3-ingredient Basic White Cream Sauce (Bechamel sauce) is ready in 8-minutes! No more sauce paranoia!
This Basic White Cream Sauce is one of the five classic French "Mother Sauces", and is the base for many other sauces and gravies.
Once you master this easy white cream sauce, the sauce world is your oyster!
Here, you'll learn exactly how to make a smooth, flavorful Bechamel that you'll be proud of everytime!
This cream sauce base is perfect for thickening soups and casseroles and the introduction to many cream-based sauces. The simplicity of it is what makes it ideal for many recipes.
Why you'll love this recipe!
- 3-Ingredients - 8-minutes
- This quick 8-minute white sauce recipe will be your "go-to" recipe for a million other sauces
- Base for many other sauces: Mornay sauce (cheese sauce), creamy herb sauces, Alfredo, and more!
- A great substitute for canned condensed soups! Just add chicken bouillon!
Here's what you'll need:
There's nothing fancy going on here: Butter, Flour, Milk, salt & pepper...that's it! I recommend using 2%, whole milk or cream for best results.
How to make basic cream sauce
White sauce is relatively easy to make and takes about 8 minutes. This recipe yields 2 cups of sauce.
First, you start by making a roux, which is equal parts of fat (butter) and flour.
Troubleshooting Bechamel sauce:
Use low heat
Use 2% or whole milk
Use room temperature milk: set the milk out of the fridge about 20 minutes before starting the sauce or, heat the milk in the microwave on low.
The objective here is to not add cold milk to the hot roux; this often results in lumps in the sauce
Do not overcook the roux: a quick 1-minute cook on medium heat should do it. (You want a white roux for the base of the sauce--not a blonde roux; white cooks in about 1 minute; blonde cooks in about 3 minutes.)
Add milk with the pan off-heat: once the flour and butter are combined, lift the saucepan off the heat; add the milk, then return pan to heat.
Taste before adding salt: If you use salted butter, don't add more salt until the sauce is finished--you may not need more salt!
This recipe calls for salted butter but you can use unsalted if you prefer. I've found a stick of salted butter is enough salt for me in this sauce, but you might like a bit more!
Use ground black or white pepper; just add it to taste but keep in mind that ground white pepper is stronger than black pepper so use white judiciously.
You can use whole or 2% milk, half-n-half- or heavy cream (heavy whipping cream) in this basic sauce.
Note, heavy cream has a bit of a sweet taste to it, so if you don't want a sweet flavor profile in your white sauce, just stick with milk.
Proportion guidelines
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.
If you use more fat and flour, the sauce will be thicker...conversely, you can thin a thick sauce by adding more liquid.
Derivatives of white (Bechamel) 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.
Herb-infused Cream Sauce: Add herbs to a basic cream sauce and you've got a completely different flavor profile! Recall that dried herbs are three-times stronger than fresh. Add dried herbs to the sauce right after you add the milk. Add fresh herbs at the very end of the cooking time. Some favorites are dill, sage, tarragon and rosemary.
Garlic-infused Cream Sauce: cut a clove of garlic in half and rub the cut side around the perimeter and bottom of the saucepan. This gives a faint, but not overwhelming hint of garlic flavor to the Bechamel sauce.
Spice-infused Cream Sauce: using a microplane, grate a little cinnamon or nutmeg over a white sauce. Other nice spices are: sweet and smoky paprika, ground cloves, allspice, mustard, coriander or cumin.
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.
Finish the Cream Sauce with an Acid: Add an acid to your finished sauce to even further develop the flavor! Acids always go in the sauce last and use them sparingly. Try a little lemon, lime, orange or a little vinegar - other acids include wine, alcohol (liqueurs), tomatoes and buttermilk.
Condensed soup substitute
If you're trying to stay away from processed foods, a white cream sauce is going to be your best friend!
This sauce can easily be incorporated into recipes that call for condensed "cream of" soups. All you have to do is add the desired flavor to the sauce.
Cream of Mushroom: saute onions and mushrooms in 1 T of oil; puree in food processor; add to white sauce; season with salt, pepper and onion and/or garlic powder if desired
Cream of Celery: saute onions and celery in 1 T of oil; puree in food processor; add to white sauce; season with celery salt and pepper
Cream of Chicken: add 1 T of "Better Than Bouillon" to white sauce before you add milk; whisk until smooth; season with salt, pepper, onion and/or garlic powder
Uses for white sauce
Incorporate a white sauce into soups and stews to thicken, or to casseroles to make them creamy.
Drizzle sauce over vegetables like peas, asparagus, new potatoes or broccoli or, add some to your favorite casserole!
The addition of a basic white sauce adds a creamy texture to whatever dish or casserole you choose!
Use in lieu of canned condensed soups, which are laden with sodium
Storage and reheating
You can make this basic white cream sauce in advance and store it 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.
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
If you make this recipe, please scroll down and leave a rating and comment! I love to hear from you!
📋 Recipe
Basic White Cream Sauce (Bechamel Sauce)
Ingredients
- ½ cup flour , all-purpose
- 1 stick butter ,salted or unsalted (See Recipe Notes)
- 2 cups milk 2% or whole (See Recipe Notes)
- salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan on low heat, melt butter1 stick butter
- Sprinkle in flour and whisk until smooth½ cup flour
- Remove pan from heat and 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 and pepper (to taste)
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
Stacy says
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!
Anecia says
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!