A Homemade White Sauce and Quick Pasta Recipe
A homemade white sauce is must know for every home cook, especially if you enjoy cooking from scratch. I remember my grandma teaching me the ropes of my first white sauce, and now I’m confident enough to dolly up any white sauce for a meal.
What is basic white sauce made of?
A basic white sauce has 3 simple ingredients: butter, flour, and milk. This is also referred to as a béchamel sauce. I like this béchamel recipe from Ricardo, it is very easy to make.
From there, you can turn it into an Alfredo sauce by adding heavy cream, parmesan and garlic. Or turn the béchamel sauce into a Caruso sauce by adding beef stock (we are always stocked on bone broth).
Here is a simple overview of white sauces:
- Béchamel sauce – the basic sauce with flour, butter, milk
- Alfredo sauce – the basic béchamel sauce with heavy cream, garlic, parmesan cheese
- Caruso sauce – the basic béchamel sauce with beef stock (or bone broth), mushrooms and onions
- Mushroom sauce – the basic béchamel sauce with meat drippings (or stock), and pan fried mushrooms
How do you make a White Sause?
- Melt butter in a saucepan, stove on medium-high
- Add 1 tbsp of flour at a time, whisking vigorously to combine the flour with the butter before adding the next tbsp of flour. Stove on medium heat
- Once all the flour is incorporated with the butter, let the butter and flour cook for about 2 minutes and continue to whisk
- Add 1 cup of milk and whisk the butter into the flour until incorporated. This may take 2-3 minutes, turn the stove down or remove pan from the heat for a moment if necessary
- Once the butter is well incorporated, add the rest of the milk. Keep the stove on low so that the milk doesn’t burn to the bottom of the pan
- Stir occasionally until the sauce thickens. It could take about 10-15 minutes
These are the very basic directions, and with practice you can quickly get comfortable to add your own additions to make superb dishes.
Melting butter in a pan.
Mixing flour into butter.
Flour cooking with butter for a few minutes.
Add milk and pepper to white flour.
Leave the white sauce to thicken in about 10-20 minutes.
Basic White Sauce Recipe
This recipe and directions will show you how you can cook up your very own homemade white sauce in about 20 minutes.
Homemade White Sauce
Equipment
- Pan
- Fork or Whisk
- Measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 4 tbsp flour
- 4 cups milk
- 1/4 tsp salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp pepper to taste
Instructions
- Melt butter in a saucepan, stove on medium-high
- Add 1 tbsp of flour at a time, whisking vigorously to combine the flour with the butter before adding the next tbsp of flour. Stove on medium heat
- Once all the flour is incorporated with the butter, let the butter and flour cook for about 2 minutes and continue to whisk
- Add 1 cup of milk and whisk the butter into the flour until incorporated. This may take 2-3 minutes, turn the stove down or remove pan from the heat for a moment if necessary
- Once the butter is well incorporated, add the rest of the milk. Keep the stove on low so that the milk doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan
- Stir occasionally until the sauce thickens. It could take about 10-15 minutes
Video
Notes
Homemade White Sauce
The nice part about making a homemade white sauce is that you have full control over the ingredients. Sure, it is a little more work, but the taste of quality milk and homemade meat drippings is unlike any white sauce you will buy from the store in a jar.
For dinner this evening, we opted for a mushroom and kale pasta with a béchamel sauce. I added in my secret ingredient, the ever fresh basil and olive oil frozen cube. We make a large batch of these in the summer when our basil plants are ripe with a great harvest. You can find the directions here.
Whole Wheat Pasta Mushroom White Sauce with Kale
Here is one of our recent variations that started with a simple white sauce and turned into an easy dinner.
Whole Wheat Pasta Mushroom White Sauce with Kale
Equipment
- Sauce pan
- Fork
- Chopping Board
- Sharp knives
Ingredients
White Sauce
- 1/4 cup butter
- 4 tbsp flour
- 4 cups milk
Pasta
- 1 bag whole wheat pasta or your favourite pasta
- 2 cups mushrooms
- 1 cube frozen basil/olive oil see note below
- 3 leaves kale
Instructions
White Sauce
- Melt butter in a saucepan, stove on medium-high
- Add 1 tbsp of flour at a time, whisking vigorously to combine the flour with the butter before adding the next tbsp of flour. Stove on medium heat
- Once all the flour is incorporated with the butter, let the butter and flour cook for about 2 minutes and continue to whiskAdd 1 cup of milk and whisk the butter into the flour until incorporated.
- This may take 2-3 minutes, turn the stove down or remove pan from the heat for a moment if necessary
- Once the butter is well incorporated, add the rest of the milk.
- Keep the stove on low so that the milk doesn't burn to the bottom of the panStir occasionally until the sauce thickens. It could take about 10-15 minutes
Pasta
- While the white sauce is thickening, chop mushrooms into slices and kale into thin reaps
- Sauté mushrooms for 10 minutes in olive oil (or frozen basil/olive oil cube if you make them)
- When the white sauce has thickened, add in the mushrooms and chopped kale
- Cover the sauce wit a lid for 5 minutes to soften the kale.
- Boil water and cook pasta according to pasta directions
- Add sauce to pasta and stir to mix well
