Lemon Beurre Blanc Sauce — Learn how to make this buttery white wine sauce with hints of lemon and shallots and impress your friends and family! Beurre blanc sauce is delicious served over chicken, fish, seafood, and vegetables. It elevates any ordinary dish to the next level and makes it taste elegant and fancy!
What Is Beurre Blanc Sauce?
You may be wondering what is beurre blanc sauce? That’s easy to answer! It’s an elegant-tasting, buttery, white wine sauce with hints of lemon.
This is the type of sauce that makes you feel like you’re eating at a fancy French restaurant but in the comfort of your own home.
Get ready to whisk a stick of butter into dry white wine, lemon juice, shallot, and heavy cream mixture. It’s worth every last turn of your wrist!
Ingredients in Beurre Blanc Sauce
For this rich and indulgent lemon beurre blanc sauce, you only need a few very common and easy to find fridge and pantry ingredients including the following:
- Dry white wine
- Shallot
- Lemon juice
- Heavy cream
- Unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- Cayenne pepper, optional and to taste
- Salt, optional and to taste
How to Make Beurre Blanc Sauce
To make this recipe for lemon beurre blanc sauce at home, follow these easy, straightforward steps:
Step 1: In a high-sided saucepan, add the wine, shallots, lemon juice, and cook until it’s reduced to about 2 to 3 tablespoons, about 35 to 40 minutes.
Step 2: Add the cream and cook for 3 minutes.
Step 3: Remove from the heat, add two cubes of butter, and whisk until melted and incorporated.
Repeat the process until all the butter has been incorporated and melted.
Step 4: Optionally strain the sauce to remove the shallot.
Step 5: If desired, add a bit of cayenne or salt, and serve immediately over your favorite chicken, fish, or seafood dish.
Beurre Blanc Sauce Uses
Beurre blanc sauce is fabulous served over chicken, fish, seafood, and vegetables. It’s the silky sauce I like to spoon over:
- Crispy Fried Chicken Breasts
- Salmon and Potatoes
- 10-Minute Shrimp and Broccoli
- Garlic Butter Salmon
- Whole Roasted Chicken and Potatoes
- Roasted Asparagus (omit the cheese in this recipe)
- Roasted Cauliflower
Is Wine Necessary for The Best Beurre Blanc Sauce?
Yes, you do need to use dry white wine for beurre blanc sauce. It imparts of richness of flavor and for that the wine is indispensable.
My suggestions include in my order of preference:
- Chardonnay
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Pinot Grigio
For those worried about consuming alcohol or serving this sauce to children, my personal thought on the matter is: don’t worry. Because after a 35- to 40-minute simmering session, there is no trace of alcohol even left. It was burned off long ago.
However, always do what is best for you. If you truly don’t cook with wine, this French white wine sauce is not likely the sauce for you.
Can I Make Beurre Blanc Sauce in Advance?
Beurre blanc sauce needs to be kept warm. If it cools, it hardens and turns into essentially compound butter.
You can’t reheat it because it will “break.” Meaning, the proteins breakdown and separate and while the taste doesn’t change much at all, the appearance is very unappealing and you’ll want to toss it.
Therefore, you really can’t make beurre blanc sauce in advance.
Storage Suggestions for Beurre Blanc Sauce
As I mentioned, lemon beurre blanc sauce needs to be kept warm and served warm. Therefore it’s not a great keeper.
For leftover beurre blanc sauce, store it airtight in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Treat it as a compound butter, slice off a little hunk or pat, and add that to hot oven-roasted vegetables, freshly cooked chicken, seafood, or fish that is nice and warm.
The heat from the vegetables or proteins will melt it like they would melt a pat of butter.
Tips to Prevent Beurre Blanc Sauce From Breaking
Making homemade beurre blanc sauce isn’t hard but from time to time, it can break.
To avoid your sauce from breaking, here are my tips and suggestions:
- The heavy cream helps the sauce not break as easily. Don’t try to substitute half-and-half or milk for heavy cream for this reason. Fat is your friend here.
- Keep the butter very COLD and in small cubes. I slice a stick of butter into about 16 slices, or about 1/2 tablespoon each.
- Only add one slice or cube of butter at a time and whisk vigorously and intensely until it melts. Don’t add more butter and don’t stop whisking! Although this seems tedious, it’s worth it.
- It is important to stay with the sauce at all times when cooking. You may be tempted to walk away, but it will be that moment that the sauce breaks.
- To fix a broken sauce, remove from the and whisk in a few ice chips until the sauce re-emulsifies and comes back together. However, this isn’t a guarantee. It’s a Band-Aid. Better to prevent a broken sauce than to try to fix one.
Tips for the Best Beurre Blanc Sauce
Cook time: Making beurre blanc sauce, like risotto, can be a bit of a labor of love but worth it. You have a 35- to 40-minute simmering time and then you have about 20 minutes of standing there whisking butter in, bit by bit. This is my way of saying, don’t make beurre blanc when you’re in a rush.
