Hollandaise Sauce
Hollandaise sauce is a classic creamy sauce that’s perfect for breakfast or brunch! This recipe is easy and no-fail. It takes just 5 minutes in a blender. Drizzle it on top of poached eggs, eggs Benedict, vegetables or several other recipes for a delicious finishing touch.
If you’ve had eggs Benedict before, you’ve probably encountered this rich and buttery sauce. It’s got the creamiest consistency and its flavors meld beautifully with ingredients such as eggs, asparagus, or salmon.
While this sauce may seem a bit on the fancy side, it’s actually very easy to make! But like many other emulsions, the fear that it will separate or not come together can be a bit nerve wracking. So today, I’ll walk you through the step by step on how to make perfect homemade hollandaise sauce.
How To Make Hollandaise Sauce
To make this recipe, simply heat up some butter (and it needs to be hot!) and stream it into the blended egg yolk mixture to create a velvety smooth sauce.
- Melt the butter in a microwave for about 1 minute until hot.
- Combine the egg yolks, lemon juice, dijon, salt and cayenne pepper into a high powered blender and blend for 5 seconds.
- Slowly stream in the hot butter into the mixture as the blender is running.
- Pour the sauce into a small bowl and drizzle over your meal!
Hollandaise Sauce Ingredients
All you’ll need for this sauce are six ingredients. And you probably have them in your fridge and pantry already.
- Egg Yolks – 3 eggs
- Lemon Juice – 1 tablespoon
- Dijon – 1 teaspoon
- Salt – 1/4 teaspoon
- Cayenne Pepper – just a pinch
- Butter- 1/2 cup of melted butter
How To Fix Broken Hollandaise Sauce
The key to getting the consistency right all comes down to the hot melted butter. This recipe emulsifies butter into an egg yolk and lemon juice mixture. So you want to make sure you’re streaming in butter that’s hot enough (just melted won’t do).
But in the case that your sauce does break and becomes a speckled mess, don’t fret. Below are two methods to try that will help bring your sauce back to life.
- Blend 1-2 tablespoons of boiling hot water: As you’re blending, slowly add in the hot water and blend until the consistency is right.
- Add an extra egg yolk: While the blender is on, add an extra egg yolk with a teaspoon of hot water into the blender and blend until it becomes perfectly creamy.
Can You Use an Immersion Blender?
Yes, absolutely! If you have an immersion blender, add all of the ingredients except the hot butter. Turn the blender on (with it firmly planted on the bottom of the cup or jar) and slowly drizzle in the butter. It will start to emulsify and once you’ve poured in all the butter you’re done!
How To Store And Reheat Hollandaise Sauce
While this sauce is best served fresh, you do have the option of reheating it. But keep in mind that there could be a chance where your eggs will cook up a bit. So here are two options for reheating – just be cautious!
- Microwave: Place the hollandaise sauce in a glass bowl, and microwave it in 15 second increments. Repeat this process until your sauce is fully warmed up.
- Stove Top: Pour the hollandaise sauce into a pan over low heat. Add in a smidge of melted butter and water to re-emulsify and give it a smooth texture. Once it’s warmed up, pour the sauce back into a serving bowl.
More Classic Sauce Recipes
If you thought this recipe was simple, you won’t believe how easy it is make these other sauces. So skip the store-bought jars and opt to make fresh, homemade versions.
Whip any of these up and you can get creative with recipes such as my sweet potato gnocchi with pesto or parsnip noodle chicken alfredo!
Hollandaise Sauce (Easy & No-Fail)
Ingredients
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice , or more as desired for flavor
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter or ghee, or more for a thinner consistency, melted and hot
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a microwave (make sure it's covered as it will splatter) for about 1 minute, until it's hot. Alternatively, you could heat it on the stove.
- Add the egg yolks, lemon juice, dijon, salt and cayenne pepper into a high powered blender and blend for 5 seconds until combined.
- With the blender running on medium high, slowly stream in the hot butter into the mixture until it's emulsified.
