A homemade sauce can take any meal from good to great. A few more recipes to try: hollandaise sauce, bechamel sauce, and white sauce!
Béarnaise Sauce Recipe
Béarnaise sauce is like an upgraded version of hollandaise sauce, adding a punch of tangy and herby flavors. The mix of shallots, tarragon, and white wine vinegar gives it some extra oomph. To make it, you carefully melt the butter, mix in those tasty seasonings, then whisk it up with egg yolks until it’s all smooth and creamy. Drizzle it over your grilled steak or chicken, and trust me, it’s a game-changer. Even seafood like lobster or salmon gets a tasty upgrade with this sauce! It’s so creamy and flavorful. This sauce isn’t just for the main course – it’s the best addition to any dish. Whether you’re spicing up your eggs Benedict, or adding extra flavor to roasted veggies, bearnaise is the way to go. It’s a little pot of magic that turns ordinary meals into gourmet goodness.
Ingredients in Bearnaise Sauce
Bearnaise sauce uses a lot of simple ingredients, which is one of the things that makes it so great! The key here is making sure you add fresh shallots, herbs, and a splash of white wine to make the flavor pop. Find exact measurements in the recipe card below.
Unsalted Butter: Butter makes the sauce rich and delicious. I used unsalted butter since we add salt separately, but you can also use salted butter and just omit the extra salt. Shallots: Shallots add a mild, slightly sweet onion flavor. White Wine Vinegar: This adds a little tanginess and a nice sour touch to balance the richness of the sauce. White Wine: For an extra bright, fruity flavor. Any dry white wine will work. Fresh Tarragon: Tarragon is a special herb that adds a unique, slightly sweet and herbal taste to the sauce, making it stand out. Peppercorns: Peppercorns bring a bit of spiciness, adding extra flavor to the sauce. Lemon Peel: Lemon peel gives a fresh, citrusy taste that makes the sauce zesty and bright. Egg Yolks: Egg yolks help hold the sauce together and make it creamy. Salt: Salt makes all the flavors pop and enhances the taste according to what you like.
How to Make It
Bearnaise sauce can be a little tricky to get just right, but as long as you follow each step carefully yours will turn out perfectly! I’ve broken this recipe up into 2 main parts. Clarifying the butter, and preparing the rest of the sauce.
Clarify Your Butter
Prepare the Sauce
Adjust the Consistency: If you like a chunky sauce, you can skip the step where you strain the solids from the white wine vinegar reduction (although you will want to pick out the peppercorns, which can be tedious.) Making the Sauce Without Wine: No white wine? Replace it with more white wine vinegar! Fresh Herbs: Tarragon is traditional, but in a pinch fresh basil will work for a similar flavor profile. Make it In a Blender! This is not the traditional way to make bearnaise sauce, but it works well and takes a lot less whisking power. After you have made your clarified butter and white wine vinegar reduction, add the egg yolks, reduced liquid, and a big pinch of salt to a blender. Blend for 30 seconds before slowly pouring the clarified butter in while the blender is still going. Taste and adjust the salt according to your liking. Stir in the chopped tarragon and serve.
Reheat your bearnaise sauce very gently by either microwaving it in 10-second intervals until it is warmed and runny, or warming it in a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk continuously until warmed and thinned down. With either method, be careful to not heat it too quickly or too long otherwise the sauce can split or the eggs can scramble.
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