For many people, no trip to IKEA in Exeter is complete without a visit to the restaurant for a plate of meatballs.
The iconic dish has become an integral part of the brand’s success - as famous as its flat-pack furniture. The meatballs were introduced in 1985 to combat the problem of IKEA’s struggling restaurants.
The eateries were having difficulty serving customers quickly and effectively. So Swedish chef Severin Sjöstedt, known for his passion for food and traditional cooking, was brought in to help out.
Read more: IKEA is selling a limited-edition LGBT+ rainbow cake for Pride Month
He said: “We needed something that was easy to serve, tasty and affordable to the many. Quite a challenge actually.”
As IKEA founder, the late Ingvar Kamprad believed, it was ‘tough to do business with hungry stomachs’. So the chef threw himself into creating the perfect meatball recipe to entice customers to the stores and keep them happy. He consulted friends, colleagues and even Kamprad in his quest.
Are meatballs actually Swedish?
Meatballs were chosen because they are considered a quintessentially Swedish dish. But the typical Swedish meatball is actually thought to be based on a recipe brought back from Turkey in the early 18th century by King Charles XII of Sweden.
In their most traditional form Swedish meatballs - or köttbullar - are made from ground pork and beef, cream, egg and onion. They tend to be served with creamy mashed potatoes, a thick, brown gravy, lingonberry jam and pickled cucumber.
Severin hardly left the kitchen for 10 months as he tried to perfect his take on this dish. Nearly a year after the project started, IKEA restaurants began serving their version of Swedish meatballs.
They became a huge hit and every time IKEA opened a new store, thousands of people lined up to be served the dish.
Severin said: “It warms my heart to know I had a small piece of doing something tasty for a lot of people. The meatball embodies so much of the IKEA culture: it’s convenient, it’s Swedish, and it’s for the many.”
IKEA now sells a billion meatballs a year and they are on the menu at every store in the world. There is now even a vegan version of the dish.
Why are IKEA’s meatballs so cheap?
The meatballs - along with all the dishes in IKEA restaurants - are priced so competitively to attract people to the store. The hope is, that once there, customers will also spend money on household items. The restaurants also reinforce the IKEA brand image of being ‘low price’ and ‘good value’.
What are IKEA meatballs made out of?
With stores shut down during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, IKEA shared a recipe to help people recreate their famous meatballs.
Here are the ingredients for 16 to 20 meatballs with the sauce:
Meatballs
500 grams of ground beef
250 grams of ground pork
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed or minced
100 grams of bread crumbs
1 egg
5 tablespoons of whole milk
generous amounts of salt and pepper
Cream sauce
Dash of olive oil
40 grams of butter
40 grams of plain flour
150 millilitres of vegetable stock
150 millilitres of beef stock
150 millilitres of thick double cream
2 teaspoons of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
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