Pan size: Make sure to use a high-sided saute or saucepan and not a more shallow skillet like you’d make eggs in. You need a bit of room.
Butter: When you add the butter, make sure it’s cold. Make sure it’s cubed small or sliced thin, and make sure you only add one cube or slice at a time.
Keep whisking! The number one rule that you shall not break is: Do Not Stop Whisking. It’s that moment when your kid needs help with their homework, Amazon knocks at the door, or your phone rings, and you stop whisking for a just minute — your sauce will break then. So just ignore everyone and everything except your beurre blanc when you’re making it!
Ingredient quality: Use dry white wine, good quality butter, and freshly squeezed lemon juice for optimal results.
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Beurre Blanc Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ cup dry white wine, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, or Pinot Grigio
- 1 shallot, very finely minced
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 cup unsalted butter, sliced into about 16 thin slices or cubed small and very COLD
- Pinch of cayenne pepper, optional and to taste
- Salt, if needed and to taste
Instructions
- To a large, high-sided, heavy saute pan or saucepan, add the wine, shallots, lemon juice, and cook over high heat until the volume has reduced to 2 to 3 tablespoons. This will take about 35 to 40 minutes. The mixture should be bubbling and boiling pretty vigorously; stir intermittently and check on it frequently.
- After the mixture has reduced, add the heavy cream, and cook for 3 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat, and add 1 pat or cube of cold butter, whisking vigorously until it has melted and incorporated. Do not stop whisking. Do not add more butter until the first has melted.
- Add the butter, one slice or cube at a time, until all the butter has been whisked in and the sauce is silky smooth.* (See Notes for Avoiding a Broken Sauce)
- Optionally, you can strain the shallot out, or leave it in.
- Transfer sauce to a serving pitcher, and optionally sprinkle with cayenne, and/or optionally add salt to taste if desired.
- Serve immediately over chicken, fish, seafood, or vegetables. Beurre blanc sauce needs to be kept warm and served warm or it will break, and it's not able to be made in advance. If you have extra sauce, it will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 1 week. Tip - It's best not to try to reheat it or it will break. Instead, treat it as a compound butter and put a pat of it on hot chicken, fish, seafood, or vegetables as you would do with a pat of butter on hot food.
Notes
To avoid your sauce from breaking, here are my tips and suggestions:
- The heavy cream helps the sauce not break as easily. Don’t try to substitute half-and-half or milk for heavy cream for this reason. Fat is your friend here.
- Keep the butter very COLD and in small cubes. I slice a stick of butter into about 16 slices, or about 1/2 tablespoon each.
- Only add one slice or cube of butter at a time and whisk vigorously and intensely until it melts. Don’t add more butter and don’t stop whisking! Although this seems tedious, it’s worth it.
- It is important to stay with the sauce at all times when cooking. You may be tempted to walk away, but it will be that moment that the sauce breaks.
- To fix a broken sauce, remove from the and whisk in a few ice chips until the sauce re-emulsifies and comes back together. However, this isn’t a guarantee. It’s a Band-Aid. Better to prevent a broken sauce than to try to fix one.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Serving Suggestions for Beurre Blanc Sauce
Beurre blanc sauce is wonderful served over chicken, fish, and seafood.
For example, in my Air Fryer Crispy Chicken Breast which is deliciously crispy on the outside while staying juicy, tender, and moist on the interior. And the addition of the beurre blanc sauce makes it extra good!
Other ideas include over a Sheet Pan Whole-Roasted Chicken and Potatoes. All you need to roast this chicken are four ingredients, a sheet pan, and one hour. It’s foolproof and with a bit of beurre blanc sauce on top it’s even better.
One-Pan Lemon Butter Chicken and Potatoes is a family dinner that’s ready in 30 minutes and full of lemon buttery goodness and again, a spoonful or two of beurre blanc sauce is a nice complement.
10-Minute Sheet Pan Dijon Salmon and Vegetables features salmon and crisp-tender vegetables coated with a bit of buttery Dijon honey lemon sauce. A touch of beurre blanc sauce would be heavenly.
Lemon Dill Salmon in Parchment with Vegetables is so easy, healthy, ready in 20 minutes, and loaded with bold lemon and dill flavor. Put it on your dinner rotation and add some homemade beurre blanc sauce.
Finally, Lemon Butter Garlic Shrimp Pasta is full of buttery noodles with juicy plump shrimp, flavored with lemon and garlic! A little bit of beurre blanc sauce will make it even better. This is a family-friendly dinner recipe that’s ready in 15 minutes.
Hi Averie,
This sauce is excellent! It pairs very well with my steamed salmon since it is creamy but not overpowering thanks to the acidity. It makes a simple dish look and taste exquisite but still fits the budget!
Hi Averie,
This sauce is excellent! It pairs very well with my steamed salmon since it is creamy but not overpowering thanks to the acidity. It makes a simple dish look and taste exquisite but still fits the budget!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you enjoyed it!
great