, whisking constantly. The mixture will bubble up.
- Add the chicken stock slowly, whisking constantly; bring to a simmer and cook until the sauce has begun to thicken (about 6 minutes). This isn’t a very thick gravy.
- Finish by adding the cream, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to a simmer.
- Add the cooked meatballs to the sauce and cook until heated through, or place the meatballs on a plate and pour the hot sauce over the meatballs.
- Sprinkle the meatballs with the chopped fresh parsley and serve hot with optional white rice or noodles.
Notes
For the bread crumbs.
There are a number of panko-style (coarsely ground) gluten free bread crumbs you can buy. Of course, you can also make your own with the recipe I have linked in the ingredient list. I really like Ian’s gluten free panko-style bread crumbs, and tend to buy the bags in great numbers when I find them on sale. I use them every week in at least one recipe. For the meat.
In place of ground pork, you can use ground chicken or turkey. If you use a higher fat ground beef, the meatballs will be softer and more likely to leak fat during baking. For the gluten free flour blend.
For 3 tablespoons our basic gum-free gluten free flour blend, combine 18 grams superfine white rice flour, 6 grams potato starch, and 3 grams tapioca starch/flour. If you’d prefer, you can also use 27 grams superfine sweet white rice flour, also known as glutinous rice flour. Cornstarch leaks as it cools, so it’s not my preference here. Adapted from Gluten Free Small Bites: Sweet and Savory Handheld Treats for On-the-Go Lifestyles and Entertaining. Excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2016.
There are a number of panko-style (coarsely ground) gluten free bread crumbs you can buy. Of course, you can also make your own with the recipe I have linked in the ingredient list. I really like Ian’s gluten free panko-style bread crumbs, and tend to buy the bags in great numbers when I find them on sale. I use them every week in at least one recipe. For the meat.
In place of ground pork, you can use ground chicken or turkey. If you use a higher fat ground beef, the meatballs will be softer and more likely to leak fat during baking. For the gluten free flour blend.
For 3 tablespoons our basic gum-free gluten free flour blend, combine 18 grams superfine white rice flour, 6 grams potato starch, and 3 grams tapioca starch/flour. If you’d prefer, you can also use 27 grams superfine sweet white rice flour, also known as glutinous rice flour. Cornstarch leaks as it cools, so it’s not my preference here. Adapted from Gluten Free Small Bites: Sweet and Savory Handheld Treats for On-the-Go Lifestyles and Entertaining. Excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2016.