Béchamel Sauce
- Total Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:1¼ cups
- 2tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1½cups whole milk
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (or white pepper)
- Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (2.5 servings)
195 calories; 14 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 12 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 7 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 383 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-low. Add flour, whisk until smooth and cook until flour is no longer raw, about 1 minute. (Be sure to whisk all around the edges of the pan to prevent scorching.)
- Step 2
Whisking constantly, slowly add ¼ cup of the milk in a thin stream and whisk until liquid is absorbed. (This happens very quickly. The mixture will seize up, but it will loosen as more milk is added.) Slowly add another ¼ cup of the milk in a thin stream and whisk until mixture is smooth. Repeat with remaining ¼ cup portions of the milk, whisking constantly until mixture is smooth before adding the next batch of milk.
- Step 3
Once all of the milk is incorporated, continue to cook over medium-low, stirring frequently, until it starts to simmer and the sauce thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg (if using).
- Step 4
If not using immediately, transfer to a heatproof bowl and press the top with a piece of plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Béchamel can be refrigerated for 3 days; reheat gently over low heat, adding a splash of milk or water if too thick.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Rosanna Frank
I have been using the cold milk in small measures method for my entire life (I am 83 years old) and for an entirely foolproof result combine that with my other kitchen hack for béchamel -- use Wondra (by Gold Medal) instead of regular flour in the same amounts. You will never have a lumpy sauce again. Also I mix in an equal amount of grated nutmeg with the salt and pepper when I make béchamel for my lasagna.
Andrea HB
Fond memories of my mother showing me how to cook this in the 70's. Two key differences, she called it white sauce, and with every addition of milk, she'd say "take a sip of beer" while she whisked with her other hand.
Jodi S.
For a gluten-free sauce, use white or brown rice flour, same quantity. In my experience, it actually makes a nicer sauce, that is more stable upon reheating...
Dave
I suppose heating milk in a pan would take some time and require some cleanup, but putting a cup and a half of milk in a 2-cup pyrex measuring cup and microwaving it for a minute is hardly a burden, and avoids the cold milk into the hot roux problem.
JoAnne B
I remember this as the basis for a 50s and 60s comfort food favorite: chipped beef on toast.
doug
I'm just a home cook, so these suggestions are probably shocking to actual chefs. I always used heated milk. While the milk heats, I might add flavorings such as garlic or bay leaf to infuse it with some layers of flavor. Nutmeg is great to add if you're making a butternut lasagna which I make a few times a year.
Max Alexander, Rome, Contestant MasterChef Italia 2020-2021
As the sauce must eventually be heated in order to properly thicken and amalgamate, starting with cold milk does not save any time. Sooner or later you must heat it up. Moreover, heating in advance is easier because it isn’t necessary to stir the milk constantly as you must after it’s been added to the roux (to prevent burning).
John
Use the wrap iff the butter in place of the plastic wrap when saving the sauce - same result, no skin , less plastic
somethin' out of nuthin'
The flour and milk proportion seems like not enough flour. I use Joy of Cooking’s proportions depending on the use. I brown the butter and flour a few minutes longer to cook them. I have not heated the milk in 40 years, but it would do not harm. I like white pepper in the sauce. Sometimes a dried herb depending on its use.
Nick Gatti
My chef would take a pinky if he caught me putting black pepper into a bechamel. Also cooking the sauce in a heatproof pot and finishing in the oven prevents scorching.
DrPat
My French-speaking Belgian Mother-in-Law always stirred in a raw egg yolk at the end of making Béchamel, as well as some nutmeg and a couple of drops of fresh lemon juice. The egg yolk immediately cooked, of course, enriching the sauce, the nutmeg and lemon juice added lovely flavor. I have always followed her example. A typical meal using the Béchamel would be a chicken breast sautéed in butter, rice and lots of Béchamel on both, plus fresh string beans.
Michelle B.
I've been making bechamel this way - with cold milk - for years and it always works. I have never heated the milk ahead of time!
E.S.
why not in the microwave? no stirring, no clumps...
Name Shari
One way I love to use this sauce is over steamed cauliflower topped with some crushed saltine crackers sautéed in butter till golden. Heaven.
Peter
Heat the milk. I’ve had it clump from using cold, and it’s not worth a few minutes of warming.
Michael D.
I made this vegan by using soy milk and margarine and it turned out well.