- Pour the hollandaise sauce into a small bowl and serve while warm.
Lisa's Tips
- I mention this above, but just to reiterate... your butter needs to be hot, not just melted. The recipe will not emulsify with luke warm butter.
- If you'd like more sauce, just add another yolk and up to another 1/2 cup of melted butter.
You say the butter has to be hot, but what temperature are you considering hot?
Everyone has meat thermometers so it would be easy if we know what temperature.
The butter has to be between 140ºF to 145ºF. The eggs will start to curdle once it reaches 165ºF.
From now on, I will always use this recipe, as it made the perfect Hollandaise for my Eggs Benedict, and foresee playing around with herbs and other spices to the sauce. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed this hollandaise sauce Natasha!
Fantastic flavour, quick and easy!! Thanks 😊
I didn’t have a blender but gradually whisked in the hot melted butter. The sauce was great and did not break! Thanks for a delicious and easy recipe.
Good to know this worked out great just by whisking in the melted butter Timothy!
Love this method, but same thing can be done without busting out the blender if you use a whisk and you only have one whisk to pop in the dishwasher instead of blender parts.
First time making this sauce. I used a food processor! And it worked! The rich consistency was there. I fallowed the recipe to the tee and it was good, only thing is it was a bit bitter from the lemon juice recommended (1 tbsp) In my opinion is too much. Next time I’ll try using 1/2 tbsp.
Glad this hollandaise worked out perfectly. And yes, you can always reduce the lemon juice by a smidge.
Very good method but the cuisine is totally French. I don’t know how the american tag creeps in.
Easy to make and tastes amazing
Happy to hear you’re loving this hollandaise sauce Tanya :)
can i make this recipe with an electronic hand whisk instead of a blender??
I have not tried that.
I’ve just done my sauce with a hand blender – works. I didn’t have a lemon nor mustard so I substituted them with balsamic vinegar and few dabs of wasabi (also added a tiny garlic clove and a bit of parsley).
This was the first time I tried making Hollandaise sauce, to add to a good thick steak with asparagus as my side – and it was perfect! At first I thought a full stick of butter would be too much, but the sauce turned out thick, creamy and consistently delicious (I used an immersion blender and that was just right). I followed the recipe to the letter – which was great! – but decided to add a dash more cayenne and mustard to spice it up a little, as well as the leftover butter/pan juices I had from searing my steaks (I made the sauce as the steaks were resting) which really made a delicious difference – I would highly recommend it! Thanks again for making this ‘mysterious’ sauce such a breeze to make right first time, I intend to make this more often now to wow future guests with Eggs Benedict!
Happy to hear this hollandaise sauce recipe ended up working out perfectly to pair with your steak :)
Super easy and delicious!!! Makes eggs Benedict an easier plate. It made my husband’s birthday morning a wonderful culinary experience.
Happy belated birthday to your husband! Glad he got to enjoy a homemade Eggs Benedict :)
SO great and super easy! Used a stick blender. Was tempted to add an extra egg yolk as ours was so thin at first, but after letting it rest a minute I blended it again and it was *perfect*!
Glad your hollandaise sauce turned out perfectly!
I loved it, super easy! I overlooked the “unsalted” part of the recipe and used salted because that’s all I had, in the future if I only have salted butter I would omit the salt portion. I was simply delicious even with my mess up and so so easy!
That will make quite a difference, but glad you still enjoyed the recipe Kerilyn!
This worked the first time but was a disaster every subsequent time
Hi Louise – that’s strange. But if it worked the first time, you know how good it is! Hopefully you’ll figure out what may have changed on your end.
Super easy, super good!
Can I make this using a Nutribullet? I cannot pour the butter into the mixture as it mixes.
This is best to be made with a high speed blender that has an opening at the top.
Great recipe, I have used it many times. I also use this to make Bernaise sauce. I use white Wine Vinegar in place of the Lemon and add tarragon to taste.
Glad you enjoyed this recipe Donna!
