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Béchamel Sauce

Escoffier’s white sauce: milk thickened with a butter-and-flour roux and simmered with onion and bay. The base for mac and cheese, lasagna and creamed vegetables.

⏱ 25 min (5 min prep, 20 min cooking) 🍽 Serves 8 · ¼ cup (makes 2 cups) make aheadquick vegetarian
📅 Add to my plan

ContainsMilk, Wheat. Check the labels on what you buy; brands differ.

Ingredients

Make 8 servings
  • 2 cup Whole milk
  • ¼ Yellow onion, in one piece
  • 1 leaf Bay leaves
  • 3 tbsp Butter, unsalted
  • 3 tbsp All-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp Table salt
  • 1 pinch Ground nutmeg (to taste)
  • 1 pinch Ground black pepper, or white pepper (to taste)

Make it yourself

Make the butter yourself →

In the planner, Make it on the shopping list swaps the store item for these ingredients and puts the work on your prep day.

Nutrition

Nutrition coming: the USDA numbers for these ingredients are being added.

📜 Where it comes from

Auguste Escoffier (1846–1935), the Savoy (1890–1898) and Carlton (1899–1919) hotels, London.

A Guide to Modern Cookery (London: William Heinemann, 1907; the English edition of Le Guide culinaire, Paris, 1903), No. 28, p. 21: “Béchamel Sauce”.

“Pour the boiling milk on the roux, which should be almost cold, and whisk it well so as to avoid lumps. Let it boil, then cook on the side of the fire.”

The original text, quoted as printed; it is in the public domain.

Escoffier listed béchamel as one of the basic sauces of his kitchen, with espagnole, velouté, tomato and hollandaise. Today these five are often called the “mother sauces.” The sauce itself is older and is traditionally named for the Marquis de Béchameil, a steward at the court of Louis XIV; whether he had anything to do with it is not known.

What we changed: Escoffier made four quarts and simmered diced veal in it for an hour; we make 2 cups, leave out the veal (as he did for meatless days) and simmer 15 minutes.

Escoffier did this work in London before Michelin gave out its first stars (1926), so no star ratings apply.

Internet Archive scan (Cornell University Library)Project Gutenberg textLe Guide culinaire, 1903 (Internet Archive)Auguste EscoffierBéchamel sauceMore from the great kitchens →

Steps

You’ll need: heavy 2-quart saucepan, small saucepan, whisk, fine strainer.

  1. Warm the milk with the onion and bay leaf in the small saucepan until it steams and small bubbles form at the edge. Turn off the heat and let it steep while you make the roux.
  2. Melt the butter in the heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking, 2 minutes. It should bubble and smell nutty but stay pale: this is Escoffier’s white roux.
  3. Take the pan off the heat and let the roux cool for a minute. Lift out the onion and bay, then pour the hot milk into the roux a little at a time, whisking hard so no lumps form.
  4. Bring it to a gentle boil, whisking, then turn the heat to low and simmer 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often and reaching into the corners, until it coats a spoon and no longer tastes floury.
  5. Season with the salt, nutmeg and pepper. Strain it if any lumps remain. Press plastic wrap on the surface or dot it with butter so a skin doesn’t form.
Make aheadMake up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate with plastic wrap pressed on the surface. Rewarm over low heat, whisking in a splash of milk.
↺ LeftoversRefrigerate within 2 hours and use within 3 to 4 days, in a gratin, a pot pie or creamed spinach.
🧒 With kidsA good first sauce: a child can whisk while a grown-up pours the hot milk.
Cheese sauce swapOff the heat, stir in 1 cup shredded cheddar or Gruyère-style cheese for a Mornay-style cheese sauce.
Gluten-free swapUse 2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed into ¼ cup of the cold milk instead of the roux; whisk it into the rest of the hot milk and simmer 2 minutes.

Good to know

Cooking Fats Compared Salted vs. unsalted butter All-purpose vs. bread flour (and friends) Table salt vs. kosher salt vs. sea salt

Our own adaptation of a public-domain recipe, in our own words. Nutrition is estimated from USDA FoodData Central and changes with brands and portions.