How to Make White Sauce

White sauce (French name Béchamel ) is a versatile, easy-to-make sauce that was one of the first recipes ever taught to passionate chefs. White sauce is not only a delicious accompaniment to many dishes such as chicken and vegetables, but also a starting ingredient for more complex recipes such as Alfredo pasta sauce and Soufflés egg tarts. Let’s start making a rich and delicious sauce according to the instructions below:

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes

Table of Contents

Ingredient

For Traditional Béchamel White Sauce:

2 tablespoons butter
3 spoons of flour
1 cup milk (can be heated as desired)
1/4 teaspoon salt
A little white pepper

For Alfredo Pasta Sauce:

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup milk cream
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 cup cream cheese (cooking grade)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (shredded)
1/4 cup Asiago cheese (shredded)
Dry white wine

Traditional Béchamel White Sauce

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Melt the butter (any butter will do). Place the butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet and place on the stove to melt over low heat. Once the butter is completely melted, move on to the next step right away so the butter doesn’t run dry.

Whisk together flour, salt and pepper. Mix flour, salt, and pepper in a separate bowl, then pour mixture into melted butter and beat until smooth and thick.

Heat until foamy. Turn the heat to medium and heat the mixture for about 1 minute until foamy but not brown. This mixture of fats and flours is called Roux and can be used as a starting or thickening ingredient in many recipes such as okra Gumbo and other thick soups.

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Heat milk (optional). You don’t necessarily have to heat the milk before adding it to the white sauce, but doing so will help make the finished product smoother. If you want, you can heat the milk in the pan over low heat and turn off the heat when you see small bubbles rise at the edge of the pan.

Slowly add in the milk. Add the milk to the Roux mixture and stir well. For smoothness, it’s best to pour in the milk a little at a time and stir until the milk is completely incorporated into the mixture and repeat. Adding all the milk at once will cause the mixture to be uneven and the sauce to be lumpy.

Beat until mixture is smooth. When you have added all the milk, use a whisk to beat gently and make sure there are no lumps. Stir until the ingredients in the sauce are evenly combined.

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Cook until sauce is smooth and thickened. Now you just need to cook until the soup is reduced and reaches the consistency and flavor you want. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly and tasting to ensure even consistency. If needed, you can add a little salt and pepper to improve the taste. Serve on the dining table (for about 4 people).

A cooled sauce may have an unsightly scum on top. To avoid this, wrap the sauce with parchment paper or pour a thin layer of milk over the sauce before placing it in the fridge.

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Try changing the flavor of the sauce. One of the characteristics of traditional white sauce is that you can easily adapt it for many different purposes. For example, if you want a slightly spicy sauce, you can add some red pepper. Or you can add grated Cheddar cheese to give the sauce a scrumptious taste. You are free to experiment according to your preferences. Because white sauce has a neutral flavor, most common ingredients go well with it.

For example, the recipe in the next section changes the way white sauce is made by adding a few ingredients and not using flour to create a delicious Alfredo pasta sauce.

Alfredo Pasta Sauce

Melt butter with piu oil. Put butter and piu oil in a heavy bottom pan. Heat over low heat until the butter is completely melted but not smoking or turning brown.

Add garlic, cream and pepper. Add the minced garlic and cream of milk to the pan and stir well. Add pepper (for extra flavor) and simmer. Remember to stir often.

Put in the cheese. Add cream cheese, Parmesan cheese and Asiago cheese. Stir until well mixed and make sure the cheese is completely melted before adding to the pan.

At this step, you are free to customize the cheese mix to find out which blends are best for you. For example, some chefs like to replace it with mozzarella or add a little white cheddar for extra flavor.

Put in the wine. Just add a little dry white wine to the sauce and stir well. Once the wine has infused, taste it. Depending on your favorite flavor, you can add wine as you see fit. However, keep in mind that if you add more wine, the sauce will thin out and you will need to cook more to let the sauce dry out.

Lower the fire to low. If the heat is still a bit too high, turn down the heat to simmer until the sauce dries up and keep stirring. Alfredo pasta sauce is relatively thick, easy to stick and burn. Therefore, if you want the finished product to be thick, fatty and delicious without clumping, constant stirring is essential. When the sauce reaches the desired consistency, lower the pan and serve with the pasta. This is a serving for 4-6 people.

Advice

Do not use black pepper instead of white pepper.
Add cheese to make cheese sauce.
If the sauce is lumpy, use a sieve to strain it.
Do not let the butter burn. White sauce tastes best when cooked at a constant temperature.
Use double the ingredients if needed.
Storing warm milk in an easy-to-handle jar or glass will make it easier to pour it out.
Heat the milk in a measuring cup (microwave safe). Then stir the milk into the flour mixture.

Ingredient

Steps

Traditional Béchamel White Sauce

Alfredo Pasta Sauce

Advice

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