CANNING: How To Can Swedish Meatballs
Who doesn’t love meatballs? As comfort foods go, they’re right up on the top of the list. What most of us don’t love though, is making them. But have you every wondered if you could can Swedish meatballs?
What if you could have those savory homestyle Swedish meatballs anytime you want, without getting your hands all sticky with meat goo more than once, or fighting traffic to drive allllll the way to Ikea and again fight your way through the maze of Bleuragg’s and Fjarrsnoods and the temptation to fill a cart on the way to the cafe with twelve thousand tea lights and a trunkload of flatpack furniture?
You can! Unfortunately, you can’t just buy a bag of Ikea’s finest (or your other favorite brand) in the freezer section or use any old family recipe, though, if you want to safely can them. It’s a little bit more involved than that, but not much… if you can make meatloaf, and you have access to a pressure canner, you can still have jars full of ultimate meatball dinner convenience on your pantry shelves!
Swedish Meatball Canning Recipe Sources & Substitutions
This is a safe, tested recipe for canning Swedish meatballs that doesn’t contain any no-no’s for home canning (like bread crumbs, oats, or eggs, which can never be safely used in a home canning recipe). The texture on these is firmer than meatballs that have those fillers, but they’re still super delicious, toothsome, and oh so delicious.
These Swedish meatballs are adapted from the tested Quebec Pork Meatball canning recipe from Bernardin. Only safe modifications to the seasonings have been made. The original recipe calls for ground pork, but you can use a blend of pork, beef, veal, lamb, or hooved game meats like venison, elk, or bison. Do not substitute ground poultry (like chicken or turkey). I like to make these with a 50/50 blend of venison and pork shoulder, ground together, but you can of course use almost any lean ground meat from your grocery store or butcher (just not poultry!).
These take a little bit of time to mix, shape, brown, pack, and process, but you save time in the long run by doing a big batch. You can double or triple this recipe, depending on how many jars you can process in your canner. If you do multiple batches, keep the raw meatballs cold and only brown as many as you can fit in one canner batch at a time, since these aren’t cooked fully until you can them.
Note: You do need an actual pressure canner to make these, not just an Instant Pot or small pressure cooker. Read our canning equipment guide for more information about why you need a pressure canner if you want to preserve low-acid foods like these meatballs without freezing. Buy or borrow one though, because it’s totally worth it to have this super satisfying comfort food ready to heat up in your pantry for easy weeknight dinners or a quick appetizer anytime.
How to Serve Swedish Meatballs
To serve, make a gravy with the broth these meatballs are packed in with a little roux or cornstarch or potato starch slurry. To make the roux, melt a tablespoon or two of butter in a saucepan large enough to hold the meatballs, and whisk in an equal amount of flour and cook lightly over medium low heat for a few minutes to cook the starch in the flour (you can toast the flour longer if you want a darker gravy, or add the broth while the roux is still blonde for a lighter gravy). Whisk in the broth and stir until there are no lumps, and simmer until it begins to thicken. Alternately, pour the cold broth into the pot, whisk in a tablespoon or two of cornstarch or potato starch, whisk out any lumps, and then bring up to a simmer. Add the meatballs and gently simmer to heat through. Finish the gravy with a splash of heavy cream or evaporated milk if you want a creamier gravy.
Swedish Meatballs (Canning Recipe)
Equipment
- 1 Pressure canner
- canning jars, rings, and new lids
Ingredients
- 4½ lbs lean ground pork, beef, lamb, or venison, or a blend of these (do not use ground poultry)
- 2 medium onions, small diced or minced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed & minced
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp salt
Spice Mix
- 2 tsp dry mustard seed, ground
- 2 tsp coriander, ground
- 1½ tsp fennel seed, ground
- 1 tsp thyme leaves, dried
- 1 tsp allspice, ground
- 1 tsp cinnamon, ground
- 1 tsp black pepper, ground
- 1 tsp nutmeg, ground
- ¾ tsp cloves, ground
To Brown and Pack Meatballs
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 cups light stock (chicken, pork, or beef)
Instructions
- Combine the ground meat with the minced onions, garlic, Worstershire, salt, and dry spices (all ingredients except the oil and stock). Mix the seasonings and onions with the ground meat with a sturdy spatula or clean hands until it is uniform. (If you want to check the seasoning, cook up a small patty of the meatball mixture like a piece of breakfast sausage, and add more seasoning if you like before forming the meatballs).
- Shape the meatball mixture into walnut-sized meatballs with your hands or a portion-scoop. Heat the stock to a boil and then reduce the heat to keep warm while you are shaping and browning the meatballs.
- Lightly brown the meatballs over medium heat using as little oil as possible. You can also quickly brown the meatballs in a hot oven, though you get better results by browning them in a skillet. You are not cooking them through, just browning them lightly on the outside so they keep their shape and stay together during processing.
- Put several quarts of hot water in the bottom of your pressure canner (follow instructions from your manufacturer, enough to have several inches of water in the canner once you place the jars inside, without covering the jars) and begin to heat the canner. You can pre-heat your jars in the canner if you like, or keep them warm on a baking pan in the oven or a clean dishwasher with a heating element.
- Fill the clean and pre-warmed canning jars with the browned meatballs, leaving an inch of headspace at the top of the jar.
- Top up the jars of meatballs with the hot broth, leaving the one inch of head-space. The broth isn't optional- if you don't have stock you can use water with bouillon or even plain water. It helps with even heat transfer through the jar during processing and keeps the meatballs from being dry.
- Wipe down the rims of the canning jars with a clean cloth dampened with distilled vinegar (to cut any oil that may interfere with a good seal) and cover with clean, new canning jar lids. Tighten the rings finger-tight and place them in your pressure canner.
- Check the weighted vent of your canner to make sure it is clean and free to vent, then place the lid on your canner and latch it. Begin heating the canner over medium heat, with the weight off or the vent open (depending on your canner model) until it is steadily venting steam. Once it begins to vent, set a timer for 10 minutes and let it continue to vent steam. Then, place the weight on your canner and/or close the vent valve.
- Watch the dial gauge and/or listen for the appropriate jiggle on your canner to let you know it has reached your processing pressure- generally 10 lbs of pressure on a weighted gauge or 11 lbs on a dial, unless you are at an altitude above 1000 feet.
- Process pint (500 ml) jars for 75 minutes or quart (1 L) jars for 90 minutes. If the canner drops below the recommended processing pressure at any time, you must restart the timer from zero, so keep an eye on that gauge or listen for the weight and adjust heat if necessary as you can. It's best to make slow, gradual adjustments as sudden swings in pressure can cause siphoning in the jars.
- When the processing time is up, turn the heat off under the canner. Let cool until the gauge reads zero (or a weighted canner doesn't vent steam when you bump the weight). Carefully remove the weight or open the vent, away from you in case there is still steam to vent. Open the canner away from you, and remove the jars with jar tongs.
- Place the jars on a towel or cooling rack (not a cold countertop) and let cool undisturbed for at least 8 and up to 24 hours. Check to make sure that the jars sealed, and refrigerate any jars that did not and use promptly. Remove the rings, wash the outsides of the jars with hot soapy water, label, and store in a cool dark pantry.
- Thicken the broth before serving the meatballs with a tablespoon or two of roux (white flour cooked in an equal amount of butter or neutral oil) or cornstarch dissolved in cold broth before bringing up to a simmer. Heat the meatballs through gently and bring up to a simmer in the gravy. Finish with cream if you like.