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 –Â 3 eggs
- Lemon Juice –Â 1 tablespoon
- Dijon –Â 1 teaspoon
- Salt –Â 1/4 teaspoon
- Cayenne Pepper – just a pinch
- Butter-Â 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.
- Béarnaise Sauce or Beurre Blanc Sauce
- Marinara SauceÂ
- Basil Pesto SauceÂ
- Balsamic Reduction
- Tahini Sauce
- Vegan Alfredo Sauce
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!
Description
Video
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.
Nutrition
©Downshiftology. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
I absolutely love this!! I have always been afraid to try making hollandaise, it seemed to easy to mess up. This recipe is super simple and turned out delicious, even tho I had to substitute. I did not have Dijon mustard, so I gambled and tried 1/4 tsp dry mustard. Also used lemon concentrate. And immersion blender. It was still very good. Im buying some dijon so I can try it that way, im sure it will be even better!
I’m so glad you took a chance on this recipe, and it turned out perfectly, Molly!
Our first try and we hit a home run. Thank you.
Look out waistline though.
Amazing! Glad the first try was a success, Bo!
Awesome! I am finally able to make perfect egg benedict. Thank you thank you!
Happy to hear this hollandaise sauce was a success, Barbora!
Excited to try this! Thoughts on using lemon juice concentrate?
You can use that if it’s what you have, though I do think fresh lemon juice is best for the brightest flavor.
Since I retired and my wife still works I have tasked myself with dinner so she doesn’t have to cook when she gets home. Tonight I made salmon with asparagus and I used your recipe for hollandaise sauce. It came out fantastic and was so easy!
What an amazing husband! I’m glad this hollandaise sauce was a success, Edward.
Easy to make and adjust to taste. Thank you!
Glad this recipe was easy to make, Charlotte!
I made this this morning. It was super easy! And delicious. I used an immersion blender and it couldn’t have come out any more perfect. I’ll make my own from now on instead of that nasty envelope stuff!!!!
I’m so glad you loved this hollandaise sauce, Linda!
PERFECT, EASY, YUMMY! Thank you!
Glad you loved this hollandaise sauce, Laurie!
This recipe was very runny for me but tasted amazing. What did I do Wrong? I really wanted this to work!!
Hi Kacey – if it was a bit runny, it sounds like it didn’t properly emulsify. Make sure to watch my video to see if you can spot where things might have gone wrong for you. And fingers crossed your next batch turns out even better!
Fabulous!
Very thick. Added more lemon juice. Lemon zest. But perfectly smooth and creamy.
Glad your hollandaise sauce turned out perfectly, Karen!
Really just as easy as advertised!! Delicious!
I thought it was too salty, so would omit the salt as I used salted butter. My husband thought the salt amount was just perfect so maybe just me. Thank you!
The good news is that it’s really easy to tweak the salt. I always use unsalted butter, but would recommend if you use salted butter to omit the extra salt as well. But happy you both enjoyed it!
Just as easy as promised, this is my go to recipe! I’ve made this following the recipe to a T, and have also tried with salted butter + no added salt.
First time making hollandaise it and it was great. Instructions were clear, taste and consistency were good.
So happy to hear your first time making hollandaise sauce was a success, Keva!
This recipe was on point and so easy. I used my vitamix blender and the sauce and consistency came out perfectly.
Wonderful! So happy you loved it!
Excellent recipe. I was able to nail it on my first try. Used a nutribullet so I had to pour a bit of butter, take it off the blender, open it up, pour more better, repeat. It worked like a charm. Very intense mustard flavour which we loved.
Hi Payton – Glad this recipe worked out in your Nutribullet!