White Wine Butter Sauce (beurre blanc)

This white wine butter sauce is a fail proof recipe for the classic beurre blanc sauce, delicious poured over poached fish, crustacean, roasted vegetables and even meat dishes.

If you have ever attempted to make beurre blanc, you might be one of the many, who also had a bad experience. Making this sauce the classic way, can be a daunting task even for trained chefs. It has to be made fresh and splits easily and even though I love this french butter sauce, I know it can be frustrating.

The answer is my delicious, white wine butter sauce that is not only fail-proof but easy to make too. While the sauce tastes like a beurre blanc, I tweaked it in a way that it does not split. Plus it can be made ahead and stored in the fridge!

Jump to:

• WHAT IS BEURRE BLANC?
• THE INGREDIENTS
• HOW TO MAKE WHITE WINE SAUCE
• FAQ's
• WHAT TO SERVE IT WITH
• OTHER SAUCES YOU MUST TRY
• White Wine Butter Sauce

In short, you will love our version of this famous beurre blanc butter sauce for the following reasons:

• it can be made in advance and re-heated
• it can be chilled and stored in the fridge
• the sauce will never split
• it has less butter but tastes just as good as beurre blanc

If you are still wondering how it is all possible, read on and follow our step by step recipe.

WHAT IS BEURRE BLANC?

Beurre blanc is a classic French sauce that is based on a wine reduction and butter. It is said to have been invented in Nantes and was initially called sauce nantaise. Similar to a hollandaise sauce, beurre blanc is an emulsion of two ingredients that normally would not mix together.

While to make hollandaise, liquid butter is added to egg yolks, cold butter cubes are whisked into a wine base for making beurre blanc.

THE INGREDIENTS

Onions give the sauce body and sweetness and is also the reason the sauce can't split.

White Wine choose lighter style wines like sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio, they are usually dry and will bring out the flavour of the white wine sauce.

Cream gives the sauce the creamy consistency resembling a beurre blanc.

Butter is added to finish the sauce and add a buttery flavour.

HOW TO MAKE WHITE WINE SAUCE

This white wine butter sauce recipe is slightly different to making traditional beurre blanc . As mentioned before, it is fail-proof and in fact that good, that it's been on many of my menus when I worked in high end restaurants.

the reduction

To start, peel and slice the onion thinly and place in a medium size sauce pot.

Cover the sliced onions with the wine and bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes.

the body

Now, add the cream and salt and continue cooking the sauce for about 10 minutes.

Check that the onions are cooked - they should be translucent and soft while the wine and cream, reduced and lightly thickened.

So here is the trick, instead of straining the cooking liquid and adding butter, we mix the onions with the liquid in a food processor. You can also use a smoothie mixer or strong stick blender.

Mix as long as necessary to get a sauce like consistency and then strain through a sieve into a pot.

the emulsion

Now that we have made our base sauce, we want to add the butter to create a sauce as close as possible to a beurre blanc. Use a whisk and add butter in form of cold cubes but don't add all at once.

I like to mix the sauce with a stick blender, right before I serve it to add foaminess and creaminess. Then taste the sauce - note, due to a large amount of white wine in the sauce, no acidity is needed.

I also noticed, that keeping the sauce in the fridge and re-heating it the next day balances out the acidity quite well.

FAQ's

WHAT TO SERVE IT WITH

White wine butter sauce is one of these sauces you want to add to almost anything and everything! From fish to poultry to any type of vegetable! Try this barramundi recipe with seaweed sauce based on this butter sauce recipe. Sometimes, I even use our beurre blanc as a pasta sauce.

Beurre blanc goes especially well with delicacies like lobster, scallops and prawns. It makes a great addition to grilled meats too.

Variations

The white wine butter sauce is delicious as it is but gets even better with the addition of herbs or other ingredients:

• add chopped chives or other herbs like parsley, basil or coriander
• use saffron in the reduction and add diced tomatoes to garnish
• add chopped garlic to the sauce
• for an Asian twist add miso, mirin and soy sauce

OTHER SAUCES YOU MUST TRY

Browse through our range of homemade sauces and condiment recipes and try your hand at making your own:

Sauce Hollandaise another classic sauce that goes well with almost everything.

Chicken gravy is a great sauce to have for roasted chicken dishes or turkey.

Smoked Chipotle Aioli is a favourite sauce for tacos, grilled meats and sandwiches.

Homemade Tomato Ketchup is so much healthier and tastier then store bought ones.

So, if you have ever wondered how us Chefs get food to taste delicious, you now know the secret😉 It's all about the sauce! No flavour-enhancers or additives, just pure clean deliciousness!

Attempt making any of these sauces and I guarantee you will feel like a Chef yourself coz you will be whipping these up in no time!