Easy Swedish Meatballs (Just 5 ingredients using frozen meatballs)

Pair these shortcut Swedish meatballs with Orange Candied Carrots, a Raspberry Sloe Gin Fizz Cocktail, and Lingonberry Swedish Crepes for dessert!

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• ★ Why You’ll Love this Recipe ★
• ★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
• ★ How to Make this Recipe ★
• ★ Tips & FAQs ★
• ★ More 5-Ingredient Recipes ★
• Crockpot Swedish Meatballs with Egg Noodles

Made with Frozen Meatballs

This is a shortcut recipe, made using frozen meatballs and a creamy onion-mushroom sauce. Serve over buttered egg noodles — a favorite recipe to make for dinner during the week.

No trip to Ikea required. Although, there are plenty of other very valid reasons to go to Ikea... 🙂

You only need 5 ingredients!

This 5-Ingredient recipe incorporates a very delicious and creamy Swedish-inspired sauce you'll love because it tastes great and is so simple to make!

A One-pot Slow Cooker Meal

Everything cooks right in your crockpot. Just add everything, give it a stir, set it and forget it until you're ready for dinner. Easy peasy!

★ How to Make this Recipe ★

This is a simplified slow cooker recipe.

This is one of those, throw everything into your crockpot recipes. It's simple and tastes great!

If you're looking for authentic Swedish meatballs, this isn't the recipe for you. This is a shortcut recipe that's great for achieving that Swedish meatball flavor without a lot of hands-on work.

I am pretty confident you will be very happy with the flavors in this dish considering how easy this meal is to make. You can make your own meatballs and your own white sauce if that's more your style.

You can also cook this on the stove top.

You can speed up the cooking process by making this on the stovetop.

Follow the directions but instead of adding the designated ingredients to your crockpot, add them to a large pot on the stove. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce to medium-low heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until meatballs are warmed all the way through.

Remember, if you are using pre-cooked, frozen meatballs. So you just need to ensure they are heated through.

★ Tips & FAQs ★

Is this an Authentic Swedish Meatball recipe?

This is a shortcut recipe, inspired by the classic dish, Swedish Meatballs.

This recipe is not meant to be an authentic recipe for Swedish meatballs. The flavors are inspired by the signature dish, however the cooking process is made easy.

Traditional Swedish meatballs are made from beef and pork blend and are seasoned with allspice and nutmeg. They are homemade. We're not doing all that here. You can. Totally do it if you want. But the following recipe is for a quick and easy version of this delicious dish.

Tip: If you want to add a bit more authentic flavor to this dish, make sure you use plain meatballs (not Italian meatballs) and add all allspice and nutmeg to taste. You can also make your own meatballs using my recipe and season them using allspice and nutmeg, being sure to use a half and half blend or ground pork and beef.

Make your own cream-of sauce.

Again, we're not doing that here with this particular recipe. But if you want to learn how, I have tutorials for that.

In fact, canned cream sauces are all pretty easy to make yourself at home but they do take extra time and not everyone has that luxury.

If you do, please check out my How to Make White Sauce page for more tips about that. You will end up consuming less sodium and you'll cut out some junk ingredients if you make your own cream sauce. That's why I try to make my own when I have time. But I don't always!

Anyway, I'm sure will be some haters that are mad I'm not making my own Swedish meatball sauce. Isn't that a bit snobby to assume everyone has time to make everything from scratch? I find it pretty off putting. I like to have options and offer you guys options because to each their own, right?

But I have to pick a method here and so I opted for the easy way out on this one for a short list of ingredients and still great flavor!

Homemade vs. Frozen Meatballs

Another things that you can obviously make homemade are the meatballs. But again, very time consuming. And you can buy ones that are frozen that taste great. I have learned there are a lot of bad frozen meatballs. My go-to brand is Sam's Choice.

You can of course absolutely make your own and I have a go-to recipe if you want to take time to do that. Get my meatball recipe here. Just keep in mind to use a blend of pork and beef, and instead of Italian spices, use allspice and nutmeg for that true Swedish meatball flavor and texture.

What kind of frozen meatballs should you use?

Again, it's very important to use unseasoned, original meatballs. Avoid using Italian-style meatballs if you can. It's not a total deal breaker, but this Swedish sauce will taste better on plain meatballs vs. seasoned ones and will be more authentic.

You can even use vegetarian "meatballs" or meatballs made with ground turkey if you're looking for a lighter option. I find that the medium to higher priced meatballs do have better flavor but in this case, the Swedish sauce will overpower the flavor of the meatballs themselves more so than meatballs with red sauce. So you don't have to worry too much about the taste of the meatballs other than checking the ingredient list and nutrition facts.

Don't like mushrooms?

No problem. You can replace the cream of mushroom soup with an extra can of french onion soup plus an extra ½ cup of sour creamy.

How to make this picky-eater friendly.

If you're like me and have picky kids or grown picky eaters, you can easily make these Swedish meatballs picky-eater friendly by serving the noodles with just butter and cooking some meatballs without the gravy. No need to make two separate meals. Not that I ever do that... ?

What kind of noodles go best with Swedish meatballs?

I like to use no-yolk egg noodles. They're a little lower in fat and cholesterol than regular eggs noodles and I can't tell a difference in the taste since I like my noodles smothered in sauce anyway!

Can I add fresh mushrooms?

I though you'd never ask. I also love mushrooms. Especially in Swedish meatballs! We are using cream of mushroom soup as a base but you can add extra fresh copped mushrooms too if you'd like.

I feel bad for people who haven't discovered their love for them but sadly, it's true. There are people who don't enjoy them so you can leave them out completely if you must. The sauce still has a lot of flavor without them.

If you think you can get away with it though, try chopping them up really tiny and adding them in. Most people that don't like mushrooms, are weirded out by the texture. So if they're tiny, sometimes you can slip them in. I won't say anything if you don't. ?

What are some variations of this recipe to try?

If you've made this Swedish meatballs with noodles recipe before and want to try some different flavor variations, try adding some cooking wine. Sherry or Marsala would be good or a dry white wine.

You could also try half and half instead of sour cream for a less tangy flavor. If you're trying to skim calories, try skim milk. It wont be as creamy of course, but it'll still be tasty!