Hollandaise Sauce

Hollandaise sauce is a classic creamy sauce that’s perfect for breakfast or brunch! This recipe is easy and no-fail. It takes just 5 minutes in a blender. Drizzle it on top of poached eggs, eggs Benedict, vegetables or several other recipes for a delicious finishing touch.

Hollandaise sauce in a small grey bowl.

If you’ve had eggs Benedict before, you’ve probably encountered this rich and buttery sauce. It’s got the creamiest consistency and its flavors meld beautifully with ingredients such as eggs, asparagus, or salmon.

While this sauce may seem a bit on the fancy side, it’s actually very easy to make! But like many other emulsions, the fear that it will separate or not come together can be a bit nerve wracking. So today, I’ll walk you through the step by step on how to make perfect homemade hollandaise sauce.

How To Make Hollandaise Sauce

To make this recipe, simply heat up some butter (and it needs to be hot!) and stream it into the blended egg yolk mixture to create a velvety smooth sauce.

  1. Melt the butter in a microwave for about 1 minute until hot.
  2. Combine the egg yolks, lemon juice, dijon, salt and cayenne pepper into a high powered blender and blend for 5 seconds.
  3. Slowly stream in the hot butter into the mixture as the blender is running.
  4. Pour the sauce into a small bowl and drizzle over your meal!

Hollandaise Sauce Ingredients

All you’ll need for this sauce are six ingredients. And you probably have them in your fridge and pantry already.

  • Egg Yolks –  3 eggs
  • Lemon Juice –  1 tablespoon
  • Dijon –  1 teaspoon
  • Salt –  1/4 teaspoon
  • Cayenne Pepper – just a pinch
  • Butter-  1/2 cup of melted butter

Hollandaise sauce ingredients in a blender.

How To Fix Broken Hollandaise Sauce

The key to getting the consistency right all comes down to the hot melted butter. This recipe emulsifies butter into an egg yolk and lemon juice mixture. So you want to make sure you’re streaming in butter that’s hot enough (just melted won’t do).

But in the case that your sauce does break and becomes a speckled mess, don’t fret. Below are two methods to try that will help bring your sauce back to life.

  • Blend 1-2 tablespoons of boiling hot water: As you’re blending, slowly add in the hot water and blend until the consistency is right.
  • Add an extra egg yolk: While the blender is on, add an extra egg yolk with a teaspoon of hot water into the blender and blend until it becomes perfectly creamy.

Can You Use an Immersion Blender?

Yes, absolutely! If you have an immersion blender, add all of the ingredients except the hot butter. Turn the blender on (with it firmly planted on the bottom of the cup or jar) and slowly drizzle in the butter. It will start to emulsify and once you’ve poured in all the butter you’re done!

Making hollandaise sauce in a blender.

How To Store And Reheat Hollandaise Sauce

While this sauce is best served fresh, you do have the option of reheating it. But keep in mind that there could be a chance where your eggs will cook up a bit. So here are two options for reheating – just be cautious!

  • Microwave: Place the hollandaise sauce in a glass bowl, and microwave it in 15 second increments. Repeat this process until your sauce is fully warmed up.
  • Stove Top: Pour the hollandaise sauce into a pan over low heat. Add in a smidge of melted butter and water to re-emulsify and give it a smooth texture. Once it’s warmed up, pour the sauce back into a serving bowl.

Hollandaise sauce dripping off a spoon.

More Classic Sauce Recipes

If you thought this recipe was simple, you won’t believe how easy it is make these other sauces. So skip the store-bought jars and opt to make fresh, homemade versions.

Whip any of these up and you can get creative with recipes such as my sweet potato gnocchi with pesto or parsnip noodle chicken alfredo!

Hollandaise sauce dripping off a spoon.

Hollandaise Sauce (Easy & No-Fail)

4.88 from 328 votes
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Author: Lisa Bryan
Hollandaise sauce is a classic creamy sauce that's perfect for brunch and comes together with 5 simple ingredients. It's easy and foolproof in a blender! Watch the video above to see how I make it.

Recipe Video

Ingredients

  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice , or more as desired for flavor
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter or ghee, or more for a thinner consistency, melted and hot

Instructions 

  • Melt the butter in a microwave (make sure it's covered as it will splatter) for about 1 minute, until it's hot. Alternatively, you could heat it on the stove.
  • Add the egg yolks, lemon juice, dijon, salt and cayenne pepper into a high powered blender and blend for 5 seconds until combined.
  • With the blender running on medium high, slowly stream in the hot butter into the mixture until it's emulsified.
  • Pour the hollandaise sauce into a small bowl and serve while warm.

Lisa's Tips

  • I mention this above, but just to reiterate... your butter needs to be hot, not just melted. The recipe will not emulsify with luke warm butter.
  • If you'd like more sauce, just add another yolk and up to another 1/2 cup of melted butter.

Nutrition

Calories: 249kcal, Carbohydrates: 1g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 27g, Saturated Fat: 16g, Cholesterol: 207mg, Sodium: 369mg, Potassium: 15mg, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin A: 904IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 24mg, Iron: 1mg
Course: sauce
Cuisine: American, French
Keyword: hollandaise sauce, how to make hollandaise sauce
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733 comments on “Hollandaise Sauce”

  1. Easiest hollandaise ever. An absolute no fail recipe. Thank you. 5 stars

  2. I really enjoyed this dish. It was a smidge too mustardy for me and quite too mustardy for my teens. I am sure I did a very full teaspoon so I don’t think that’s the recipe’s fault. It was very easy and the texture was spot on. Much better than a restaurant. I will definitely make this again and now make this dish more often.5 stars

  3. So easy thank you 
    Came out perfect so good!
    I was so afraid to make since everyone said how hard not at all 
    Love this recipe!!5 stars

  4. OMG! This I amazingly simple and came out perfect even substituting lime juice for lemon.5 stars

  5. I gave it 4 out of 5 due to my own incompetence lol! Thickened up nicely and I ate it, beautiful texture. I had no lemon juice and have never had white wine vinegar, so I substituted red wine vinegar and learned afterwards that i should have used half the amount lol! Still, it’s been the only recipe I had any success with!!! I may just ditch the powder packets that I’ve come to rely on. Thanks for the recipe!!!4 stars

  6. Turned out perfectly for me, an occasional cook. I used a smoothie blender and stopped the blending to add the butter in stages. My concern for future use is how to ensure the temperature reaches a safe level to sterilise any bacteria from the eggs?5 stars

  7. Hi,

    Just wondering if you think butter can substituted for a non dairy?

  8. Absolutely fantastic! What I find, I won’t be using any other recipe as this is amazingly simple and tastes great!5 stars

  9. Delishous and easy. I didnt need to use a blender Just whiped fast ith a fork! Perfect5 stars

  10. Oh my goodness. This turned out wonderfully well. It held up perfectly-like velvet in the reefer and I used again leftover. Thanks for sharing!

  11. Super easy. Delicious!  And I used a Bullet blender. Mixed everything but the butter, then added it in all at once and mixed. Came out perfectly. 5 stars

  12. Perfect 5 stars

  13. Can a person use SALTED butter and omit the added salt? I’ve been wanting to try this🥰

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