Beurre Blanc Sauce

5 from 4 votes

Recipe video above. This classic and elegant Beurre Blanc sauce is beautifully light yet creamy with a signature tang. Often served with a simple pan-fried fish at fine-dining restaurants, bistros and cafés, it also works well with shellfish, chicken or even vegetables.

Simple to make but like any butter-emulsified sauce it can be temperamental. So I’d say two things: cold butter and low heat! Follow those two rules, take your time, and the sauce will come together perfectly.

Optional safeguard against splitting - just use a bit of cream. See Note 4.

Prep Time5

Cook Time15

Total Time20

Course: Sauces

Cuisine: French

Keyword: beurre blanc sauce

Servings: people

Calories: 401cal

Author: Chef JB (RecipeTin)

Ingredients

1 small eschalot , finely diced - aka French onion, US: shallot (Note 1)
1/4 cup white wine , dry, not sweet or too woody (chardonnay is good) (Note 2)
2 tbsp white wine vinegar (Note 3)
200g / 2 sticks unsalted butter , cold, cut in small dice 1cm / 0.4" (keep in fridge until needed)
1/2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt , (or half for table salt, +50% for flakes)

Optional safeguard from splitting

2 tbsp thickened cream / heavy cream (Note 4)

Cups - Metric

Instructions

ABBREVIATED RECIPE

Reduce onion shallot, wine and vinegar to 2–3 tbsp of liquid. On low heat, whisk in 1 tbsp cold butter at a time. Add salt, strain. Use immediately.

FULL RECIPE

Make reduction - In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the onion shallot, white wine and vinegar. Also add the cream, if using (see Note 4). Let it simmer gently until it reduces by 2/3 (about 5 minutes once it starts simmering). You should have just 2 to 3 tablespoons of the liquid left no including the onion shallot. (Note 5)
Add COLD butter - Turn the heat to low. That is very important because if it’s too hot, your sauce will split (you don't want the mixture to even reach a simmer, use your smallest burner). Add the cold butter, one heaped tablespoon at a time while whisking briskly and constantly. (Note 6)
Emulsify sauce - Let each addition melt before adding more. The sauce will thicken as you add the butter and will become of a pale milky yellow colour. This should take around 5 minutes. Add the salt in at the end. (Note 7)
Sauce consistency - Keep whisking until all the butter is incorporated, the sauce should be slightly thickened like pouring cream with a pale yellow colour. It should lightly coat the back of a spoon.
Strain - Strain the sauce through a fine sieve into another small saucepan, pressing on the eschalots to extract all the flavour. (Note 9)
Warm and serve - Place the saucepan over LOW heat on your smallest burner to keep the sauce gently warm while you cook your protein. The heat must stay very low or the sauce will split. You only want to keep it warm, not hot. (Note 8) When needed, spoon generously over fish like I do here or chicken, or even simple steamed vegetables. Sprinkle some finely chopped chive over the top and enjoy!

Notes

Eschalots - Known as French onions, and called “shallots” in the US. They look like little onions, but with a purple skin and they are much more delicate with a sweeter flavour.

And careful, not to confuse them with what some call “shallots” in Australia… those long green onions.

2. Wine - Any white wine that’s not too woody or sweet will work great here. Chardonnay is my favourite, it adds really good flavour and it's the wine that was the most commonly used at restaurants I worked at in France. There is no need to use an

3. Vinegars - No need for a fancy vinegar here, simple white wine vinegar does the job perfectly. You can use another kind of vinegar like apple cider vinegar (or even lemon juice). It won’t be a classic beurre blanc, of course… but it will still bring that nice tang and taste very good.

4. Cream - A little bit of cream will prevent your Beurre Blanc from splitting even if the heat is too strong. It even allows the sauce to be made ahead and reheated later. So this is an optional safeguard to make the sauce foolproof. It's not strictly Beurre Blanc if you use it, but if you are a first timer you may wish to take this precaution.

5. Reduction - This is your flavour base. Make sure you end up with the right quantity. Any less liquid and you won’t have enough to bind and thicken with the butter. If you have too much, the sauce will be too thin.

6. Using a spoon - Use a spoon to add the butter, not your fingers. It keeps your hands clean… but more importantly, it keeps the butter cold. With your fingers, you warm it up too quickly, and cold butter is what helps the sauce emulsify properly.

7. Adding butter - If you add too much too fast, the sauce can’t keep up, the butter won’t emulsify properly and it will split.

8. Leftover eschalots - Many recipes will tell you to discard the eschalots. You can… but I don’t. After straining, they’re left sitting in the sieve, full of that wine-vinegar flavour. Don’t waste this, non! I like to toss them through the vegetables you’re serving with the fish - green beans, spinach, broccoli or even potatoes.

9. Keep warm - Beurre Blanc needs to stay warm as it will solidify when cold, and it usually splits if reheated. I’ve tried many ways to bring cold Beurre Blanc back without splitting, but never had much success.

Leftovers and storage - As per note 8 Beurre Blanc solidifies when cold and cannot be reheated so it needs to be kept warm per recipe instructions (step 6). If you stir it every 5 minutes or so and have it on an extremely low heat keeping it barely warm, you can keep it for 2 hours. This is what we used to do at restaurants I've worked at.

Nutrition per serving.

Nutrition