Many people think of IKEA as a Swedish furniture store that sells inexpensive home furnishings
to college students and other young people. But there are other people who think of IKEA
as a place where they can get good Swedish meatballs for dinner. Get ready to find out
10 secrets you didn’t know about IKEA meatballs.
Green "Meat"
When you think of IKEA's famous Swedish meatballs you likely think of them as a tasty beef and
pork dish. The recipe also includes some bread crumbs, egg, onion and potato, but the exact
recipe is still a guarded secret. However, all this might be about to change for loyal
customers as the furniture store's recipes are in the process of undergoing some changes.
The company wants to do its part to be more environmentally conscious, and using less
real meat from animals in its recipes is a way to do this. Instead of staying with traditional
meat products, IKEA has experts working on meatless alternatives using sustainable plant
sources such as green algae. Meatballs made from plants and other ingredients would help
to cut down on the... gaseous "emissions" from cattle that some people have argued contributes
to global warming. While cow gas may seem like a joke, some people seem to take it seriously
and point to the industrial production of beef and other meat as a serious problem.
IKEA meatballs are known as a Kottbullar, but this name could very well come under review
as the ingredients and the recipes are being experimented with to produce new kinds of
meatless meatballs. This ongoing work reflects shifting tastes around the world and other
restaurants, and perhaps furniture stores are bound to follow.
Furniture Store To Restaurant
As many as 30 percent of IKEA customers visit the store primarily for the food and not to
shop for dining room and bedroom sets. According to the furniture giant, they sell up to one
billion dollars worth of their meatballs every year, or about one million meatballs a day
- that's a lot of meatballs! With these facts in mind, the Swedish furniture company is
getting into the restaurant business so even more customers can taste their famous meatballs.
Now you won't have to pretend you want to go furniture shopping to eat dinner at an
IKEA. In 2017 IKEA announced plans to open a stand alone restaurant in Live Oak, Texas
that is scheduled to open in 2019. These traditional brick and mortar locations come on the heels
of IKEA pop-up restaurant locations inside existing furniture store locations. Customers
will be able to use the self-serve kitchens to whip up their own recipes for Swedish meatballs
and other IKEA favorites. As part of a dining club, customers can attend courses and workshops
to learn how to make better meatballs with a variety of ingredients. In addition to the
famous meatball recipes so many want to try, amateur cooks of all skill levels can learn
some new breakfast and lunch recipes as well. The meatballs would probably go well with
pancakes. You'd have to be quick to take advantage of one of these pop-up restaurants because
they only stay up and running for a couple of weeks at a time.
IKEA Meatballs For Everyone
A lot of people love IKEA’s famous Swedish meatballs. Many people go to one of the popular
furniture store locations just to get the tasty meatballs, but now you don't have to
leave your house to have these meatballs for dinner. The recipes call for equal amounts
of beef and pork as well as a generous helping of potatoes. An egg, onion and cream are also
called for as well as a number of spices depending on how flavorful you prefer your Swedish meatballs.
Unlike Italian meatballs that use a lot of parmesan and garlic, Swedish meatballs call
for things like allspice and nutmeg in the traditional recipes. The potatoes not used
to make the meatballs are put aside and mashed for a hardy side dish that goes perfectly
with the main dish. The gravy is integral to making the recipe work of course, and it
is made in the pan after the meatballs are browned. To make the creamy gravy, you add
some butter and flour to the drippings that are left behind in the pan. You stir this
mixture over heat for a couple of minutes, adding some water slowly if necessary. You
can serve the meatballs as they are, but many people like to serve them over rich egg noodles
or rice to complete the dish. The tender meatballs with a rich, creamy gravy make for
a popular dish that both adults and kids alike will enjoy whether they are shopping for furniture
or not.
The IKEA Science Project
As if the idea of replacing beef and pork with green algae isn't surprising enough,
IKEA has experts experimenting with a number of meat alternatives. Some of them sound decidedly
unappetizing, but meatless meat seems to be the wave of the future. Plant-based options
such as algae are apparently not the only alternatives being considered and some of
them are not strictly speaking “meatless”. How do mealworm meatballs sound to you? If
they don't sound very appetizing, you're probably not alone, but this hasn't stopped IKEA from
exploring the idea of using them as a substitute for beef and pork. Even now food scientists
are busy concocting who knows how many recipes of questionable composition in a laboratory
somewhere. If or when IKEA tries to market worm balls, will the name matter? Is "crispy
bug balls" supposed to make them sound better? This sounds like a not so funny joke or at
best a misguided publicity campaign to sell even more real Swedish meatballs. IKEA spokespeople
have repeatedly said that this decision was made to help "save the planet," which is of
course a worthy goal. Hopefully Swedes and all of those IKEA customers who love the traditional
meat meatballs will make their voices and their appetites heard, in order to find the
best possible alternative.
Fresh Or Frozen?
Most people who eat IKEA's Swedish meatballs eat them at the stores dining facilities,
but this doesn't have to be the only way you eat their delicious meatballs. Plenty of online
sites offer IKEA meatballs in their frozen form, including its own site, but also on
Amazon.com. So not only can you order your furniture online, you can get the meatballs
as well. These convenient bags allow you to easily portion out the meatballs for family
dinners or just a late night snack. The meatballs can be heated up in the oven, toaster oven,
or in the microwave for the quickest results. But perhaps for the best results, you can
take a little more time and cook up the meatballs in a pan on the stove and let them simmer
in a creamy gravy until the meatballs are completely heated through. IKEA's site recommends
you serve the meatballs with mashed potatoes, cream sauce and Sweden's number one dish - lingonberry
jam. For customers looking for a meatless alternative for their meatballs, IKEA's website
offers a vegetarian frozen meatball made from things like chickpeas, green peas and carrots.
