Hollandaise Sauce

Make this classic French Hollandaise Sauce the easy way! With just a few ingredients and an immersion blender, you can have perfect, rich and buttery hollandaise sauce in just a few minutes!

Hollandaise Sauce

Rich, creamy hollandaise sauce is a French sauce that is best known for its part adorning classic eggs benedict. It is a decadently rich and buttery sauce with a light tang from lemon juice.

It can be finnicky and difficult to make for even the most practiced chefs, but this simple recipe is super easy and can be whipped up in mere minutes using an immersion blender. No need to be intimidated by this sauce anymore. With this easy, stress-free recipe, you can make your own rich and tangy sauce with just 5 ingredients in mere minutes!

What Is Hollandaise Sauce?

Put simply, hollandaise is basically a warm aioli. It is made with melted butter, egg yolks, and lemon, and is often served on eggs benedict or asparagus.

What Does Hollandaise Sauce Taste Like?

Since it has just a few simple ingredients, it tastes pretty much like the ingredients that make it up. It has a rich, buttery flavor, with a punch of zesty lemon to cut through the richness. Despite the lemon, it's a very savory sauce.

What is the Difference Between Hollandaise Sauce and Bearnaise Sauce?

Bearnaise is considered a derivative of hollandaise sauce. Bearnaise gets it acidic flavor from white wine vinegar instead of the lemon that's in hollandaise. Bearnaise also has more flavoring additives, including fresh shallots and herbs. It is typically served over grilled meat or fish.

Can I Use a Blender?

In the recipe below, I recommend using an immersion blender or stick blender, as that is the method that I have had the most success with. However, you can use a standard blender as well. This will require the same method as the immersion blender, only you will pour the butter extremely slowly into the top of the blender as you blend.

How to Fix Broken Hollandaise Sauce

On occasion, no matter how often you make hollandaise (or any other emulsified sauce for that matter), you will probably break it.

What does it mean to break your sauce? If your sauce breaks, you'll know. It will be grainy, watery, and thin and often look like 2 separate liquids. Which, it kind of is, as you're attempting to combine water and oil.

The easiest way to fix a broken sauce is to avoid it altogether. To do this, add your butter very, VERY slowly. You will also want to use room temperature eggs to avoid the very hot/very cold combination which is much more temperamental.

But if you didn't happen to avoid it, here are 2 effective methods to remedy a broken sauce:

1. Add more yolks. This is the route that I usually go. For this you will want to transfer your broken sauce to another container. Clean the blender and the cup you're using very well. Then you're going to add more egg yolks to the clean container, and you're going to treat your broken sauce as you would the butter. You will pour it into the egg yolks very, very slowly. Much more slowly than you did previously.
2. The water method. You will need boiling water, a large mixing bowl, and a whisk. Then add a tablespoon of boiling water to the mixture at a time, and whisk vigorously until the sauce has become smooth, creamy, and combined.

Can You Store and Reuse Leftover Hollandaise?

Hollandaise sauce is best served warm immediately. Reheating it can cause it to be lumpy or broken. However, if you have leftover sauce, and you're willing to take that risk, there are a few methods of reheating that are more effective than others.

Store hollandaise in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It has egg yolks and butter, so it must be stored in the refrigerator.

There are three methods of reheating that I will recommend.

1. Reheat in the microwave at 50% power until just warm. If it gets too hot, it will break.
2. Use a double boiler on the stovetop to reheat it over a steam bath. Direct heat is more prone to burning and breaking the sauce.
3. Put the sauce in a hot water bath. Keep the sauce in the airtight container, and place the entire container in hot water (like in the sink or larger bowl) for 25 minutes.

What to Serve with Hollandaise Sauce

Hollandaise sauce is such a versatile condiment. It can be used on so many dishes beyond the classic eggs benedict to take them to the next level of decadence.

• Breakfast sandwiches - add eggs, ham, sausage, bacon, and/or cheese to a biscuit, English muffin, or bagel, and round out the whole sandwich with some Hollandaise sauce
• Breakfast burritos - swap out the southwest ingredients, like salsa, from these burritos and add this sauce instead. You can either add the sauce inside the burrito or just smother the whole thing in it
• Breakfast casseroles - I actually have a delightful, rich, buttery Eggs Benedict Casserole that is begging to be drenched in this classic sauce. But it will also go well with lots of savory breakfast casseroles including this Denver omelet casserole, easy egg casserole, and tater tot breakfast casserole.
• Poached eggs - You don't have to go all out with the full eggs benedict to smother some poached eggs in hollandaise. You can even make them in the microwave!
• Eggs of any kind - This sauce tastes so amazing on eggs that you can really drizzle it on any egg dish including scrambled eggs, your favorite omelet, a breakfast skillet, or even quiche!
• Asparagus - Like eggs benedict, asparagus is another classic way to serve hollandaise. Try this oven roasted asparagus or pop it in the air fryer!
• Potatoes- If you thought potatoes couldn't get better, wait until you smother them in this creamy, buttery sauce. Pour some on these roasted potatoes and green beans, drizzle some on hasselback potatoes, or toss these air fryer baby potatoes right in the sauce. It also compliments sweet potatoes. The tangy lemon is amazing with the sweetness.
• Seafood - Everyone loves seafood with lemon and butter, so of course, this sauce is perfect. Try it on salmon, walleye, shrimp, crab, or your favorite seafood dish. 
• Veggies -Toss your favorite veggies, such as broccoli, artichokes, or roasted root vegetables, in it for some extra flavor.  
• Proteins - This sauce can add decadence and elegance to any protein, such as chicken, pork, or steak.
• Pasta - Lightly tossing a pasta, like this shrimp and angel hair or a veggie pasta like primavera, is a great way to use extra sauce that packs a creamy, rich flavor punch.
• Fritters - Use it as a dipping sauce for fritters. Some of our favorites include air fryer zucchini fritters, zucchini and corn fritters, corn fritters, or even these crab cakes or salmon croquettes (which are basically seafood fritters, right?!).
• Savory waffles - Make some savory waffles, like chive and cheese or fresh herbs, and use this as the "syrup."

Ways to Use Up Egg Whites

Throwing away perfectly good food is such a bummer. Use up your egg whites with these ideas:

• Egg white omelet or scramble - add your favorite veggies, meats, and cheese and you've got yourself a yummy high protein breakfast
• Oatmeal - Make your oats on the stovetop, and when they're almost done cooking, add an egg white or two and whisk constantly until it's cooked. The whisking keeps the egg nice and creamy in the oats instead of chunky, and it's a great way to add extra protein without altering the flavor.
• Meringues - meringue cookies are super easy to make with just a few ingredients. They are very lightly sweet, light and slightly crisp to eat, and very low in calories. Plus they're easy to change flavors depending on your tastes. Here are my recipes for vanilla meringues, mint chocolate meringues, and peppermint meringue cookies.
• Southern Banana Pudding - this southern version of banana pudding is actually warm and has a fluffy, lightly sweet meringue on top. Add your extra egg whites to this mixture for extra topping, and who doesn't love that?!
• Coconut Macaroons - the "glue" that holds these cookies together is actually egg whites! That's why they're so light with just the right amount of chewiness.
• Homemade Marshmallow Fluff - marshmallow fluff is made by adding a thin stream of hot sugar mixture to fluffy, beaten egg whites. It's actually pretty simple to make and even better than store-bought.
• Divinity Candy - This sweet candy is made using a similar method to marshmallow fluff, but they're scooped into little bite-sized candies.

Hollandaise Sauce Video