How to Make Hollandaise Sauce
This temperamental sauce has broken on more experienced cooks than any other. But once you understand that hollandaise is essentially a warm mayonnaise — egg yolks grabbing onto fat with the help of gentle heat — it becomes manageable.
Get your timing right — hollandaise waits for no one
Make this sauce just before serving. It holds warm for maybe 30 minutes, and reheating rarely works. Have your eggs at room temperature and butter melted but not scorching hot.
- double boiler or heatproof bowl
- medium saucepan
- whisk
- small saucepan
What goes in.
- 3large egg yolks, room temperature
- 1 tbspfresh lemon juice
- 1/4 tspsalt
- 1/8 tspwhite pepper
- 1/2 cupunsalted butter
Keep the heat gentle and steady
The water should barely simmer — vigorous bubbling will scramble your eggs. If the mixture gets too hot, lift the bowl off the heat and keep whisking until it cools down.
The method.
Set up your double boiler
Fill a saucepan with 2 inches of water and bring to a gentle simmer. Place a heatproof bowl on top that doesn't touch the water.
Melt the butter
In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat until fully liquid but not bubbling. Remove from heat.
Whisk the egg base
In the double boiler bowl, whisk together egg yolks, lemon juice, salt, and white pepper until well combined.
Cook the egg mixture
Keep whisking over the simmering water until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon, about 2-3 minutes. It should feel warm to the touch.
Add butter slowly
Remove bowl from heat. While whisking constantly, drizzle in the melted butter drop by drop at first, then in a thin stream. The sauce should thicken and become creamy.
Adjust and serve
Taste and add more lemon juice or salt as needed. Serve immediately while warm.
Other turns to take.
Béarnaise
Replace lemon juice with white wine vinegar and add chopped fresh tarragon and shallots
Chipotle Hollandaise
Stir in 1-2 teaspoons of chipotle peppers in adobo, minced fine
Orange Hollandaise
Use fresh orange juice instead of lemon juice and add 1 teaspoon orange zest
When it doesn't go to plan.
If the sauce breaks, remove from heat and whisk in a tablespoon of cold water
Room temperature egg yolks emulsify more easily than cold ones
Keep the finished sauce warm by leaving the bowl over the turned-off double boiler
A broken hollandaise can sometimes be saved by whisking it into a fresh egg yolk in a clean bowl
The ones that keep coming up.
Why did my hollandaise break?
Usually from adding butter too fast or getting the eggs too hot. The emulsion needs time to form, and heat that's too high will scramble the proteins.
Can I make hollandaise ahead?
Not really. It's best served within 30 minutes of making. Refrigerated hollandaise separates and rarely comes back together when reheated.
What if I don't have a double boiler?
Use a heatproof bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water. Just make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water.