IKEA Is Developing New Plant-Based Meatballs

Furniture giant, IKEA, is developing new meatballs ‘that look and taste like meat’ using ‘plant-based alternative proteins’.

The Swedish company aims to release the meatless meatballs globally, with the first customer-facing tests planned for early next year.

‘Desirable and affordable’

“We know that the IKEA meatballs are loved by the many people and for years the meatballs have been the most popular dish in our restaurants,” says Michael La Cour Managing Director at IKEA Food Services AB.

“We see a growing demand from our customers to have access to more sustainable food options and we want to meet that need. Our ambition is to make healthier and more sustainable eating easy, desirable and affordable without compromising on taste and texture.”

Vegan options

Early this year, IKEA launched its vegan strawberry soft-serve ice-cream across its Europe stores, which has almost half the carbon footprint compared to its dairy-based counterpart.

“Our ambition was to create a plant-based treat that is as soft, airy and delicious as our popular dairy-based soft ice,” said Sandra Lindh, Commercial Manager at IKEA Food Services AB, said in a statement.

“It’s an easy, affordable and delicious treat for customers that either need or want to skip dairy products and prefer plant-based food options.”