Classic Hollandaise Sauce

This Classic Hollandaise Sauce recipe may require a lot of whisking but the results are delicious!

What is Hollandaise Sauce?

Hollandaise sauce is one of the five mother sauces in French cooking and a key component of the popular brunch dish Eggs Benedict.

A classic Hollandaise sauce is rich and creamy. The ingredients are basic – eggs, water, lemon juice, and butter. They come together beautifully, if you’ve got a strong wrist. The recipe requires A LOT of whisking to create the emulsion. 

If you’ve made a classic hollandaise sauce before, then you know about this already. But you may not know why it’s necessary. The reason for all that whisking is to keep the egg yolks moving so that they cook into a smooth sauce. What would happen without all the whisking?

Lemon-flavored scrambled eggs (ew!).

Do test out the classic recipe below because it’s delicious. But if you don’t want a wrist workout, give our Easy Blender Hollandaise a try. It’s quicker, easier, and tastes just as good as the original.

How to Make Classic Hollandaise Sauce, Step By Step

Step 1: Set out the butter to soften. You need to do this awhile before you start. Or you can soften it in the microwave using the defrost setting, 5 seconds at a time, stirring in between each heating. It’s fine if you end up with some melted butter.

Step 2: When you’re ready to start, fill a large bowl with ice cold water. You’ll need this in a little while

Step 3: Separate the eggs and put the yolks in a small saucepan along with a bit of water and lemon juice (amounts are given in the recipe below).

Step 4: Whisk the eggs until pale and very frothy.

Step 5: Put the saucepan over low heat and whisk quickly and continuously. Really target the sides and bottom of the saucepan because that is where things are the hottest and where you’re most likely to get congealed egg. I prefer a flat whisk like this because it really scrapes against those sides. 

If you notice some congealing going on, or to really help prevent it from starting, every minute or so, dunk the bottom of the saucepan into the ice water. Don’t let any water get into your pan though. Leave it in the ice water for 3-4 seconds and then put it back on the heat.

Continue to heat and whisk until a slash of the whisk parts the eggs enough so that you can see the bottom of the saucepan for a good second.

Step 6: Take the saucepan off of the heat. Add the very soft butter 1 tablespoon at a time to the egg yolk mixture, whisking vigorously after each addition to really emulsify the butter, until it gets to your preferred consistency. You don’t want to add the butter too quickly or the emulsion can break.

You’ll then have a nice thick creamy sauce. Add a bit of salt, a dash of cayenne, and more lemon juice if you’d like. I didn’t add more. I thought it was just right.

Uses for Hollandaise Sauce

Once you’ve learned how to make Hollandaise Sauce, don’t be limited in how to use it. Of course it’s essential for Eggs Benedict, but try it over asparagus or broccoli or any vegetables really. It also works great poured on top of poached salmon. 

It’s also great to refrigerate the leftovers and let it firm up into Hollandaise Butter to use on toast or an English muffin. What’s your favorite use for Hollandaise?

More Homemade Sauce Recipes

You can browse my full collection of sauce and gravy recipes, but here are some great recipes to get you started.

• Garlic Butter Sauce
• Bechamel Sauce Recipe
• Best Cheese Sauce
• Creamy Garlic Parmesan Sauce
• White Gravy Recipe

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