Finnish Meatballs Recipe (2024)

I have made these several times and they beat Swedish meatballs hands down. I have a friend who lives in Kuopio, Finland, so I asked her about this recipe. She told me Finland is the largest consumer of meatballs in Europe and that this recipe, when used in Finland, is called "Sunday meatballs" because of the quality ingredients and time involved in making them. She told me she serves them with mashed potatoes though egg noodles are also often used. Definitely worth trying.

I folliwed the recipe exactly the first time, and though wonderfully delicious, the meatballs fell apart. Today, I used panko bread crumbs instead of bread. Perfect! Half are in the freezer on a cookie sheet.

This is a holiday favorite in my home. Consider using, as we do, ground turkey in place of the pork. The result is still incredibly rich, but lighter in texture.

I substituted 1/4 c. panko for every one slice white bread and 3-4 tbsp milk for every 2 T milk - worked perfectly). Try another mild cheese next time (used Gouda). I fried up a sample to check for salt, under-salting a bit per comments of others. At the end, it is still slightly salty but no one complained (salted cheese melting into sauce?). My family called them "amaze-balls."

Meh! Retro 60's results and unnecessarily tedious methods.Use Panko, cold milk, no cheese and chill the mix 1 hour before rolling.The meatballs don't need to be floured and fried; they are much better if you simply poach them (in 3 cups stock) like dumplings--when they are done they will float to the surface. Strain liquid, skim off fat, reduce, thicken with a flour/water slurry. Use sour cream, not heavy cream, and a good squeeze of lemon to lighten the sauce. Add 4 TBL capers.

My most favorite meatball ever! I set the balls aside as they browned then poured the grease from the skillet and put the meatballs and stock in the skillet, no sense wasting all that great fond...also doubled the stock and cream. I made the meatballs in the morning and they sat all day in the warmed chicken stock, just reheated and simmered about 15 minutes before adding cream and serving....

My husband is 1/2 Swedish, and his family has a cabin in the U.P. in a Scandinavian area. Many there make a Finnish meatball from 'The Finnish Cookbook' by Beatrice Ojakangas. This recipe looks more special than other Finnish versions I've eaten. I've had Norwegian, Finnish, and Swedish meatballs that were wonderful, and other recipes that were NOT good. I've made meatballs from all three countries. Each family, country/region is slightly different. This version is one I will certainly make!

These are lovely meatballs. They were very tender and flavorful. They were a bit of work to make, but they were well worth the time spent. I ended up freezing about half of the meat mixture because the recipe makes a TON of meatballs. These would be great for a gathering of friends and family.

Your husband is right; as a matter of fact, in my Finnish family cheese was not used at all. When I was growing up some decades ago the only cheeses available were Edam and Emmental and blue cheese. But yes, if you want to add cheese I think Emmental would be fine.

This dish was terrific, but the all spice could probably be cut in half.

Wow. Decadent. Succulent. We followed the recipe, but tripled the cream & stock. Deglased the pan with a little chicken stock & added that to the stock & cream as well. Brought it to a roiling boil, stirring constantly. Added a touch of the egg noodle water to tighten it up. Make sure your oil is hot before adding the meatballs. This should fix any breakage problems. Loved this recipe! Comfort food at its best.

That's my experience in Finland. I had these with a gouda Mornay Sauce that was really great!

I made these last night and they were absolutely delicious. They have a lovely tender texture and the addition of the allspice gives then a fabulously unusual flavor. Kids loved them too.

this weekend I made these for the 4th time! As it was for a dinner party I doubled the recipe and it made 97 meatballs. I used an entire carton of chicken broth added about 3/4 cup of heavy cream then a cornstarch slurry - amazing! Definitely will try with mashed potatoes next time as I've been doing buttered noodles and I think with as much "jus" as I had, mashed potatoes would have been great. Dinner party didn't work out so I am freezing half the meatballs. Worth the trouble!

This is one of my favorite recipes to make in the holiday season. The meatballs are tender and very flavorful. I like to serve with spaetzle (sometimes homemade, sometimes not), sauteed spinach and cranberry sauce. Crowd pleaser!

Didn't have gouda, used some sheep cheese - came out fine. Used 1 cup panko, 3/4 c almond milk. Less salt - 1/2 tsp. Less onion, maybe 1/2 or 2/3 cup. Use half & half. No need to butter noodles! Delicious comfort food.

Followed the tips in the comments. Used 1/4 cup panko with 3-4 tbsp. milk and doubled the broth mixture. The meatballs are very delicate and prone to breakage so use a light hand when stirring. I made these overnight which imparted more flavor by the next day and served with creamy mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam. The guests loved them.

This was the best meatballs i ever had! i just couldn't stop eating them they were so good

1 1/2 teaspoons saltFreeze half cooked meatballsMake 11/2 times sauce for 1/2 recipe of meatballs Serve over egg noodles

To make this gluten free, I subbed dehydrated potatoes for the bread (a trick I learned from ATK) and lightly dusted them in cornstarch instead of flour. Delicious!!! Will definitely make these again~~

Excellent recipe with a few tweaks: use Panko instead of bread. I baked my meatballs in 400 degree oven for 25 minutes. I made Melissa Clark’s Swedish Meatballs sauce (without brandy but with Dijon) while meatballs cooked. I then added meatballs to sauce and kept on low heat while I prepared egg noodles and roasted asparagus. Outstanding meal, we are calling it “Swinnish Meatballs.” Try it!

Really good recipe. Served with egg noodle, which I cooked al dente then strained and let them finish cooking in the broth cream. This thickened the sauce a bit, which I liked. The second time I made this, also sauted about 6 ounces of sliced mushrooms and added them the meatball-sauce-egg noodle pan.

Oddly enough, my Finnish mother always made Swedish meatballs. Now my wife and I live in a heavily Swedish and Norwegian part of Minnesota, and after we've used this recipe many times, we and our local friends have come to love this version. Go figure!

I’m at best meh about these; they’re extremely bland and way too rich. Even 1/2 recipe makes a ton, so I now have A LOT of very bland leftovers. Tbf, the allspice is very nice, and they’re quite tender. Sadly, everything I can think of as a fix will bury the allspice flavor, which is definitely the most interesting part of the recipe. Other issues: not enough sauce; the gouda seems to add little except calories; definitely use beef not chicken broth; DON’T undersalt.

This was a bust. Unlike so many others, neither of us liked this dish. Oh well.

These fell apart completely in the broth step :( any tips for why that could be?

Delicious! My meatballs were a little loose so I’ll cut down on the milk a bit next time. I used whole milk instead of cream in the last step. Doubled the broth and cream and brought to a boil before simmering for a few minutes which helped to make a bit more of a sauce.

These meatballs are stellar! My husband doesn’t eat pork, so I made them with 2 Lbs of 92/8 ground beef and they were great. I didn’t have any issues with them breaking or falling apart, and they were perfectly moist. Next time I will definitely triple the stock and use a pan with a wider base. Once I had all my meatballs in the stock, they didn’t sit flat so that added extra cooking time. Overall, I would make these again.