Vegetarian Swedish Meatballs Recipe (2024)

I was able to make this in the space of a relatively small boat galley. It was a dish that impressed vegetarians and meat eaters. Very filling and flavorful. It doesn’t make 24, realistically. I doubled the recipe, which made 23 meatballs. That fed 6 people, with seconds. Don’t go crazy with the sour cream in the gravy. You can always add. Same with the mustard. But you can’t add too much parsley. I had to add more flour than prescribed. Brown it more in the 1st step. That’s your gravy’s color.

I like a lot of sauce on my pasta dishes. I found that the meatballs pretty much absorbed all of the gravy. Next time I will make a separate batch of gravy to drizzle on the noodles that are not covered by the meatballs.

How many ounces of cremini mushrooms? Come in a wide range of sizes where I shop.

As a life-long, unapologetic carnivore, I was somewhat reluctant to try this recipe. But we have a few vegetarian friends and relatives (poor souls), so I am always on the lookout for recipes like this. Surprisingly, the “meatballs” were quite tasty, and not at all dry and mealy like those in some other faux-meat dishes I have had. And I doctored the sauce by soaking about 1 oz. of dried porcini in about 2 c. of boiling water and using the broth and chopped mushrooms in the gravy. Yum!8

I always sub couscous for bulgur in recipes with great results.

My family and I are vegan and my mom is on a wheat-free, onion-free diet/cleanse so I made some adjustments: -coconut cream for sour cream -flax egg for egg -quinoa for bulgur wheat -quick oats for breadcrumbs -garlic powder for onion powder After reading most of the notes by other readers here, I did not add the nutmeg and cut the allspice to 1/4 teaspoon. I also doubled the gravy. It was absolutely delicious. Enjoyed this and will be making again.

Overall, fine, but I had a few issues with the recipe.Mainly, the spicing is way too aggressive, especially the allspice. I would dial it back to 1/4th or even 1/8th teaspoon. It's way too much. Same with the nutmeg. I'd also add in some dill.The gravy amounts here are just enough to glaze the meatballs, but if you're serving with noodles or potatoes, you should go 1.5x or even 2x on the gravy if you have hungry people. (Good stock is critical here too. It'll make or break the dish.)

Lots of people in the comments recommended reducing the nutmeg but I chose to follow the original recipe. I would definitely reduce the nutmeg or possibly eliminate next time.

If you hate notes about recipe adaptations, move on...I happened to catch a sale on Impossible meat, which I used in lieu of chickpeas. Onion powder? Nah. Diced shallots. A little bit of dijon in the meatballs. 2/3 c. panko bread crumbs. Caramelized shiitakes in the gravy, Subbed 1/4 c. crème fraîche for sour cream b/c that's what we had. 2 tlbs brandy in the roux & a splash of Worcestershire at the end+minced parsley. Served w/ garlic mashed potatoes with truffle butter. Insanely brilliant!

Technically, a vegetarian is someone who doesn't eat meat. There are variations of vegetarianism, so some may forego eggs as well or eggs and dairy. A vegan is someone who doesn't eat or use any animal products. This recipe contains no meat, so I think it's fair to call it vegetarian.

Overall, absolutely delicious! I was really impressed with the flavor of the "meatballs". Definitely reminded me of traditional swedish meatballs from my grandmother. I dialed back the allspice to 1/2 tsp and next time, I plan on cutting back the salt to a 1/2 tsp as well. For the sauce, definitely double or even triple the recipe if you're serving over egg noodles and want to coat the pasta. Dial back the flour: liquid ratio as well. Also, I'd recommend using low sodium broth.

The sauce was great with the noodles. The "meatballs" turned out well, but next time, I am omitting the nutmeg and allspice and going with garlic and more parsley.

When it comes to processing the chickpeas, don't leave pea-size pieces. (These are known as "whole chickpeas.") You want them to become like a grainy flour, so your meatballs hold together. I would ease up on the allspice, too.

A good vegetarian recipe, even for the meat eater in my home. Next time I'll add a few more mushrooms to the meatballs, a little less salt, and a bit of dark molasses to give it a little more richness. Also, I agree with Bill - double the sauce, which is delicious. I used whole yogurt in place of sour cream.

Would aquafaba work instead of eggs? Since there's already that can of chickpeas...

I mixed the aquafaba in the stock and it came out real good. Nothing wasted.

Made with lots of fresh dill. Taste good but don’t look or hold together great

I’ve made this a few times. You may as well double it, so you get several servings from your efforts. Today’s batch yielded 35 meatballs — 5 meatballs, plenty of sauce for each. For the double batch, use 1.5tsp salt in the meatballs. (As written, cut it to 3/4tsp) Everything else is fine. In a pinch, you can sub 1/4c dry oats soaked in 1/4c hot water for barley. Maybe even cooked rice? This time, I’m freezing meatballs with sauce for individual servings post-surgery. We’ll see how that goes.

Doubled this recipe but instead of another can of chickpeas I added a package of impossible meat. Added seasoning as if it was for a single portion. Each ball is the size of one tablespoon. If it’s bigger than that it’s not a Swedish meatball.Made this with the NYT mushroom gravy and NYT olive oil mashed potatoes.

I served with mashed potatoes and wild berry jam and it was a supreme dinner!Delicious, especially the gravy. The gravy recipe is very forgiving, I omitted the sour cream and added more mustard to taste, as well as making a thicker roux with more flour. Absolutely delicious. Meatballs are good (the mix netted 17 balls for me) - next time I might add another egg to improve binding as they crumbled quite easily post bake.

Reduce salt to 1 tsp next time. Nutmeg & allspice to rounded 1/4 tsp

I think I’ll double the gravy next time and go easy on the Dijon. The meatballs had a good texture and flavor but were way too salty. I’ll cut the salt in half next time.

Too much salt - use only a tsp kosher in balls

I made a double batch of meatballs and used a small cookie scoop to measure them out. It made 39 meatballs. I thought the other seasonings were fine, but cut the salt in the meatballs to 3/4tsp to 1tsp. I also doubled the sauce, which is good but doesn’t taste like any Swedish meatball sauce that I’ve had before. The dijon is very prominent.

This is super crazy delicious especially for the minimal effort involved. My notes are that I 1 1/2 the meatballs and double the gravy for our family of four (two teenage boys included). I don’t turn the meatballs once they are in the oven. Leftovers are dreamy. I boil up 12 ounces of egg noodles to serve them with.

Excellent texture to these meatballs and the gravy is really lovely! I added extra breadcrumbs to the mix, as it looked a little wet as per the recipe, but that was an error. I think they would have been more moist if I had trusted the process above!Will make them again.

I subbed 1/3 cup wheat bran for the barley and added a little Worcestershire to the gravy and all turned out wonderfully! Would also use less Allspice and Nutmeg in the meatballs.

Reduce nutmeg

This was the first vegetarian Swedish meatballs recipe that lived up to my Swedish husband’s expectations. Mashed potatoes (not noodles) and lingonberry jam are mandatory accompaniments if you want to be “authentic,” or at least to remind a Swede of home. He kicked up the gravy a notch by adding a little barbecue sauce, which also turned it brown, as it “should” be. We’ll test it on my father-in-law when he next visits.

I was disappointed - I adjusted the seasoning as per other reviews and then added mushrooms and shallots to the gravy to boost the flavor. The meatballs just fell flat to me. They needed something else and I'm not sure what.