Béarnaise Sauce
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Béarnaise sauce is the perfect way to complement a steak but this recipe can be used in a variety of ways – serve it over steak, vegetables, eggs, or fish!
Jazz up your meal with this tasty béarnaise sauce or our roasted garlic aioli sauce. You’ll never reach for bottled sauce again!
Béarnaise Sauce Sauce
Béarnaise sauce is the child of hollandaise sauce and is flavored with tarragon, shallot, garlic, and vinegar. Traditionally, chervil is added but this can be difficult to find so our recipe omits it completely.
If you can find chervil at your market or you wish to order it online, feel free to incorporate it into the recipe.
The best thing about this sauce is it comes together quickly. You can whip it up in just under 10 minutes!
It has a creamier texture than hollandaise sauce and is best served with grilled meat and fish. We love it on asparagus as well!
Once you’ve made béarnaise sauce, you should give beurre blanc sauce a try. It’s similar but made without eggs.
Béarnaise Sauce Ingredients:
To make this béarnaise sauce recipe, you will need:
- White Wine Vinegar: Add acidty to the sauce
- Shallot: They are milder than onion
- Garlic: Always garlic
- Tarragon: We use dried tarragon
- Salt & pepper: Season to taste
- Egg yolks: They will thicken as they cook making a lusciously creamy sauce
- Butter: Use unsalted butter that is softened
How to Make Béarnaise Sauce:
To make this easy béarnaise sauce, simply…
- Place all the ingredients, minus the egg yolk and butter in a small saucepan. Bring it to a boil and cook until it has reduced to half.
- Cook the yolks with butter. Place the egg yolks in a medium heat-proof bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water. Whisk in the vinegar reduction and 1 tablespoon of butter. Keep cooking and whisking until the sauce begins to thicken.
- Gradually add remaining butter. Whisk in 1 tablespoon of butter at a time and cook for a couple more minutes, until the sauce is thick.
- Serve Immediately or let stand an hou: Take it off the heat and serve it with beef, fish, or vegetables.
Tips for Making Béarnaise Sauce:
Here are some things to remember when making this béarnaise sauce recipe.
- Don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the simmering water in the pot.
- Keep whisking when the egg yolks go over the simmering water. Don’t stop whisking.
- You can use an emulsion blender to make mixing easier!
Most sauces on our site are naturally gluten-free unless it’s a gravy of some sort. Here are a few more to suit your gluten-free lifestyle.
- Coconut Cream Sauce
- Horseradish Sauce
- Garlic Butter Sauce
- Creamy Basil Pesto
- Yum Yum Sauce
- Peruvian Green Sauce
Béarnaise Sauce
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup white wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped shallot
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
- ¼ teaspoon dried tarragon, crushed
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon white pepper
- 6 large egg yolks
- ¾ cups unsalted butter, cut into thirds, softened
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, stir the vinegar, shallot, garlic, tarragon, salt, and pepper together. Bring to a boil and let cook for 2 minutes, until reduced by about half.
- Place egg yolks in a medium-size heatproof bowl. Whisk in the vinegar mixture and 1 piece of the butter.
- Place the bowl over a pot of barely simmering water. The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. Cook, stirring rapidly with a whisk until the butter melts and the sauce begins to thicken.
- Add the remaining butter, one piece at a time, stirring constantly until melted.
- Continue to cook for 2 minutes until the sauce is thick and the temperature reaches 160°F.
- Immediately remove the sauce from the heat and serve over beef, pork, chicken, or vegetables.
Make ahead tip
- The sauce can be made an hour in advance. Cover and let stand at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided is for convenience and as a courtesy only. It is not guaranteed to be accurate because nutrition information can vary for a variety of reasons. For precise nutritional data use your preferred nutrition calculator and input the exact ingredients and brands you used in the recipe.
Excellent and easy peasy.
I thought the results were a bit tasteless and bland. I will try it again with fresh tarragon, or more dried tarragon. I tried adding a few squeezes of lemon juice and more salt, but it was still not what I expected (which was a tarragon flavor). I measured out dried tarragon (1/4 t) and then crushed it.
Mine started to separate… I think I may have cooked it too long and it went over temperature. :’(