Swedish Meatball Burger
A Nordic-inspired burger with a beef-pork patty, creamy Swedish cream sauce, and lingonberry jam on a brioche bun.
- Prep
- 15min
- Cook
- 18min
- Total
- 33min
- Serves
- 4
- Calories
- 790per serving, est.
By Time for Burgers, updated
Allspice and nutmeg give Swedish meatballs their warm, faintly sweet seasoning, and this burger puts the same spices into a beef and pork patty. The pork keeps it tender, as long as you mix gently and stop once the spices are spread.
The cream sauce is built in the same skillet right after the patties come out, so the browned bits on the pan dissolve into the butter, flour, broth and cream. Spoon it over the patty, then add lingonberry jam, whose tart sweetness does the job cranberry sauce does next to roast turkey. Lettuce under the patty keeps the brioche from soaking through.
Swedish Meatball Burger
Prep 15 min, cook 18 min, total 33 min. About 790 calories per serving.
timeforburgers.com/recipes/swedish-meatball-burger
Serves 4.
Ingredients
Instructions
Tap a step to keep your place.
Combine ground beef and ground pork in a bowl. Season with 1 tsp allspice, ½ tsp nutmeg, salt, and white pepper. Mix gently and form into 4 equal patties.
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook patties for 5-6 minutes per side until an instant-read thermometer in the center of a patty reads 160°F (71°C). Remove and keep warm.
Make Swedish cream sauce: in the same skillet, melt 1 tbsp butter over medium heat. Whisk in 1 tbsp flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually add ¼ cup beef broth and ½ cup heavy cream, whisking constantly until smooth and thickened (3-4 minutes). Season with salt and white pepper.
Toast brioche buns until lightly golden.
Assemble burgers: place lettuce on bottom buns, add beef-pork patties, spoon generous Swedish cream sauce over patties, dollop with ¼ cup lingonberry jam, garnish with fresh dill, then crown with top buns. Serve with extra lingonberry jam and cream sauce on the side.
Tips
- Mix the meat and spices with your fingertips just until combined. Overworked pork turns springy and dense, more sausage than meatball.
- Leave the browned bits in the pan when the patties come out, pouring off only excess fat. Those bits give the cream sauce its color and depth.
- If the sauce thickens too much while it waits, whisk in a spoonful of broth over low heat. It should coat a spoon but still run.
Substitutions
- Whole-berry cranberry sauce or red currant jelly instead of lingonberry jam: the same tart-sweet contrast, and both are easier to find.
- All beef: use 600 g of 80/20 beef. The patty is a little firmer and less sweet.
- Gluten-free: skip the flour, whisk 7 ml (1/2 tablespoon) cornstarch into the cold broth and add it with the cream, and use gluten-free buns.
Make ahead & storage
The cream sauce keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge; it thickens as it cools, so rewarm it gently with a splash of broth. Cooked patties keep just as long. Reheat them in the sauce, covered, to 165°F (74°C).
