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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.
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
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.
They are the same thing. Béchamel is just the traditional French word for 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.
Recipes you may like
Easy Lasagne With Cheat’s White Sauce
Cheesy Butternut Squash Gratin
Croque Monsieur Sandwich with White Sauce
White Sauce for Lasagne
Ingredients
- 50 g butter
- 50 g flour
- 500 ml milk
- Salt
- Pepper
- Pinch of nutmeg, optional
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.
Nice one love..dead easy to knock up, and saved my bacon as I’d run out of white sauce and couldn’t be bothered to drive the ten miles to my nearest Aldi to grab a jar! Added some grated Lancashire cheese for a bit of added flavour. This recipes a keeper…
Really good.
Well easy and I never liked the stuff from the shops
Thanks very much
Love this simple recipe. I am ashamed to admit that I only tried it because I thought I had 2 jars of a pre-made lasagne white sauce! When I made it, it tasted so much better than the jar, I will never buy jars again!!!
Oh this makes me so happy! I’m so pleased xx
This makes me SO so happy, thank you so much for leaving a comment and letting me know. Brilliant news x