Frikadeller, or Danish meatballs, are one of the most classic Danish dishes. They (obviously) aren’t a baked good, like most of our other recipes, but we just couldn’t stop ourselves from sharing this recipe with you because they’re seriously delicious! Our frikadeller are made of pork, veal, and beef. They’re pan-fried, which makes them crispy on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside. And you can actually bake them if you’re looking for a healthier alternative to pan-frying. But beware – they won’t have the same great texture!
In our house growing up, we usually ate frikadeller on special occasions, like birthdays or other celebrations. You can pretty much serve them with any sides you like, as they work really well with most veggies/carbs. Danes typically eat them warm with boiled potatoes, gravy, and red cabbage. They can also be eaten cold as a smørrebrød (open faced sandwich) topping. We would highly recommend making a few extra, as a sandwich with leftover frikadeller is seriously one of the best things ever.
The recipe is pretty self-explanatory, but we have a few notes and tips! First, we use “meatloaf mix,” which includes pork, veal, and beef. Traditionally, frikadeller are made with ground pork and veal, but unfortunately we can’t buy ground veal in the grocery stores near us. So, if you can get ahold of ground veal, definitely use half pork, half veal for this recipe. Next, make sure you pan-fry and taste a tiny piece of the meatball mixture before you fry up the rest of it, so that you can check the seasoning. You don’t want to end up with a whole batch of bland frikadeller!
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Frikadeller (Danish Meatballs)
Ingredients
- 680 grams meatloaf mix (pork, veal, and beef) or 50-50 ground pork and veal mix, or 100% ground pork if it's all you can find!
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
- 75 grams oats (old fashioned/rolled oats)
- 100 ml milk
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped (or half of a large onion)
- 2 tbsp flour
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- Butter or vegetable oil for cooking
Instructions
- If baking your meatballs, preheat the oven to 400 F (204 C).
- Finely dice your onion and thyme, if using fresh.
- Mix together all ingredients EXCEPT the milk (ground meat, egg, thyme, oats, garlic powder, onion, flour, salt and pepper).
- Add the milk, reserving a small amount (you may not need all of it) until you get a uniform consistency that holds together well. You can add the rest of the milk or more if you need it! Be careful not to overwork the ground meat, as it can affect the final texture. If the meat mixture is too wet, you can add some more flour to help it absorb some of the excess moisture.
- You should have a uniform mixture that holds together when everything is incorporated.
- Heat a pan over medium heat. Test cook a small amount of mix for seasoning, either in the pan or in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Add butter or vegetable oil to the pan and start to shape your meatballs using a tablespoon to create oval shaped meatballs (they can also be round, we've just always made ours longer than they are wide!) Add your meatballs to the pan as you make them and cook over medium to medium-low heat. Keeping the temperature on the lower side ensures that the meatballs do not burn.
- Flip the meatballs once they have browned on one side. Make sure to rotate the meatballs out of the center if that's the hottest part of your pan!
- Once your meatballs have cooked all the way through (no pink in the middle!), or reached an internal temperature of 165F (74C) take them out of the pan and repeat the process for any remaining mix you have left! You can also have two pans cooking at once.
- If you're baking your meatballs, shape your meatballs and place on a prepared baking sheet. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until fully cooked through the center. Enjoy!
Hi I’m gluten intolerant. Love to make various kinds of bread & pizza and bullar.
Hej då
Hej 🙂 and welcome to our blog! Unfortunately, we haven’t tested our recipes with gluten-free flour, so we don’t know what works best. But let us know if you try out any recipes – we would welcome any feedback!
Great recipe!
I ground the oats because I was sure my family would eat them otherwise (lol).
Fried them and they turned out the same as your pics.
We ate some and froze the leftovers to grab one every now and then, when one of us wants more protein.
Thank you!
Hi! Thank you so much for your lovely comment. Happy to hear that they turned out delicious!
These meatballs were so good! I’ve never put oats in meatballs before, but they worked perfectly to add variety to the texture. We also made them with gluten free oats and flower and they tasted great!
Yay so glad you liked them! In our experience these taste exactly the same made gluten free which is great!