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The White Cream Sauce (also known as a Bechamel Sauce) is the Mother of all sauces. It is very universal. You can add any cheeses to melt into it for Alfredo sauce and mac & cheese. It all comes together with only 3 ingredients and under 10 minutes!
There’s a very simple process to start this exquisite sauce…
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter (the REAL stuff). Melt on medium-high heat in a sauce pan.
Once the butter is all melted, add 2 tablespoons of flour. Use a whisk to make the flour and butter mixture smooth. Add about 1 to 2 teaspoons of salt and some pepper. If you’re using ‘salted butter’ you might not need that much to start off. Remember, you can always add a little more later…you just can’t take it back out.
Depending on what I’m pouring this sauce on–I like to sprinkle in some garlic and onion powder. Along with some Italian seasoning all into the flour and butter. The reason being, is because it intensifies and enhances the seasonings through the heat.
Whisk the butter-flour mixture (also known as a ‘Roux’) for about 2 minutes to cook the taste of flour out. Add 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, keep stirring. You’ll start seeing it thicken within about 1 minute. Therefore, add the other 1 cup (a total of 2 cups of heavy whipping cream) and keep stirring. The sauce will then start reheating back up and be thicker within 3-5 minutes. (Depends upon how your pan and burner kicks out the heat.)
When you get it to a creamy, thickened consistency, turn heat to low and stir in cheeses. Once melted, set aside. Make sure to do a taste test to see if you need more salt/pepper before serving.
Pour over your favorite pasta! Or even a baked potato…now THAT is heaven!
What is your favorite dish to indulge in with some creaminess bliss?
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream (16 ounces)
- salt and pepper (to taste with your preference)
- (optional: 1 cup or more of your favorite cheese)
- Melt butter in a medium sauce pan.
- Once butter is melted, add 2 tablespoons of flour and stir with a whisk to prevent any lumps.
- Add salt and pepper. Cook and stir for 2 minutes.
- Pour 1 cup of heavy whipping cream into the butter-flour mixture and continue stirring. It will start thickening in less than 1 minute.
- Add the rest of the cream and stir.
- The sauce will then start reheating back up and be thicker within 3-5 minutes.
- Take off heat once thickened.
- (Optional: Stir in your favorite cheese to melt.)
- Pour over your favorite pasta!
- Makes 2 cups of Cream Sauce.
For another really great cream sauce, try this one!
I always crave this sauce because its good on so much!..especially,baked potatoes! …
ESPECIALLY baked potatoes! I must agree! Even melting some spicy cheese in the cream sauce and pouring over chips for Nachos are the kids’ favorite. (=
Gloria recently posted…Peanut Butter Cake
This was delicious. I made half of the recipe and added Gouda cheese and some taco seasoning to put on our tacos.
Pour over steamed cauliflower or broccoli it’s wonderful it’s Thanksgiving tradition for my family.
I use this sauce for scalloped potatoes. I melt about 3 sandwich size cheese slices to the sauce and when melted I pour over the sliced potatoes and bake until tender then sprinkle cheese on top of the casserole the last 10 min to melt in the oven. I par boil my potatoes for about 10 minutes so they wont take so long to bake in the oven.
That’s what I’ve tried and it was amazing
I’m going to be making crepes, so I’ll be using this sauce for them. Thanks for sharing and visiting my blog.
Hope to see you back soon.
Becky recently posted…Mini Chocolate Bundt Cakes with Chocolate Ganache
That would be delish on crepes, Becky! Thanks for coming over to say hi! (=
Gloria recently posted…Cookies And Cream Bars
Big becky
What cheese do you have pictured for the sauce?
I have added any kind of cheeses. I especially like cheddar cheese in the sauce to pour over some cooked macaroni. But, I’ve also done pepper jack cheese. Even some Parmesan cheese to pour over some fettuccine pasta. Have fun with it!
Hope you have a great rest of the weekend, Gaynell! Thank you for stopping by! (=
Gloria recently posted…Oreo Pudding Cookies
I was thinking of this sauce(shallots and maybe white wine added) with lump crabmeat and fontina cheese over pasta. What do you think? I guess I’ll know soon enough. Thanks for the clear and simple recipe.
Ani, that sounds absolutely amazing! I’m going to have to try it like that, for sure. Thank YOU! I just posted up a new sauce that is just a versatile. Feel free to check it out. Have a great rest of your week!
Gloria recently posted…Parmesan Cream Sauce
can i use cooking cream instead of heavy whipping cream?
Can I substitute soy milk in the sauce? We never use milk in our home, and I don’t want to make a special trip to get whipping cream. The occasional mac and cheese I make from scratch, using Havarti, or Gouda, are about the only real dairy in our diets
Eric, I have to say that I haven’t tried it with the soy milk… yet. But, I am sure it would work in place of regular milk. Hope you had a very merry Christmas!
I substituted the flour with xanthan gum and make it keto friendly. I made this last night and had some co-workers sample…..they loved it. I used mozzarella for cheese, will try others on the next batch.
I doubled the ingredients and used 1tsp of xanthan gum, it came out thick but once warmed up the sauce is nice. I also used 6 sticks of cheese(30grams each).
I put this on top of spaghetti squash… it was awesome!
Thanks!
Thank you so much for sharing how you used other ingredients for substitutions, Maurice! Sounds very delish on the spaghetti squash! Big hugs!
Hello mam I’m glad that I found your recipe I will try this I will ask only what is the best substitute for the heavy cream…thanks
You can substitute the heavy cream for either half & half cream or whole milk. It will only change the consistency a little bit… and won’t be as creamy as with the heavy cream. But it’s still delicious!
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Omit the cheese or use mild. I am a mouse. For S.O.S. My mother made it with ground beef and bite size pieces of white bread. Sprinkled black pepper over the sauce.
I know this thread is ancient but I’ve just recently come across your sauce and it was simple, but amazing and I adore you for it! I added some red pepper flakes and a blend of cheeses. I poured this over frozen ravioli that was boiled and tossed with olive oil and spinach. Then added garlic and onion powder… it was the perfect 20 minute meal!
What a great idea to spice it up! Thanks for stopping by to tell us about your delicious creation with this sauce. Have a wonderful day!
Wow! This was GOOD and so easy to make! I can’t wait to try it with some other foods. I also like all the comments from others! Great ideas to try! Thanks!
I wanted a sauce to go with some chicken and noddles that I was and I came across this and let me just say everybody was asking where you buy the sauce from I told them I made it…..This was just what I was looking for something simple
A note of thanks for this easy, quick, and delicious recipe!! Its hard to believe that something so simple and quick tastes so good!! I am going to use this recipe to experiment with different cheeses.
Again thanks so much!! This cream sauce is the bomb diggity!!
Have a blessed day.
I am happen that I stumbled upon this recipe. It Is very tasty and easy to make!
Add a little garlic put morel mushrooms in pour over a steak delicious
I added a little sherry to the sauce and served over asparagus-filled crepes. Heavenly!!
I too am a latecomer to this thread but after making this sauce, I had to write a review. I made it as written. It was delicious and the best part is that it’s a SIMPLE recipe that used staple ingredients. Gloria, thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe with us!!!
I want to use this sauce in my seafood casserole