Classroom lesson · Food · 🇸🇪 Sweden

Swedish meatballs (köttbullar)

Small round meatballs eaten with mashed potato, gravy and lingonberry jam

What is it?

Köttbullar (say 'shut-bull-ar') are little round Swedish meatballs, usually about the size of a ping-pong ball. They are one of the most loved foods in Sweden. A classic plate has the meatballs piled with creamy mashed potato, brown gravy, and a spoonful of bright red lingonberry jam.

Tell me more

Swedish meatballs are smaller than the meatballs you might know from Italian pasta dishes. They are also a bit sweeter, because the recipe usually includes a little milk and breadcrumbs mixed in. They are pan-fried in butter so the outsides go brown and crispy.

The classic plate has four things on it: meatballs, mashed potato, gravy, and lingonberry jam. The lingonberry jam is the surprise - a sweet-tangy red jam made from small berries that grow in the Swedish forest. Eating it with savoury meat sounds odd if you've never tried it, but the sweet-and-savoury mix is delicious.

Köttbullar are not just for fancy dinners. Most Swedish schools serve them in school lunch. Every IKEA store - and there are over 400 of them across the world - has a restaurant inside where you can buy köttbullar for not much money. Many people who have never been to Sweden have eaten Swedish meatballs at IKEA.

Lingonberries - the little red berries used for the jam - grow wild all over Sweden's forests. Families pick them in late summer and boil them with sugar to make jam that lasts the whole year. Some Swedes have lingonberry jam at almost every meal.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01What is a food from your country that has spread around the world? Where can you eat it abroad?
  2. 02Sweden eats sweet jam with savoury meat. What other mixes of sweet and savoury food can you think of?
  3. 03Why might it help when the same dish is served in schools, in restaurants and at home?
Try this

Classroom activity

Design your own perfect 'one plate' meal. Pick a main, a side, a sauce and one surprise extra - like the lingonberry jam. Draw and label your plate. Swap with a partner: would you eat their plate? Why or why not?