The vegetarian alternative will go just as good with the mashed potatoes and lingonberry
jam.
Beyond Meat
It seems like more people than ever, especially millennial diners, are looking for alternatives
beyond traditional meat, and IKEA is doing what it can to help its customers get beyond
it. Recently, IKEA teamed up with a food company called Beyond Meat that makes a vegan alternative
to meat that many people say is close in texture and taste to real beef. The beyond Meat CEO
is on record saying that he wants to make real meat "obsolete" and replace all meat
products. He says that Beyond Meat's plant-based products will lead the way in this endeavor.
His furniture company partner has had a meatless alternative to its famous Swedish meatballs
available for several years, but both companies hope that this new partnership will take the
meatless meatballs to the next level. In other meatless meat news, IKEA has also recently
rolled out a vegan hot dog made from kale and red lentils as well as strawberry dairy-free
soft-serve ice cream. These new products were initially available only at European locations.
Apparently they were both relatively successful and there are plans to offer these products
at many of IKEA's international locations. The company seems fully committed to improving
their meatless meatballs for the masses, as well as expanding on their meatless alternatives
for customers, including desserts.
Turkey Meatballs
The Swedish people are rightly very proud of their meatballs. Because of this you probably
were under the impression that IKEA's famous meatballs were invented in the Scandinavian
country, but apparently you'd be wrong. Official government sources in Sweden have had to reluctantly
admit that one of their country's most delicious cultural treasures actually originated in
a country far away from Scandinavia. The recipe for what would become known as "Swedish meatballs"
was brought back to Northern Europe by a King named Charles XII more than 300 years ago
when he returned to his homeland from a five year exile he spent as a guest of the Ottoman
Empire (the modern-day nation of Turkey.) Although King Charles XII was an unsuccessful
ruler who lost his Empire, he was successful at enriching his fellow Swedes' culinary choices.
In addition to the meatball recipe, he also brought back other coveted delicacies like
coffee and stuffed cabbage. Swedes shouldn't be too disheartened by this historical development
because after-all, borrowing customs, ideas and of course food from other cultures has,
for thousands of years, been one of the primary ways people have spread good things around
the world. IKEA offers its traditional beef and pork, vegan, and chicken varieties, but
ironically does not offer a meatball actually made from turkey meat.
Don't Look A Gift Horse In The Meat
Back in 2013 IKEA blamed its horse meat scandal on a "complex supply chain." The story first
broke when a factory in Ireland reported that its quality control measures had discovered
traces of horse meat in the meat mixture used for hamburger patties. IKEA's Swedish meatballs
came under fire a little later when meat inspectors in the Czech Republic found traces of horse
meat in packages of frozen meatballs set for shipment to IKEA stores in Europe. Representatives
for the furniture chain indicated that the frozen meatballs had been shipped to several
countries spread across Europe including Portugal, France, Hungary, Ireland and Greece. The spokespeople
also made it clear that the tainted meatballs had been quickly recalled and removed from
store freezers. It's unclear whether any people complained about eating some of the meatballs
and if anyone had it's doubtful if they would have noticed any difference. According to
reports, meatballs bound for the United States were not impacted by the scandal so those
batches were not recalled. IKEA and government employees tracking the origins of the horse
meat were confronted with other cases such as the incorrect meat being found on pizzas
in Denmark. There were also reports of a couple of other food manufacturers having to recall
some of their meat products for similar reasons. The exact cause of these mix ups was difficult
to unravel, but some officials blamed it on a simple labeling error. Whatever the cause
let's hope they have tightened up their quality control efforts.
Blame Canada?
We love our Canadian neighbors to the North, and leave it to them to make Salmon meatballs
a popular dish at their IKEA stores. The Salmon industry in Canada was happy to hear that
IKEA locations in the country would be serving the savory fish balls in addition to the traditional
beef and pork meatballs. The recipe for the Salmonballs includes seaweed and lemongrass
to season them. Frozen packages of these Salmonballs will also be available for purchase at Canadian
markets. American customers will be happy to hear that if they so choose, they can also
order the healthier fish option instead of the traditional meatballs at IKEA locations
in the United States. IKEA chefs recommend a tomato spinach ragout as a tasty side dish
for the Salmonballs, but there is little doubt many people prefer the classic mashed potatoes.
You can't go wrong with mashed potatoes, right? IKEA is emphasizing the idea that using the
parts of the Salmon for the balls that are left after the fillets are made makes for
a more sustainable food chain. The furniture giant also claims that the fish balls have
a carbon footprint that is seven times smaller than the carbon footprint left by traditional
beef and pork meatballs. So you can choose to eat the Salmonballs because they are healthier
for you or because they're healthier for the planet.
Mystery Meatballs
There are a lot of web sites and cookbooks that claim to know how to make meatballs just
like those that IKEA famously sells at its furniture stores. Why shouldn't IKEA work
to keep its famous meatballs under wraps? Restaurants from Burger King to The Cheesecake
Factory take a lot of pride in their unique recipes and work to keep them their own. Cloning
popular commercial recipes is a pastime for some people because they get to say they are
revealing secret information, but are they really? Of course the basic ingredients are
well known and include things like: beef, pork, potatoes, onions, bread crumbs and other
seasonings. Most of the recipes provide information on how to make the gravy as well. Some even
include a recipe for the mashed potatoes. But not all of the copycat and secret recipes
call for the exact same proportions of all the ingredients, so who's to say which one
is actually the definitive recipe? It's certainly possible that none of the recipes being offered
on the Internet are the same as the real one. You can make your own versions of them at
home and they'll probably make for a really fine meal. However, you will know you'll be
getting the genuine IKEA Swedish meatballs only if you go to one of the stores or restaurants
that serve them. This way you can do some shopping while you're there.
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