Antonio Castagnoli
How this recipe puts nutmeg as optional? Nutmeg is basically the soul of Béchamel. You don’t have any other aromatic ingredient. Btw.. I’m the ones: you can put a base of very well chopped onions after your reaux, try to “cook” the onion in the space left in the pan (you can concentrate the reaux in one side). After, you can add the milk, salt, white pepper (you can get very similar results with black pepper, but it will look worse), and nutmeg. Nutmeg is the soul of béchamel.
Antonio Castagnoli
Bechamel without nutmeg is not Bechamel. The original recipe includes nutmeg. Btw, nutmeg is basically “the flavor” or bechamel. There’s no other very aromatic ingredient. The rest is base: salt and pepper. Plus: a major mistake in bechamel is that people make a confusion of white reaux with non-cooked reaux. White reaux means you don’t toast the flour (which brings the brown color and Maillard reaction flavor) but you still have to cook it for 1.5 min. Bechamel with uncooked flour tastes bad.
Teresa
Yay- a velvety cheese sauce! I followed the recipe but added 1 tsp sodium citrate. After 8 minutes sauce started to thicken. I added 7 ounces of grated cheddar/gruyere cheese, a handful at a time as I stirred & sauce became thicker... immediately removed from heat. This is a beautiful easy sauce that turned out lovely. Not sure if the sodium citrate helped avoid sauce breaking when cheese added. Experimenting.
Elizabeth, Bordeaux, France
Super easy. I used cold milk stirring in between each pour. I used leeks, carrots, mushrooms and peas for veggies. I did add garlic powder, Herbes de Provence and the nutmeg. I added the sauce to a casserole dish of chicken noodle casserole. Off the chart, delicious!!
Elizabeth Egan
I always heat my milk in the microwave to make a bechamel. It saves a slew of time stirring to thickness. It’s just chemistry.
Yul Sam
It should start with equal weights of butter and flour, not equal volumes.
Ellen Oliver
74 years old & I just made my first bechamel sauce & it came out perfectly! Oh, those wasted years of being afraid of it! Sauce Bernaise here I come!
Vivian
Add a tsp of Dijon mustard, a pinch of paprika and a dash of Worcestershire Sauce to make it a spectacular sauce for Mac n cheese. Use four types of cheese! One strong, a cheddar, a Jack and maybe a bit o blue. For nacho sauce ad a half tsp each of cumin, chili powder and garlic powder.
Marc S.
This method is more or less correct, but not for time-saving reasons. You must add cold milk to hot roux or hot milk to cold roux, but never hot milk to hot roux as this will make the sauce coagulate too quickly. However, the best method is not to add the milk bit by bit: dump it all in at once, and stir slowly and consistently, taking care to hit the corners. Finally, never pepper! That is anathema and you are then no longer making béchamel.
Richard
There are many chefs who will disagree with the cold to hot or hot to cold principal. Do whatever works best for you.
Margaret
However you make a smooth sauce, a shot or two of Tabasco will improve it dramatically. Never enough that it provides heat or color. You should never taste it. Allow the Tabasco to do its magic quietly. Skip the black (or white) pepper.
Raphael Antonio Nazario
Béchamel is much more than boiled milk thickened with roux. Treated like a stock, simmered with mirepoix and perfumed with bouquet garni, then thickened and strained, it can be an absolutely gorgeous sauce of nuance and complexity. For that small of an amount the mirepoix (diced small) would consist of about ¼ cup Onion; ¼ cup Carrot ; 2 tbsp Celery. Bouquet Garni; Tarragon:1 sprig, Basil: 2 leaves; 1 Bay leaf OR… 2 whole, dried Celery leaves. 2 Cloves. (— from "Sand In Your Shoes" cookbook)
Tobey
An excellent foundation - especially for an ultra cheesy mac n cheese. Besides the many tips folks have mentioned here (rice flour *does* make great sauces!), I will add a note that I have acquired since this New Yorker moved to California many years ago: add Tapa Tio (or whatever other simple red hot sauce you favor) in lieu of black pepper. It won't make you cough like pepper can, it won't make your sauce a funny color, and it adds some lovely zip to most anything - an ideal pepper product.
Mudge
For my lasagne verdi alla bolognese I use a large pyrex measuring cup fill it with milk and heat it in the microwave. Adding the hot milk all at once and stirring with a whisk saves a lot of time standing in front of the stove. It only takes seconds to clean the measuring cup. Quick and easy.
Richard Geismar
This can be made with rice flour. Way less clumping and tastes great
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