Swedish Köttbullar Burger with Lingonberry and Cream Sauce

About This Recipe

Köttbullar, Swedish meatballs, are held together by a milk-soaked breadcrumb panade (a technique called panad) and seasoned with allspice, which is what gives them their distinct warm flavor compared to Italian-style meatballs. This burger takes that exact same mixture and shapes it into a single large patty rather than small rounds, seared hard in butter for a crust, then finished with the traditional brown cream sauce and a spoonful of tart lingonberry preserves. The technique that matters most is the panad — soaking breadcrumbs in milk until they form a paste before mixing them into the meat. This keeps the patty moist even after a hard sear, the same trick that keeps small köttbullar tender despite their high surface-area-to-volume ratio. The pan drippings left after searing become the base of the cream sauce, deglazed with stock and thickened with a little more cream. Cream sauce, allspice-seasoned meat and lingonberries are as Swedish as food gets — this is simply that same trio reshaped into a burger format for anyone who wants the flavor of köttbullar without rolling two dozen individual meatballs on a weeknight.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 0.5 cupbreadcrumbs
• 0.5 cupwhole milk
• 700 gground beef(or half beef, half pork)
• 1small onion(finely grated)
• 1 largeegg
• 0.5 tspground allspice
• 1 tspfine sea salt
• 0.5 tspblack pepper
• 3 tbspbutter(divided)
• 1 cupbeef stock
• 0.5 cupheavy cream
• 4burger buns(split)
• 0.5 cuplingonberry preserves

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the panad

   Stir breadcrumbs and milk together in a small bowl and let sit for 5 minutes until it forms a thick paste.

2. 2

   Mix the patties

   Combine the breadcrumb paste with ground beef, grated onion, egg, allspice, salt and pepper. Mix gently and shape into 4 patties.

   Don't skip the panad — it's the same soaked-breadcrumb trick used in traditional köttbullar and it's what keeps the patty from drying out.

3. 3

   Sear the patties

   Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Cook patties 5 to 6 minutes per side until well browned and cooked through. Remove and set aside.

4. 4

   Make the cream sauce

   Add remaining butter to the same pan. Pour in stock, scraping up the browned bits, and simmer 2 minutes. Stir in cream and simmer until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.

5. 5

   Assemble

   Toast the buns. Place a patty on each bottom bun, spoon over some of the cream sauce, and top with a spoonful of lingonberry preserves before closing.

Variations

• •

  Classic meatballs: shape the same mixture into small 3cm balls and pan-fry for the traditional köttbullar presentation with mashed potatoes.

• •

  Pork blend: use half ground pork, half ground beef for a softer, more traditional Swedish meatball texture.

• •

  Open-faced: skip the top bun and serve the patty over mashed potatoes with extra cream sauce, closer to a classic Swedish dinner plate.

Storage

Store cooked patties and sauce separately in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat the patty in a covered skillet with a splash of stock, and warm the sauce separately over low heat.

Frequently Asked Questions