Swedish Meatball Casserole
Serves 4
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/3 cup onion, chopped very fine
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil (not needed if baking the meatballs)
Pasta
- 8 oz medium shell pasta
Sauce
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/4 cup half and half
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- **Optional – I threw in some sautéed mushrooms that I had in the fridge! It was delicious!**
Instructions
Meatballs
- Add the panko bread crumbs to a large bowl, set aside
- Spray a skillet with non stick spray.
- Over medium heat, saute onion, salt, and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, stir often
- Add the minced garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Turn the heat down, add the milk and bring to a simmer. Once it comes to a simmer, pour it onto the panko bread crumbs and stir to combine.. The mixture will be thick. Set aside to cool.
- In another large bowl, add the egg and beat. Them crumble ground beef over egg and add onion mixture. Mix well (the easiest way is to mix with your hands)
- Form about 16 meatballs and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes
- Once the meatballs have chilled, heat oil in a large skillet **** see below
- Add the meatballs and cook until brown on all sides, about 15 minutes.
- Transfer meatballs to a dish and set aside
- **I baked my meatballs in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes, turning halfway through cooking time!
Pasta
- Cook pasta al dente according to the package directions. When done cooking, strain and put into a 11×7 baking dish
Sauce and Assembly
- Preheat the oven to 375.
- Place the meatballs into the baking dish nestling them into the pasta
- In a large skillet on medium heat, melt the butter
- Add the flour, stirring constantly for about 2 minutes
- Stir in the beef broth, water and Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Stir often
- Reduce heat to med/low and add the parsley and half and half. Stir everything together constantly and cook it until it thickens, about 10 minutes. **At this point I added sautéed mushrooms!
- Pour the sauce over the meatballs and pasta.
- Bake for 30 minutes.