IKEA food hack: 6 no-fail finger food recipes. Easy peasy!

While the Swedish meatballs get all the glory, IKEA’s Food Market is packed with hidden gems just waiting to be turned into tasty, no-fuss appetizers.

After a stroll through the aisles and a deep dive into Food’s Ready, an IKEA cookbook, I uncovered a handful of finger food recipes that are as clever as they are delicious.

Most of them use only IKEA ingredients. No slaving over the stove required.

Whether you’re hosting a casual get-together, planning a solo snack night, or just curious about what else IKEA food can do, these 6 finger food recipes are easy to whip up and big on flavor.

Call it an IKEA food hack—or the easiest way to impress your guests without breaking a sweat.

#1 Finger food on a stick

Chicken meatball skewers with lemony cucumber and Nordic spices

Serves: 5 (15 skewers)

Ingredients:

• 15 pcs ALLEMANSRÄTTEN chicken meatballs
• 15 wooden skewers
• 2-4 tbsp oil, for frying
• 2 medium-sized cucumbers, peeled
• 100 ml dill, chopped
• 1 large organic lemon, juiced
• 2 tbsp sea salt
• 300 ml sour cream
• 150 ml parsley, thyme and ramsons, mixed
• Black pepper and extra virgin olive oil to taste

Steps:

1. Cut the cucumber into 15 small cubes, just a bit smaller than the chicken meatballs. Place in a medium-sized bowl, add sea salt and combine.
2. Heat a bit of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat until slightly smoky. Fry the meatballs until golden brown, adding more oil if needed. Set aside and let them cool a little.
3. Add the lemon juice and dill (saving 1 tbsp for garnish) to the cubed cucumber. Mix to combine and set aside for 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Thread one cucumber cube onto each skewer, then one meatball. Dip a bit in sour cream and then dip lightly into the herbs. Place the skewers on a tray and sprinkle with dill and black pepper.
5. Top the remaining sour cream with the rest of the seasoning mix. Drizzle with extra virgin oil and serve immediately.

Related: Fun Lingonberry cocktail recipes

#2 Finger food recipes in stemware

Prawn Cocktail – the classic appetizer

Serves: 4

• 200 g RÄKOR MED SKAL (shrimp with shell, frozen)
• 1 small head of lettuce
• 2 eggs
• 4 thin lemon wedges
• 1 tomato

Rhode Island sauce: (if not ready-made)

• 4 dl mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 tbsp chili sauce
• A couple of drops of squeezed lemon
• Salt
• Ground white pepper
• 1/2 tbsp cognac or Madeira (optional)

For decoration:

• 4 tsp mayonnaise
• Sprigs of dill

Steps:

1. Rhode island sauce: Mix mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, chili sauce, lemon, salt, and white pepper. Add cognac or Madeira (optional). Leave to cool until serving.
2. Boil the eggs hard and let cold water run on them. Rinse and cut the tomato into wedges. Half the eggs. (You can do this in advance. Leave the ingredients to cool, covered with plastic wrap)
3. Rinse and shred the lettuce leaves, and cover the bottom of the glasses with them. Add some Rhode Island sauce and fill up with tomatoes and peeled prawns. Place a dollop of mayonnaise on each egg half and garnish with a sprig of dill. Put the egg halves and lemon slices on top of the prawns and tomatoes.

 

#3 Bite-size servings are best

Herring tapas, 2 ways

Serves: 4

Marinated herring with roast potatoes

• 1 jar marinated herring (130 g drained weight)
• 200 g potatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• approx. 1 tbsp capers
• Salt and black pepper
• Cress

Apple and curry herring

• Crispbread (eg. KNÄCKEBRÖD RÅG & KLI)
• 100 ml crème fraȋche
• 1 tsp yellow curry powder
• 1/4 ml salt
• 1 apple, hard and acidic
• approx. 2 tbsp chives
• 1 jar marinated herring (130 g drained weight)
• Black pepper

Steps:

1. Marinated herring with roast potatoes: Preheat the oven to 225°C. Cut the potatoes into slices about 1 1/5 cm thick. Lay onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and mix with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Cook for about 25-30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and nicely coloured. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Place a piece of herring onto each piece of potato and garnish with capers and cut cress.
2. Apple and curry herring: Break the crispbread into smaller pieces. Mix the crème fraȋche and curry powder to a consistent cream. Season with a little salt. Slice the apple and herring and fold into the curry cream. Place a dollop on each piece of crispbread and top with chopped chives and freshly ground pepper.

