White Sauce for Lasagne

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This recipe is a classic white sauce, a béchamel sauce as it is also known, that is perfect for use in an Easy Lasagne with Cheat's White Sauce or any other recipes that need a white sauce, like a croque monsieur for example.
A white sauce is very simple and I think it often gets a hard time in the cookery world for being tricky when in reality, it’s fairly hard to mess it up. I think people become fixated on the possibility of lumps and clumps, and I get this, but once you’ve made it once, you realise it’s fairly forgiving.

Woman holding a spoon in a saucepan of white sauce

Woman holding a spoon above a saucepan of white sauce

The secret to making a delicious white sauce

To make a great-tasting white sauce, the key is to cook out the flour in the roux. Once the butter is melted in the bottom of my pan, I add the flour and whisk well. It should thicken but not be so thick that you cannot whisk it. It needs to bubble and cook out on the heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring continuously. This butter and flour base is your roux. Then I just add the milk bit by bit, whisking well. The first bit of milk you add will absorb quickly and it will still be very thick. Add more, whisk again, add more, whisk again. Use common sense, try to smooth out the lumps as best as you can but if it is super thick and you can’t get your whisk through it, add more milk. The sauce is actually quick and the lumps always smooth out and I am always left with the most luxurious sauce.

Other ways to make white sauce

If you are looking for a white sauce with ricotta, with crème fraiche, with cornflour, without flour, without milk, with egg, without butter, you need to read all about our cheat’s white sauces.
If you want to make a traditional white sauce with oat milk or with a milk alternative, you can do so. Replace the cow’s milk with your choice of milk. This will make the white sauce lactose-free (or almost lactose-free since butter is very low in it but still contains a little bit).

Frequently asked questions

How can I make a white sauce?

Made with butter, flour, and milk, it's very simple and yes, just those three ingredients but I add different ingredients to it, such as salt, herbs, pepper, cheese etc. The ratio I use is as follows:
1 part butter: 1 part flour: 10 parts milk.
For example, 100g butter, 100g flour, 1L (1000ml) milk.
You whisk the butter and flour together to make a roux, then slowly add in the milk while stirring until it thickens up. Season with salt, pepper, and maybe a pinch of nutmeg.

Is bechamel sauce different to white sauce?

They are the same thing. Béchamel is just the traditional French word for white sauce.

Can I add cheese to the white sauce?

Traditionally white sauce doesn't contain any cheese but if you do want to turn it into a cheese sauce, add cheese. Parmesan works brilliantly, as does cheddar, and grated mozzarella. This sauce is the basis for a cauliflower cheese or mac and cheese, for example.

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A whisk in a saucepan of creamy white sauce

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5 from 2 reviews

The key is to keep whisking and remember to cook out the flour and butter at the start to avoid a floury taste.

Author: margie
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Yield: Makes around 1 pint of white sauce (560ml) 1x

Ingredients

Scale

50g butter
50g flour
500ml milk
Salt
Pepper
Pinch of nutmeg (optional)

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Instructions

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Once melted, add the flour and whisk together. Whisk for a few minutes whilst it bubbles, to cook out the flour. Then add the milk bit by bit, whisking until smooth between each addition.
Once the milk is fully added, keep stirring until you reach your desired consistency. You want it thick and glossy but not stiff. Season well with salt, pepper and nutmeg.