Basic White Cream Sauce (Bechamel Sauce)
No more sauce paranoia! This basic White Cream Sauce recipe uses 4-ingredients and is ready in 8-minutes! Learn how to make this versatile sauce and the sauce world is your oyster! Flour, fat, milk and salt.
Bechamel sauce, one of the five French “Mother Sauces,” is a creamy white sauce that can be used as a thickener for soups and casseroles or as the base for other roux-based sauces.
- Use this white cream sauce recipe for the base of other sauces: Mornay sauce (cheese sauce), creamy herb sauces, homemade alfredo sauce and more!
- A great substitute for canned cream of chicken soup! Just add chicken bouillon!
Ingredients
There’s nothing fancy going on here with this easy sauce recipe. Simple ingredients:
- Butter
- All-purpose flour – if you want a gluten free white cream sauce, just substitute the AP flour with GF flour
- Milk– whole milk or 2% milk; not skim milk
- Salt to taste
How to make basic white cream sauce with milk
This white cream sauce is relatively easy to make and takes about 8 minutes. This recipe yields 2 cups of sauce. Just follow these easy steps and check out the recipe notes in the recipe card below.
- First, you make this simple sauce by making a roux, which is equal parts of fat (butter) and flour.
- In a medium saucepan, on medium-low heat, melt butter
- Then sprinkle in flour and whisk
- Add a splash of milk and continue to whisk until smooth; gradually add remaining milk, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the saucepan with a wooden spoon; season to taste with salt
Recipe tips for white cream sauce
- Use low heat
- Use room temperature milk
- Do not overcook the roux: a quick 1-minute cook on medium heat should do it.
- Add milk with the pan off-heat
- Taste before adding salt
- This sauce thickens the longer you cook it
Cream sauce ingredient proportions
Use this chart as a proportion guideline. Remember, the ratio of fat to flour is always 1:1. The texture (thickness) of the sauce is determined by the amount of fat and flour. You can thin a sauce by adding more liquid.
If you use more fat and flour, the sauce will be thicker…conversely, you can thin a thick white cream sauce by adding more liquid.
Variations for basic white cream sauce
A really good white sauce serves as the basis for many other sauces and gravies, as well as a thickening agent for soups, stews and casseroles.
- Bechamel Sauce: make the basic white sauce and add a hint of ground nutmeg.
- Herb-infused Cream Sauce: Add herbs to a basic cream sauce and you’ve got a completely different flavor profile!
- Garlic Cream Sauce: cut a clove of garlic in half and rub the cut side around the perimeter and bottom of the saucepan.
- Spice-infused Cream Sauce: using a microplane, grate a little cinnamon or nutmeg over it.
- Cheese Sauce (Mornay sauce): add any shredded cheese to the sauce after you’ve combined the milk with the roux. Cheddar for macaroni and cheese, Parmesan for Alfredo sauce for pasta, or pureed tomatoes for spaghetti and lasagne.
Storage and reheating
You can make this basic white cream sauce in advance and store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To reheat, simply pour sauce into saucepan and re-heat on medium low. You might need to add a little milk upon reheat, as it thickens when refrigerated.
This easy, basic white cream sauce recipe can be a lifesaver for home cooks! Use it as a thickener in casseroles, as the base for cream gravy for chicken fried steak or as an alternative to canned condensed soups.
Related recipes:
- Mushroom Cream Sauce
- Lemon Butter Sauce
- San Marzano Pasta Sauce
- Herb Cream Sauce
- Easy Cheese Sauce
- Sour Cream Enchilada Sauce
- Easy Red Enchilada Sauce
- Southern Cream Gravy
- Texas Chicken Fried Steak
- Dairy Queen Steak Fingers and Cream Gravy
- Best Southern Recipes
- Creamy Tuscan Sauce
If you make this recipe, please scroll down and leave a rating and comment! I love to hear from you!
Basic White Cream Sauce (Bechamel Sauce)
Ingredients
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 stick butter ,salted or unsalted (See Recipe Notes)
- 2 cups milk 2% or whole (See Recipe Notes)
- salt
- ground white pepper (optional)
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan on low heat, melt butter1 stick butter
- Sprinkle in flour and whisk until smooth½ cup all-purpose flour
- Remove pan from heat and gradually add milk; continue to whisk off heat (see recipe notes)2 cups milk
- Place saucepan back onto stove burner and continue to whisk until sauce is smooth
- Taste for salt and pepper; adjust according to your palate; servesalt, ground white pepper (optional)
Notes
- Use 2% or whole milk for cream sauce. You can substitute with half-and-half or heavy cream, but keep in mind the heavy cream will produce a slightly sweeter taste than milk.
- For best results, let milk stand at room temperature for about 5 minutes. Cold milk will cause the sauce to clump
- Add milk in 3-4 increments; do not pour it in all at once
Thanks You so much for the recipe, very useful
DELICIOUS! I did 1/4 cup each of butter and flour and about 2 cups of milk and seasoned to suit my dish, it was fantastic! My family loved it!
I’m glad you liked this basic white cream sauce!
I added a lg bag of cauliflower florets and parmesan cheese to make a cauliflower parmesan soup. I blended 1/4 of the bag to give it a cauliflower taste, then added the remaining 3/4 bag to have cauliflower pieces in the soup.
I loved this. Super easy and love how thick the sauce comes out. Saving this recipe for sure.
EASY!♡
Sauce was good but too thick.
As noted in the post, you can add more milk to thin it.
I made this according to the recipe and ended up with a sauce that is way too thick for my taste. Next time I will try 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup flour and 2 cups of milk.
Yes, sauces can be tricky…it’s all about time and temperature. In the case of a basic white sauce, the thickness is determined by the amount of roux (equal parts fat and flour) and liquid. If you you prefer a thinner sauce, by all means reduce the roux. Also note that this sauce thickens the longer you cook it and it thickens on higher heat, that’s why the recipe notes say to cook the sauce on low. The proportions are correct; it’s just a matter of learning how to adjust the sauce to fit your needs. As for flavoring, a white sauce is simply seasoned with salt and pepper; if you want to add seasonings, then by all means, do!
Can this white sauce be used to make a tuna pot pie can soup just has to much sodium
Yes
Thank you for this recipe I wanted a white sauce to go with my spaghetti and oh my goodness it is absolutely delicious. Although I did use light cream and it was absolutely yummy. Thank you
Thank you for sharing this! A basic white cream sauce can evolve into pretty much whatever you want! Just add seasonings, herbs and/or spices! I’m glad you tried it!
I made this today and it was delicious. I added some chopped garlic while butter was melting, I used heavy cream and unsalted butter. Thank you. This was so EASY and DELICIOUS!
Thank you, Elizabeth! This basic white cream sauce is the basis for many others…you can also add it to soups to thicken them!
I had some heavy cream I needed to use up and leftover taco meat and Mexican corn. I made this sauce on a whim. I added a tbsp of homemade taco seasoning and cotija cheese. AMAZING!!! Thanks for this super handy recipe!
Oh Good, Stacy!!! Your spin on this sauce sounds really good! I hope you’ll refer to this Basic White Sauce time after time…it’s a basic staple formula (recipe:) that you can “dress up” anyway you want! Thank you for letting me know:) I appreciate you!