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.
I can cook you a perfect prime rib poach an Instagramable egg bake you a baked Alaska but NEVER had a perfect hollandaise that didn’t take FOREVER what with tempering, mixing, etc…THEN I FOUND YOU! This was easy delectable and now my go to THANK YOU THANK YOU
Been using this recipe for many years (25+)and it’s never failed me ! Love it with asparagus, steaks, eggs Benedict. If using Ghee it’ll take longer to get it hot enough as it has a very high smoke factor!Enjoy👍
I don’t normally take the time or make the effort to leave comments, but I had to this time.
Usually to me when a recipe says “foolproof” it just means foolproof for most people….and I am not one of them. I usually always find a way to mess things up. But this recipe worked first time. Thank you! Just one thing I didn’t like, and that is why I only left 4 stars, the sauce was very very runny. Any advice on how to make it nice and thick?
I’m so happy you enjoyed this hollandaise recipe, Rayne! I do appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. If your sauce was overly runny, it may not have fully emulsified. You can always try adding one more egg yolk to firm it up a bit. Enjoy!
Holy yum!! Thanks for the recipe! Now I don’t have to go to a restaurant for eggs bene 😁 Easy peasy and came out perfect!!
OMG. Found this recipe on Pinterest. Joy oh joy! Grabbed my imersible and melted my butter dang near at the same time. It is, literally, the easiest hollandaise sauce EVER! Thank you! I’ll be making it again and again!
This is a great recipe. Fast, easy and delicious. Everyone loved ir! I
Glad you enjoyed this hollandaise sauce Melisa!
Can this sauce be stored away in the fridge and reheated later?
You can for just one day. Although, there’s a few things you’ll need to keep in mind when reheating, which you can find written in the post :)
Wow, no fail wasn’t a joke. Made exactly as stated and it turned out great the first try! Really good quick sauce. Used for crab benny!
Hollandaise doesn’t have Dijon mustard in it. Once you add Dijon to Hollandaise, it is called sauce Dijon or sauce moutard. It’s delicious, but it’s not Hollandaise. I like your tips for reheating the sauce.
Easy recipe, delicious result. Thank you! I’ve tried and failed many times, ended up with scrambled eggs. This worked beautifully.
Foolproof! I used an immersion blender and it came out perfectly! I feel I lose too much Hollandaise sauce to the inside of the blender, and I hate to waste any of it. Also, to keep it warm while I poach the eggs I place the blender jar in a bowl of warm (not hot) water. My only change to the recipe was to double the lemon juice, because right now I have lots of Meyer lemons and they are not as tart. This recipe is a keeper!!
Very easy to make and very good
Not the recipe’s fault…BUT Don’t add the 1/4 t salt if you are using salted butter. I wish I had not been in such a hurry. I grabbed a stick of salted butter without checking the recipe and wasted my time and my food ingredients. I barely rescued my sauce by adding another egg yoke. It can now be served over a salt observing baked potato. Good reminder to read, then reread a new recipe.
Delicious! Results as described and sooo simple. Try it!
Great.