Béchamel Sauce
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This classic béchamel recipe makes a smooth, creamy white sauce that’s endlessly useful in the kitchen.
Béchamel is one of the five classic French “mother sauces,” which is just a way of saying it’s a base sauce used to make many others. It’s also one of the first sauces I learned to make in culinary school. Often called white sauce, béchamel is made with just butter, flour, and milk. Though French in origin, it’s widely used in many other cuisines.
What Is Béchamel Sauce Used For?
Béchamel is incredibly versatile. It’s commonly used in dishes like lasagna, gratins, moussaka, croque monsieur, and cheese soufflé, and it’s the base for Mornay, a béchamel enriched with cheese. It’s also the starting point for creamy mac and cheese and other cheese sauces. I use it as a creamy layer in my eggplant Parmesan, too.
What You’ll Need To Make Béchamel Sauce
To make classic béchamel sauce, you’ll need unsalted butter, all-purpose flour, milk, salt, freshly ground black pepper, and ground nutmeg.
How to Make béchamel Sauce
Make the roux: Melt the butter, then whisk in the flour and cook until the mixture is smooth and foamy. Keep it moving and don’t let it brown; you want to cook off the raw flour taste while keeping the sauce nice and pale.
Add the milk and thicken: Gradually whisk in the warm milk, then simmer until the sauce is smooth and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Adding the milk slowly at first gives the roux a chance to absorb it without forming lumps. As the sauce thickens, run your whisk or a rubber spatula around the edges of the pan now and then, since that’s where it tends to thicken first.
Season and adjust: Whisk in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then taste and adjust as needed. Don’t worry if the consistency isn’t quite right yet—béchamel is very forgiving. A splash of warm milk will loosen a sauce that’s too thick, while another minute or two of simmering will take care of one that’s too thin.
Pro Tips
- Got a few lumps? Don’t panic. Whisk vigorously first; that will usually take care of them. If the sauce still isn’t perfectly smooth, pour it through a fine-mesh sieve and carry on.
- Remember that béchamel thickens as it cools. If you’re not using it right away, it’s fine to leave it a touch looser than you ultimately want it.
- If the sauce needs to sit, cover the surface directly with plastic wrap. This keeps air from reaching the top and prevents a skin from forming.
- Turn it into Mornay sauce: Stir in about ½ cup grated Gruyère or Parmesan and whisk until melted and smooth.
More Classic French Sauces You May Like
Béchamel Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk, warmed (see note)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Pinch of ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until smooth. Continue whisking until the mixture bubbles but does not brown, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Gradually add the warm milk, whisking constantly. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, whisking often and occasionally running a flat whisk or rubber spatula around the edges of the pan to incorporate any thickening that accumulates there. Reduce the heat and continue simmering, whisking frequently, until the sauce is smooth and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 3 to 5 minutes after adding the milk (timing may vary slightly depending on your stove and pan).
- Whisk in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed. If the sauce is thicker than you’d like, whisk in a splash of warm milk until it reaches the desired consistency. If it’s too thin, keep simmering for another minute or two, whisking often, until it thickens.
Notes
- Warming the milk helps the sauce blend smoothly and prevents lumps. You don’t want it hot—just pleasantly warm to the touch (about 100 to 110°F), like bathwater. Microwave it for about 1 minute or warm it gently in a small saucepan.
- Make-Ahead/Storage Instructions: Béchamel can be made up to 3 days ahead. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming, and refrigerate. Reheat gently over low heat, whisking to restore its smooth consistency.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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