TL;DR (Quick-Answer Box)
- What it is: A silky, rich French mother sauce made by emulsifying egg yolks with melted or clarified butter, lemon juice, white wine vinegar + a hint of cayenne.
- Why you’ll love it: This foolproof method yields a thick, glossy + creamy sauce that zhuzhes up poached eggs, seafood, or roasted vegetables into a gourmet meal.
- How to make it: Simmer vinegar, water, and peppercorns until reduced. Whisk the strained liquid with yolks over a water bath until thick, then slowly stream in melted or clarified butter until perfectly emulsified.
I think of Hollandaise as the friend who’s glorious at parties and a complete and utter diva in the car ride over.
It’s just a few ingredients—yolks, butter, lemon—yet it demands your full attention. Turn your back for a nanosecond, let the heat get a little too frisky, pour the butter with anything resembling confidence, and the whole thing can go from satiny to sulky in the time it takes you to scream, “Oh, COME ON!”
But when you do it right? You get this thick, glossy, pale-gold sauce that tastes like brunch won the lottery. It doesn’t just top food—it crowns it.
This classic method is the real deal: a quick vinegar reduction, a gentle bain-marie, and a slow, patient drizzle of butter until everything turns lush and spoon-coating. Make it once, and you’ll understand why Hollandaise has been breaking hearts—and fixing mornings—for generations.
Chow,
Classic Hollandaise Sauce pro tips & troubleshooting
Look, I’ll be honest with you: Hollandaise sauce is a giant pain in the ass. There’s no other way to put it. It requires constant attention and can flip out with no warning if things get too hot. The thing is, it’s so damn good, it’s worth it.
What is a Hollandaise sauce?
Hollandaise is an emulsion, which is just a fancy-pants way of making two types of ingredients that don’t naturally mix—fat (butter) and water (lemon juice/yolks)—come together into a smooth, cohesive sauce.
Why does it break so often?
The “M’Fng sauce,” as reader BBQ Goddess calls it, fails for two main reasons:
- Excessive heat or
- Adding the butter too fast.
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If the yolks get hotter than 145°F to 150°F (63°F to 66°C), they scramble, and the bond snaps. If you pour in the melted butter like a waterfall instead of a slow drizzle, the yolks won’t be able to absorb all that fat, and it’ll separate.
How to prevent a broken sauce
- Master the heat: Direct heat is the enemy of a smooth sauce. Always use a double boiler (bain-marie in French) so the steam does all the heavy lifting, not the burner. Make sure the bottom of your bowl doesn’t touch the simmering water.
- Control the speed: Patience is a virtue here. Add your melted butter drop by drop at first, especially for the first third of the butter. Once the emulsion has a foothold, you can bump it up to a very thin, steady stream.
- The sous vide hack: BBQ Goddess’s idea is brilliant. If you have a sous vide immersion circulator, you can hold your finished sauce in a water bath at 140°F (60°C) for hours. It’ll stay perfectly silky and safe to eat.
- The thermos trick: If you don’t have a sous vide setup, pour the finished sauce into a preheated thermos. It’ll stay warm and stable for up to 90 minutes while you finish the rest of brunch.
- To preheat the thermos, fill it with hot tap water, let it sit for a few minutes, pour it out, then add the sauce.
- Add a stabilizer: A tiny teaspoon of Dijon mustard added to the yolks at the start acts as an insurance policy. It helps the emulsion stay bonded.
- If you want a pro stabilizer, stirring in a tiny pinch (1/16 of a teaspoon) of Xanthan gum into the egg yolks before whisking in the butter will help.
How to fix a broken hollandaise
So you follow everything I said and the sauce STILL broke. Breathe, stop cursing, and calm down. You can almost always save it.
- The ice cube hack: If you see the sauce just starting to look grainy or “tight,” immediately whisk in an ice cube or a teaspoon of cold water. This drops the temperature instantly and can pull the emulsion back from the brink.
- The fresh yolk reset: If it’s a disastrous oily mess, whisk a fresh egg yolk with a teaspoon of water (or lemon juice) in a clean bowl over a double boiler until frothy. Then slowly whisk the broken sauce into the new yolk, one tablespoon at a time. It’ll re-emulsify into a gorgeous, creamy sauce.
- The blender Band-Aid: If the sauce broke because it got too cold or the butter was added a smidge too fast, toss it in a blender with a tablespoon of very hot water and give it a whirl. The high-speed friction and heat can often knit it back together.
What to serve with a Classic Hollandaise Sauce
The obvious answer is “everything.” (Duh!) Here are a few of my favorites that scream for Hollandaise.
Eggs
You can’t talk Hollandaise without mentioning Julia Child’s Eggs Benedict. It’s the gold standard. If you’re feeling adventurous, try the spicy Chorizo Eggs Benedict or keep it green with Eggs Florentine.
Vegetables
It’s also gorgeous on vegetables. I love it drizzled over Grilled Asparagus or steamed broccoli. And don’t forget Grilled Artichokes—using this sauce as a dip for those smoky leaves is pure heaven.
Fish
If you’re looking for a dinner option, try it over a Pan-Seared Fish Fillet. The rich, lemony sauce is perfect for delicate white fish or a piece of poached salmon.
Storage & reheating
Fridge: Store leftover sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Just keep in mind that it’ll solidify into a thick, butter-like spread once it’s cold.
Freezer: Nope, nope, and nope.
Reheating: Scrape the thickened cold sauce in a bowl over a pan of simmering water (not boiling!) and whisk constantly until it’s just warm. If it looks too thick, whisk in a teaspoon of warm water to loosen it up.
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Write a review
If you make this Hollandaise sauce, or any dish on LC, consider leaving a review, a star rating, and your best photo in the comments below. I love hearing from you.–David
Featured Review
This is my go-to hollandaise recipe. Excellent!