 

#4 Try unexpected combinations

Cold-smoked salmon bake

Serves: 4

• 200 g cold-smoked salmon
• 500 g floury potatoes
• 1 onion
• 4 tbsp dill
• 350 ml single cream
• 3 eggs
• Black pepper

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C.
2. Cut the potatoes and onion into thin slices. Whisk the eggs and cream together well. Season with pepper.
3. Alternate potatoes, salmon, onion, and chopped dill into portion-sized dishes. Pour the egg and cream mix over the potatoes.
4. Cook for about 45 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and nicely coloured. Serve hot.

Related: How to make your own IKEA meatballs

#5 It’s a wrap for finger food recipes

Wrap it up, 3 variations

Serves: 4

4 pieces soft thin bread (eg, BRÖD TUNNBRÖD)

Blue cheese and pear

• 125 g blue cheese
• 2 pears
• approx. 2 tbsp sugar
• approx. 80 g rocket
• 100 ml of walnuts
• Butter for frying

Cold-smoked salmon and horseradish

• 400 g cold-smoked salmon
• 1 spring onion
• 1 head of cos lettuce
• 3 tbsp horseradish sauce
• Cress

BBQ chicken meatballs

• approx. 16 chicken meatballs (eg, KYCKLINGKÖTTBULLAR)
• 50 g blue cheese
• approx. 100 ml BBQ sauce (smoky and sweet)
• approx. 4 tbsp mayonnaise
• 4 carrots
• 1 stalk blanched celery
• approx. 2 tbsp parsley

Steps:

1. Blue cheese and pear: Slice the pears and roll them in sugar. Fry them quickly in butter. Fill the thin bread with cheese pieces, fried pear, rocket, and walnuts.
2. Cold-smoked salmon and horseradish: Slice the spring onion and chop the lettuce. Mix the horseradish sauce and salmon pieces in a bowl. Divide the filling between the four wraps. Garnish with cress.
3. BBQ chicken meatballs: Fry the chicken meatballs for 5 minutes or until heated through. Mix with the BBQ sauce. Coleslaw: Mix the blue cheese and mayo in a bowl. Slice the carrots and celery very thinly using, for example, a cheese slicer. Mix in with the cheese and mayo to make a coleslaw. Put some coleslaw, chicken meatballs, and chopped parsley on each piece of thin bread.

 

#6 End on a sweet note

Sweet appetizers – waffles

Serves: 4

• 12 waffle hearts

Cloudberry jam and cream

• approx. 150ml cloudberry jam (eg. SYLT HJORTRON)
• 250 ml whipping cream

Strawberries with stem ginger

• approx. 30 fresh strawberries
• 2 tbsp stem ginger
• 1 lime, peel of
• Raw sugar

Mascarpone, chocolate, and banana

• 100 ml chocolate spread (eg. CHOKLADKROKANT BREDBAR)
• 100 ml mascarpone
• approx. 30 blueberries
• 2 bananas
• approx. 30 g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Place the frozen waffles on a baking tray and heat for about 3 minutes.
2. Cloudberry jam and cream: Whip the cream. Put a spoonful of cream and cloudberry jam on each heart.
3. Strawberry with stem ginger: Slice or cut the strawberries. Mix with finely cut ginger. Grate the lime zest and mix with raw sugar. Store in a jar. Place strawberries and stem ginger onto each waffle and sprinkle with lime sugar.
4. Mascarpone, chocolate, and banana: Mix the chocolate spread and mascarpone. Put a spoonful on each waffle. Garnish with blueberries, sliced banana, and chopped dark chocolate.

 

I hope you enjoyed these finger food recipes. Or if you have finger food recipes based on IKEA foods, do share them with us. We’re hungry people.

Finger food recipes #3 – #6 are excerpts from the cookbook, Food’s Ready by IKEA. The book has more than finger food recipes! It has 74 tasty recipes based on simple Swedish fare. 

All images are courtesy of IKEA.

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NEXT: Explore more Swedish fare and IKEA Food