Just made it. Super easy and very tasty. My first time making a Hollandaise sauce and most definitely won’t be my last! I’m so proud of myself.
Wonderful! Glad your first ever hollandaise sauce was a success :)
Tasted great! Nice and tangy
Glad you enjoyed this hollandaise sauce!
Oh my GOD
I’ve never made hollandaise sauce because because I thought it would be too hard.. then came this recipe!!
An absolute must try for your poached eggs this weekend 😍
Hope it turns out perfectly Hannah!
I made it tonight following the recipe to a tee. It came out a little less thick than it should have, but the flavor was off the chain and I coated fresh, baked asparagus and salmon. We both loved it. Thank You!
Glad you enjoyed this hollandaise sauce Joseph! :)
This was delicious and rich despite overlooking the “unsalted” butter – oops on my part! I used salted butter, added the salt called for and salty ham, it was far too salty but the flavor, texture and ease were spot on! Yum – Thank you!
Oh yes, the unsalted versus salted butter will make a difference :) But, I’m glad you still enjoyed this hollandaise sauce!
Delicious! My husband said my Eggs Benedict were the best he’s ever had! Thanks so much for this easy and wonderful recipe!
Happy to hear this recipe helped create the perfect Eggs Benedict!
So easy and delicious, thanks!
Glad you enjoyed this recipe Julie!
This is such a simple and easy recipe! Very tasty. The only issue I’ve had is it seems too runny? How can I thicken my sauce up? Thanks!!!
Hi Helen – it should be quite a thick sauce naturally. Yours may not have fully emulsified, if it’s not as thick as the video shows. But I’m glad you enjoyed it either way!
I made this. It is not a good recipe for me.
Omg thank you SO much for this recipe! I am a new bed & breakfast owner, and have been putting off serving Eggs Benedict because of previous failed attempts at hollandaise. It turned out perfectly with this recipe! I will be serving this tomorrow morning!
Happy to hear this method worked wonders to create the perfect Eggs benedict! Hope everyone enjoys the sayce whoever orders it :)
Also just made my first eggs Benny! I used your recipe for poached eggs and now I don’t know why it took me so long to try, SO EASY!!!!! This sauce was just amazing, simple, and perfect! Thank you!
Glad your first ever Eggs Benedict turned out perfectly with those two recipes Nancy :)
Eggs benedict is my all-time favorite breakfast. I never tried making it at home because I’d always heard that getting Hollandaise sauce to turn out right was really tricky. Well, with this recipe it’s quick and easy and turned out fantastic. The hardest part was separating the egg yolks, the rest was a breeze. It was rich and creamy and perfect on my eggs benedict. If you like Hollandaise, this is THE recipe for you!
Hi Kenneth – I’m glad you gave this recipe a try and loved it! Congrats on your first homemade eggs benedict and homemade hollandaise sauce, well done!
Thank you for this amazing recipe! And it was sooooo easy and way less time consuming. My 6 year old loved it too!
Glad this was a winning recipe!
The dijon mustard would be a no no for me next time. It too strong of a taste for my eggs bene. I prefer a creamier/ buttery taste than the zing of the mustard.
When I was in culinary school, the Dijon was always optional, especially with the cayenne. I’m just happy I don’t have to use a double boiler and whisk for this recipe!
I thought so too so I made it with only half the dijon the next try and it was really good after I tweaked that. I also added a little more lemon and splash of heavy cream too bc I was wanting it creamier.
The easiest recipe for Hollandaise ever – simple & idiot proof! Tried it for our Eggs benedict brunch today & it was delicious. – many thanks! Now if only I could find an equally simple way to make perfect poached eggs…??
Sorry, forgot to rate it 5stars
So glad you enjoyed the hollandaise, Maria! And I’ve got a separate recipe and video for foolproof poached eggs. Make sure to check that out!
Came out amazing
Yay, I’m glad you loved it!
Yep, that’s the stuff…
Glad you loved this hollandaise sauce Kim!