Kjøttkaker

Name: Kjøttkaker
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Cuisine: Norwegian
Ingredients: 600 g ground beef; 1 onion, finely grated; 1 egg; 3 tbsp breadcrumbs soaked in 100 ml milk; 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ginger; For the gravy: 40 g butter, 40 g flour, 700 ml beef stock; Lingonberry jam and boiled peas, to serve

Rustic Norwegian meat cakes in a glossy brown gravy, served with lingonberries, peas and buttery mash.

1 hr 10 minEasy

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Cultural Context & History

If any dish is the taste of a weekday childhood in the eastern valleys, it is kjøttkaker — larger and coarser than a meatball, bound with milk-soaked breadcrumb and warmed with nutmeg and ginger. It is comfort food elevated to national institution.

Ingredients

600 g ground beef312 kcal · 17 g protein · 26.8 g fat · 0 g carbs per 100 g
1 onion, finely grated289 kcal · 10.9 g protein · 0.8 g fat · 59.4 g carbs per 100 g
1 egg513 kcal · 6.4 g protein · 28.8 g fat · 57.7 g carbs per 100 g
3 tbsp breadcrumbs soaked in 100 ml milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ginger884 kcal · 0 g protein · 100 g fat · 0 g carbs per 100 g
For the gravy: 40 g butter, 40 g flour, 700 ml beef stock
Lingonberry jam and boiled peas, to serve

Per-100 g values shown for ingredients verified against Nutrition data: USDA FoodData Central (snapshot 2026-09-11). Ingredients not yet verified show no nutrition line.

Recommended Tools

Cast-iron skilletBuilds the deep fond that makes the gravy.
Balloon whiskKeeps the roux-based sauce lump free.

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Step-by-Step Instructions

1
Mix the beef with grated onion, egg, soaked breadcrumbs and spices until sticky. Season generously.
2
Shape into large oval cakes and brown well in butter on both sides.
3
Make a roux with butter and flour, whisk in the stock, and return the cakes to braise for 25 minutes.
4
Serve with mashed potato, peas and a spoonful of lingonberry.

Chef's Tip

Grate the onion rather than chopping it — the juice loosens the mix and keeps the cakes tender.

How this page was made

Written by: The Norcook editorial archive. No individual author is named yet — see the editorial and food-safety policy for what that means and what has to happen before a byline appears.
Content last checked: 2026-07-21 — “checked” records an editorial check, not a qualified review. Where one exists, the recipe-specific review record appears in the food-safety callout.
Regional context: Østlandet — the hub carries the wider background, the ingredient glossary and its own sources.
Sources: No page-level sources are recorded for this recipe yet. The cultural background above is written as general context, not as a sourced historical claim.

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