Tarouco
Classic Hollandaise Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- 1 teaspoon lightly crushed white peppercorns
- 4 large egg yolks
- 2 sticks (8 oz) melted unsalted butter, or clarified butter (see note below)
- juice of 1/2 lemon, (2 tablespoons)
- salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- pinch cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Add the 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons cold water, and 1 teaspoon lightly crushed white peppercorns in a small, heavy-based saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Lower the heat and simmer until reduced by 1/3 of its volume, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool slightly.
- Strain the liquid into a heatproof bowl. Whisking constantly, add the 4 large egg yolks to the liquid and whisk until combined. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water, being careful not to let the base of the bowl touch the water, and whisk until the mixture thickens and becomes creamy, smooth, and ribbon-like in texture, 5 to 6 minutes.
- Whisking constantly, slowly add the 2 sticks (8 oz) melted unsalted butter in a thin stream and continue to whisk until the sauce becomes thick and glossy.
- Add the juice of 1/2 lemon and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper, and a pinch cayenne pepper to taste.
- Serve the sauce immediately.
Notes
*What is clarified butter?
“Most classic recipes for hollandaise sauce call for clarified butter,” explains Paul Gayler. “It’s not essential, but the sauce will be creamier and smoother than if you use just melted butter.” Clarified butter is, essentially, just butter that’s been simmered to remove most of the water and then strained to remove the browned milk solids. What you’ll end up with is a more stable fat that doesn’t burn or smoke as easily when cooking. Here’s how:- Melt the butter in a small pan.
- Once melted and foaming, skim the froth from the surface and then carefully tip what remains into a clean pan, leaving the milky sediment behind.
- Let the clarified butter rest until warm.
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Nutrition
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
Did you know only 68% of the recipes we test make it onto the site? This recipe survived our rigorous blind testing process by multiple home cooks. It earned the Leite’s Culinaria stamp of approval—and the testers’ reviews below prove it.
This recipe produced a smooth, lemony hollandaise perfect for the steamed asparagus we had. It was a little fussier than my usual blender hollandaise, but also a bit more nuanced and delicate.
Reducing a quarter cup of liquid by a third and having to cool it is not a step I’d bother with again. It didn’t add enough extra flavor (I guess the point was to infuse the vinegar with the peppercorns) to make it worth the extra straining and cooling. I’d just add the vinegar, omit the water, and adjust the pepper at the end. Also, despite the author’s claim that clarified butter makes a creamier sauce, when I’ve done side-by-side comparisons I’ve found most tasters hard-pressed to distinguish which is which. Clarified butter does make the sauce thicker due to the absence of water, but I’ve always found the thickness more dependent on the degree to which the yolks are cooked. That said, the recipe was easy, delicious, and works well as written.
I’ve made other hollandaise sauces in the past and decided to try this one. There’s a nice twist to it as the final taste is quite a bit more citrusy than the others I’d tried. I liked it quite a bit, especially since I served it over salmon eggs benedict. The sauce came out really nice and smooth and creamy. A very easy recipe to follow with great results.
Hello, I have questions…
I have tried several times to make hollandaise sauce (it’s called M’Fng sauce in my house), every single time it breaks.
Can this be successfully done on an electric stove? How to hold it without breaking? Put the pan in a sous vide at 140°F?
My last attempt, I almost threw the pan across the room! Everyone in my house moans, “No, you’re not trying that AGAIN!”
What am I missing? I whisk and whisk, it looks beautiful, and boom, it’s broken!
Help? TIA.
BBQG, don’t you dare throw that pan! I’ve been in your shoes more times than you’d imagine. I pinky swear we can get your M’Fng sauce to behave.
Electric stoves are notorious for this kind of bullsh#t because they hold onto heat like I hold onto a grudge. Using a heat diffuser or a SimmerMat is a great way to keep temps in check. I use mine when I need a super low simmer.
Your sous-vide idea is a brilliant pro move—keeping it between 140°F and 147°F is the sweet spot for a stable emulsion.
If you see it start to seize up next time, don’t panic—just whisk in an ice cube or a splash of cold water immediately to bring the temperature down. You’ve got this!
My hero! Ok, I shall go forth with the confidence of Julia, and probably a glass of prosecco. I will report back, hopefully with photographic evidence of success! Thank you for the lifesavers.
Just doing my job, ma’am!
No pictures because it didn’t happen! Eight egg yolks later, hubby had bacon grease gravy eggs Benedict.
First go, literally the lowest temp, barley a bubble, whisk the yolks with the vinegar reduction, bam it stuck after a few stirs. @#$@#!!!
Ok, breathe. Try the smallest burner, hit reset, whisking, whisking it looks like it going to seize, grab cold water whisk in, ahhh beautiful whisking whisking drip by drip by drip gorgeous sauce, I’ve got perhaps 1/3 of ghee left and in my over zealous whisking knock the ladle and a waterfall of ghee goes in, AH, start whisking like crazy. Nope it’s broken. This sauce hates me.
Hubby sits down and says, “This hollandaise sauce is pretty good.” I am like, “AHHHHHHH, R U KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?”
Simmer mat on order. I will prevail! Happy V-Day.
ARRRRGH! How about this: Let’s jump on a Zoom call, and we can make it together. Would that help?
This is go-to hollandaise recipe. Excellent!
That’s great to hear, Tarouco!
Don’t discard the solids! There’s a ton of flavor there. Put them in when you’re making mac’n’cheese, or into a baked potato or mashed potatoes. As long as you don’t burn it, it’s golden. 😉
Wonderful idea, Ruthie, thanks so much for pointing that out.