Dress Up Your Dinners With This Versatile Cream Sauce (2024)

Table of Contents

Very Versatile Serving Ideas Tips for a Rich White Cream Sauce Ingredients Steps to Make It Feeling Adventurous? Try This: How to Store Helpful Links

A luxurious cream sauce can turn an ordinary dish into something special. This cream sauce recipe is similar to a typical white sauceor béchamel but is richer in taste.

Dress Up Your Dinners With This Versatile Cream Sauce (1)

Very Versatile

This simple but multifaceted sauce can easily morph into whatever you need. Add a bit of elegance with a few tablespoons of chardonnay or other dry white wine, or sprinkle in some Parmesan cheese to give the sauce a little zing. Other types of cheese, as well as a variety of herbs, may also be used to kick this sauce recipe up a notch to tailor the flavor to whatever you want to serve with it.

Serving Ideas

This fabulous sauce is delicious over pasta, chicken,turkey, shrimp, or fish fillets, and it takes just minutes to make. You can also use it as the base for a rich and creamy macaroni and cheeseby adding a few cups of shredded cheese. It's an excellent sauce to use as a binder in casseroles, too.

Tips for a Rich White Cream Sauce

White pepper—The white pepper is used to keep the sauce white. If you prefer the flavor of black pepper, feel free to use freshly ground black pepper instead.
A pale roux—It is important that you keep an eye on the color of the roux while it's cooking so the butter-flour mixture doesn't get brown.
Nutmeg—Don't skip the nutmeg. It adds just the right level of spicy warmth to flavor the sauce.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CREAMY WHITE SAUCE

A Medium Saucepan

A Small Saucepan

A Strong Wooden Spoon

"This recipe worked well. The proportions of butter, flour, milk, and cream were spot-on. The result was a rich, velvety cream sauce that would make a great starting point for other sauces or perfect to use the way it is. I added an additional 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt." —Danilo Alfaro

Ingredients

1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup white wine, optional
1 pinch fine salt, more to taste
1 pinch freshly ground white pepper, or black pepper, more to taste
1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg, optional

Steps to Make It

Gather the ingredients.
Heat 1 cup whole milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until bubbles begin to appear around the edge. Set aside and keep warm.
Melt 2 tablespoons unsalted butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.
Add 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour and stir until the mixture is well blended to make a roux. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the mixture starts to smell nutty, but doesn't brown, about 2 minutes.
Gradually stir the reserved warm milk into the flour and butter mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sauce begins to boil and thickens. Simmer, frequently stirring, over very low heat for 5 minutes.
Stir in 1/3 cup heavy cream, and 1/4 cup wine, if using. Season with 1 pinch fine salt, and 1 pinch white or black pepper, more to taste. Add 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg, if desired. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Feeling Adventurous? Try This:

Garlic Cream Sauce—Sauté 1 clove of pressed or minced garlic in the butter until just fragrant before adding the flour and proceeding with the recipe.
Shallot Cream Sauce—Sauté 1 tablespoon of minced shallots in the butter until translucent. Add the flour and continue with the recipe. For onion flavor without the texture, add a slice of onion to the milk when heating. Remove the onion slice before you add the hot milk to the roux.
Herb Cream Sauce—Add 1 teaspoon of fresh chopped herbs or about 1/2 teaspoon of dried herbs at the end.
Cheesy Cream Sauce—Add 1/4 cup each of Parmesan cheese and shredded Gruyère along with the salt and pepper. Whisk in 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter.
Gouda Cream Sauce—Add 1 cup of shredded smoked Gouda cheese (4 ounces) and 1/2 teaspoon of paprika to the sauce along with the salt and pepper. Simmer until the cheese has melted. Use it in macaroni and cheese, over poached eggs, or with steamed vegetables.
Sans butter—You can also make this white sauce without butter.

How to Store

Store any leftover cream sauce with a piece of plastic directly on the surface in an airtight container. Use within three days.
Reheat in a saucepan on low heat, stirring constantly until warmed through.

Helpful Links

2-Ingredient Heavy Cream Substitute
How to Freeze Heavy Cream
What Is the Shelf Life of Butter?

The 5 Mother Sauces of Classical Cuisine

Side Dishes
American Food Techniques

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
85	Calories
7g	Fat
3g	Carbs
1g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8
Amount per serving
Calories	85
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 7g	10%
Saturated Fat 5g	23%
Cholesterol 22mg	7%
Sodium 26mg	1%
Total Carbohydrate 3g	1%
Dietary Fiber 0g	0%
Total Sugars 2g
Protein 1g
Vitamin C 0mg	0%
Calcium 42mg	3%
Iron 0mg	1%
Potassium 53mg	1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Recipe Tags:

sauce
cream sauce
dinner
american