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A classic bechamel sauce was probably the first sauce that I ever learned in our family kitchen when my mom was making us her classic white sauce pasta. White sauce was also served with mushrooms on toast, which is now one of my favorite breakfasts!
In simple terms, this is a really versatile, intentionally bland sauce that can be adapted to make innumerable other sauces, just like the other classic French mother sauces. As a quick lesson, the other mother sauces include:
- Velouté: A white sauce made with butter, flour and stock. Similar to a béchamel sauce because it’s also white thickened with roux, but we use a stock instead of milk. Chicken is the most commonly used stock. It is used over meats and vegetables.
- Espagnole: This is a brown sauce, made from roux-thickened stock, pureed tomatoes, and a mix of sauteed carrots, onions, and celery, known as mirepoix. This is served with beef, duck and other dark meats.
- Hollandaise: A rich, creamy and savory sauce made with butter, lemon juice and raw egg yolks. It’s famous for being used in Eggs Benedict!
- Tomato: A simple but widely popular mother sauce. It’s made with pureed tomatoes and herbs, reduced to a rich and amazing sauce! It’s extremely versatile, used in pastas, stews, and vegetables.
The key trick to remember to get a perfectly smooth sauce is to use ice cold milk to the roux, which is the flour and butter that is lightly sautéed. It is very simple and something you probably have already prepared without knowing it was béchamel.
I use this recipe in my Ultimate Classic Mac and Cheese and my Creamy Lobster Mac and Cheese. Béchamel is also popular in a classic Bolognese lasagne (recipe coming soon).
Tools Needed
How to Prepare Béchamel Sauce?
Heat a pan on medium heat and add butter.
Once the butter melts, mix in the flour and whisk for 2-3 mins until the rawness of the flour is cooked out. The roux will begin to smell nutty, which is a good indicator.
Pour in your milk, little bit at a time while whisking to work out any lumps.
Once all your milk is mixed in, wait until your sauce starts to come up to a simmer.
As soon as the sauce comes to a simmer, it will begin to thicken. Once the béchamel is thick enough to evenly coat the back of a spoon, season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
And that’s it! Now use it in your favorite pastas, casseroles, or creamy soups! Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is béchamel sauce?▼
Béchamel is the classic French white sauce — one of the 'mother sauces' — made by cooking butter and flour into a roux, then whisking in milk until smooth and thick. It's the creamy base for so many dishes.
How do I keep béchamel from going lumpy?▼
Cook the flour into the melted butter for 2 to 3 minutes until it smells nutty, then add cold milk a little at a time, whisking constantly to work out lumps before adding more. Cold milk into a hot roux is the trick.
Why add nutmeg?▼
A pinch of ground nutmeg is the traditional seasoning for béchamel. You won't taste it directly, but it rounds out and quietly deepens the flavor of the white sauce.
What can I use béchamel for?▼
It's endlessly useful — the base for macaroni and cheese (just melt in cheese to make a Mornay), lasagna, gratins, creamy vegetable bakes and white-sauce pastas.
What Makes This a Classic French Bechamel (and What It Leaves Out)
Bechamel is the classic French white sauce, and in Italy the same sauce is called besciamella. Mine is the stripped-back version, and it is worth being honest about what is not in it. There is no onion, no garlic, no bay leaf and no thyme, so you will not find the studded onion and the slow-simmered aromatics that some French recipes in France still call for. There is no heavy cream either: 1 1/2 cups of cold milk does all of the work. The only seasoning beyond salt and pepper is 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg, and even that is optional. A pinch of nutmeg is the traditional touch, and ground mace will stand in for it, from the same flavor family but slightly more intense. The recipe simply calls for pepper, and black pepper is what you see in the photos; classic French kitchens reach for white pepper instead so the sauce stays perfectly pale. Because the cold milk goes in gradually while you whisk, you should never need to push this through a fine mesh sieve.
The Ratio, the Heat and the Back of a Spoon
The whole recipe rests on one ratio: 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter to 1 1/2 tablespoons of all purpose flour to 1 1/2 cups of cold milk. Equal tablespoons of butter and flour make the roux, and the amount of milk is what decides whether you finish with a pouring sauce or a thicker sauce for layering. Keep the saucepan on medium heat and whisk the flour into the melted butter for 2 to 3 minutes, until the raw flour taste is cooked out and the roux starts to smell nutty. Then pour the milk in a little at a time, whisking the whole time. That gradual pour is what stops clumps and lumps forming, far more than any straining afterwards. Bring it to a simmer rather than a hard boil. As soon as it simmers it will begin to thicken, and it is ready when it evenly coats the back of a wooden spoon. If your pan is running hot and the bottom starts to catch, drop to medium low heat and keep stirring. Season only at the end, which is also why unsalted butter is the safer choice here, since you salt to taste once the sauce is done.
What to Use This White Sauce For
This is a base sauce, so it is worth knowing where it goes. It layers into lasagna and moussaka, binds a vegetable gratin, sits under the ham and cheese in a croque monsieur, and becomes mac and cheese the moment you stir grated cheese into it off the heat. It is the backbone of most creamy baked casseroles. The one thing it is not is alfredo sauce. A real alfredo is butter, cream and parmesan with no roux at all, so the two behave differently: bechamel thickens from the flour and holds its texture in the oven, while alfredo leans entirely on fat and cheese and is far more likely to split under heat.
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!
Recipe by Anadi Misra
Make a silky, classic Béchamel sauce from scratch with this foolproof white sauce recipe. Rich, creamy, and ready in minutes — a must-have French mother sauce for endless dishes.
Stovetop
Rate this recipe ✦
1 min
Prep
5 min
Cook
6 min
Total
3
servings
makes 1½ cups
medium
Level
Ingredients
Ingredients
Tap any quantity to scale
Instructions
- 1
Heat a pan on medium heat and add butter. Once the butter melts, mix in the flour and whisk for 2-3 minutes until the raw flavor of the flour is cooked out. The roux will begin to smell nutty, which is a good indicator
Heat a pan on medium heat and add butter. Once the butter melts, mix in the flour and whisk for 2-3 minutes until the raw flavor of the flour is cooked out. The roux will begin to smell nutty, which is a good indicator
- 2
Pour in your milk, little bit at a time while whisking to work out any lumps. Once all your milk is mixed in, wait until your sauce starts to come up to a simmer.
Pour in your milk, little bit at a time while whisking to work out any lumps. Once all your milk is mixed in, wait until your sauce starts to come up to a simmer.
- 3
As soon as the sauce comes to a simmer, it will begin to thicken. Once the béchamel is thick enough to evenly coat the back of a spoon, season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
As soon as the sauce comes to a simmer, it will begin to thicken. Once the béchamel is thick enough to evenly coat the back of a spoon, season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Nutrition per serving
Did you make this recipe? Tag @cooking.with.anadi on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingwithanadi
Tested & written in Anadi’s kitchen
Recipe history
- April 16, 2026 — Reworked and refreshed for the 2026 relaunch — new photography, restructured and standardized ingredients & instructions.
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