IKEA celebrates the 40th birthday of Swedish meatball with a plant-based falafel

IKEA’s iconic Swedish meatball, the köttbullar, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, which the company is commemorating with the introduction of a new dish: chickpea-based falafel will be available in its restaurants worldwide in the next six months. IKEA introduced its meatballs in 1985 and today they sell nearly 1.5 billion of them a year. The new falafel contains zucchini, onion and a spice mix in addition to chickpeas.

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2025/11.

IKEA aims to increase the proportion of plant-based foods