I worked in a restaurant years ago that made some of the best Swedish Meatballs I have ever had. If your ever in Oregon, Davidson’s Casual Dining is an amazing diner, a favorite among the locals. This Recipe was inspired by Davidson’s Tuesday Special, you guess it Swedish Meatballs!
They used dill weed in their Swedish meatball sauce, something I had never seen before. I have made them with dried dill weed ever since. Swedish Meatballs are such a comfort food, and one I had missed since being on a Keto/Low Carb diet. I had to create a Low Carb Swedish Meatball recipe.
First the meatballs, they had to be low carb as well, no bread crumbs allowed. This recipe calls for Pork Rinds, crushed. Don’t panic if you don’t love pork rinds, this is strictly to replace the breadcrumbs and you can’t even taste them. Believe me my kids would tell me if they could!
Now the best part, the Sauce for the Low Carb Swedish Meatballs. Its creamy, its rich, and its so comforting. In a large skillet add the beef broth, butter, Worcestershire sauce, dried dill weed, salt and pepper. Once the butter is melted, you can add your Heavy Whipping Cream and bring to a simmer for about 3-5 minutes. This step will create a bit of thickening on its own but to get the perfect consistency for the sauce you will need to add a thickening agent. This recipe calls for xantham gum. If you don’t have xantham gum in your pantry I have added a couple of alternatives below in my Tricks and Tips section.
Tricks and Tips…
To get perfectly sized 1 inch meatballs I use a cookie scoop you can purchase one here!
When baking the meatballs in the oven they will retain their round shape, but some like the crusty caramelized exterior. To achieve this you have two options.
- Turn on the broiler when they are finished and give them another 3-5 minutes to brown up.
- Placed the cooked meatballs in a cast iron skillet and brown the exterior.
Xantham Gum is optional – but I highly recommend some sort of thickening agent to get the consistency right. As Promised here are some other options I have used in the past to thicken sauces and gravies (Note: I have not tried the below options in this recipe)
Gelatin: To thicken any sauce, add gelatin into a bit of cold water and mix thoroughly. Slowly add the mixture to sauces you wish to thicken until you get the desired consistency. You will want to double the amount of gelatin. In this recipe it calls for 1 tsp of Xantham gum, you would use 2 tsp of gelatin.
Ground Flax Seed: Use the same amount (measurement -Xantham gum) of ground flax seed mixed with two times the water. For example, this recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of xantham gum, use 1 teapoon of ground flax seed plus 2 teaspoons of water.
How to Serve your Low Carb Swedish Meatballs…
Traditionally you would serve your Low Carb Swedish Meatballs on Pasta or Mashed Potatoes, I recommend and regularly serve these on Mashed Cauliflower. You can find my quick and easy 5 ingredient recipe for Mashed Cauliflower here.
I hope you enjoy these Low Carb Swedish Meatballs as much as we do!
– The Scrambled Eggs
Low Carb Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
- Meatballs
- 1 lb Ground Beef
- 1/2 cup pork rind, crumbs
- 1 lg egg
- 1/3 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp Dried Dill Weed
- For the Sauce
- 2 cups Beef Broth
- 2 Tbsp Butter
- 2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tsp Dried Dill Weed
- 1 tsp Xantham Gum – Optional Or your favorite thickening agent – see notes
- 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- In a bowl combine egg and heavy whipping cream, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and dill weed and give it a whisk.
- In a Large Bowl combine the Ground Beef, Pork Rind crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and the above pre-mixed egg, whipping cream, salt/pepper, garlic powder and dill weed mixture.
- Mix all of the ingredients utilizing your hands but don't over-mix as this will result in tough meatballs.
- Form the meatballs about 1 inch in size. A cookie scoop works great for this, but your hands will do just fine. Don't pack them too tightly.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the internal temp reaches 160 degrees.
- In a large skillet add the Beef Broth, Butter, Worcestershire sauce, Dried Dill Weed, salt and pepper, heat this until the butter is melted.
- Once this is all incorporated, you can add your Heavy Cream and bring it to a simmer, I like this to simmer for a few minutes 3-5 minutes to thicken on its own a bit before adding the Xantham Gum.
- Maintain a simmer while adding the Xantham gum, and sprinkle it around while you whisk it in. It should take another 2-4 minutes to thicken up.
- Serve immediately over Mashed Cauliflower find the recipe here. Refrigerate any leftovers for up to 3 days – Enjoy, The Scrambled Eggs.
Notes
- Turn on the broiler and cook them another 3-5 minutes
- Placed the pre-cooked meatballs in a cast iron skillet and brown the exterior.