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.
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.
- Melt the butter in a microwave for about 1 minute until hot.
- Combine the egg yolks, lemon juice, dijon, salt and cayenne pepper into a high powered blender and blend for 5 seconds.
- Slowly stream in the hot butter into the mixture as the blender is running.
- 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
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!
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.
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.
- Béarnaise Sauce
- Marinara Sauce
- Basil Pesto Sauce
- Balsamic Reduction
- Tahini Sauce
- Vegan Alfredo Sauce
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 (Easy & No-Fail)
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.
Perfect Hollandaise sauce! The directions were so easy to follow, and the results were delicious. Thank you!
Awesome! I’m happy you found this recipe easy and tasty, Deborah. :)
Oh my goodness easiest thing ever! I used an immersion blender and heated up the butter on the stove. It was perfect!
120g of butter for my UK friends ;)
Can this sauce be made a day in advance?
I think it’s best made fresh.
Very Good Sauce!
Easy, easy easy! Great advice, simple recipe, wife loved it for Mother’s Day eggs Benedict. Thank you!
Aw, I’m glad this hollandaise sauce worked out great for Mother’s Day brunch.
Delicious and SUPER easy recipe. I have it 4 stars because it had too much mustard flavor for me – I would use less Dijon mustard next time. I want the flavors to complement each other and I felt that one flavor overpowered the rest. Otherwise, DELICIOUS and again the EASIEST Hollandaise recipe!
Glad this recipe worked out great regardless Cebrin!
This recipe for Hollandaise is horrible. It’s lemon sauce on steroids. Much much much too much lemon juice and neither salt nor Dijon is needed.
Not Hollandaise, this is Sauce Dijon. Recipe is OK, I would add a tablespoon or so of white wine vinegar.
This was very simple to make and delicious. I was very concerned as I’ve heard making your own hollandaise is tricky. I used an immersion blender and worked well.
First recipe technique I’ve had good luck using. Opted for the immersion blender route where sauce is perfect taste just a little thick in consistency. Didn’t have boiling water ready so went with a slightly thicker, but great tasting, hollandaise sauce.
Next time I’m going to slightly cut back on Dijon mustard but only slightly. Oh, I also opted out on the cayenne pepper – spicy was NOT what I am looking for in eggs Benedict!
I’m glad you had success with this recipe, James!
I don’t usually leave comments on recipes but this one was soooooo easy and delicious. Made it with a hand mixer and still turned out perfectly.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, Roland!
Easiest ever and delicious
This recipe got my birthday off to a good start. I made myself a nice little breakfast of eggs Benedict, and this hollandaise worked out perfectly. Thankyou for making my birthday dreams come true.
Glad this hollandaise sauce worked out perfectly for your birthday Claire :)
My brother made some egg and ham sandwiches I took a bite and it was a little dry so I told him this would be great with some hollandaise. Got a recipe out and it was so easy and tastes delicious!
Glad this sauce worked out great for those egg sandwiches!
This is a really nice recipe. It makes this (somewhat intimidating) sauce super easy for people. I just wanted to point out one small piece of misinformation.
As hollandaise is an emulsion, more butter will make the sauce thicker rather than thinner.
I use 1 cup of butter, twice as much as the recipe says (accidentally), the rest according to the recipe and it was very not thick at all but I will try again because I really loved the sauce.
Have used this recipe several times and it comes out great each time!!
So happy you love this hollandaise sauce, Linnie!
What a fantastic recipe, so easy and restaurant special!
Thank you Lisa
Thank you so much for this! Had a hankerin for prosciutto benedict this morning and you made it possible for me!
You’re more than welcome! And a prosciutto benedict sounds delish!
Wow, I can’t believe how well this works! So much easier and faster than using a double boiler. Wonderful!
Yes, gotta love how easy this recipe is!
This is by far the easiest recipe and the TASTIEST I’ve ever tried to make, and fail safe if you follow instructions
Could you make this sauce ahead of time?
This sauce is best served fresh, but I do have storage instructions written in the post for one day.
This is by far the simplest and easiest method for making hollandaise sauce that I’ve tried – and there’s been a few! Hats off to the no-fail recipe.
This is my third time making this – it’s my go-to recipe! I find it extremely easy as I was intimidated the first time trying it. We had it last night over asparagus and ending up using the ldftovers on my plate for the salmon. So yummy!! I didn’t have dijon so used regular mustard and whdn using salted butter, which I did, think salt can be omitted. Ty for a wonderful recipe – we totally dnjoy it and it’s so easy tk make! Thumbs up on this one!
Happy to hear you’ve found a go-to hollandaise sauce recipe Phyllis!
Simple, quick and delicious.
This is really delicious…and EASY. Thanks so much for the time saving, nerve saving yummy sauce.
Simply delicious! I made it with salmon, as I don’t eat bacon. Perfection on a plate. Thank you Lisa for another excellent recipe!
Yes, hollandaise is great with salmon. Happy you loved it Ann!
Thanks, first time making and it was perfect and so quick and easy. How long can you keep in the fridge?
I have storage instructions written in the post, but I would say only one day.
Could a milk frother that is heated be used instead of a blender?
I’m not sure as I haven’t tried that one.
I can’t believe how fast and easy this was! I even mixed a little lime juice in it because I only had one lemon! I actually prefer the taste! This will be used in my house from now on!
In the culinary industry, this is known as “cowboy hollandaise” and is sometimes used by inexperienced or untrained cooks. This method involves skipping the crucial step of cooking the egg yolks to a temperature of 143°F and creating a sabayon, which poses a serious food safety risk. Even if hot butter is added, this only serves to increase the risk of foodborne illness, particularly when the hollandaise sauce is kept at room temperature.
Hi Shannon – the hot butter plus the friction of the Vitamix blades when blending actually increases the temperature above 143°F. I talk about this in more detail on my eggnog recipe, so I’d recommend you read that post. :)
I loved the idea of a shortcut for hollandaise sauce, however, I have the same restriction about the temperature you will get on those egg yolks just by mixing hot butter and counting on different kinds of blenders, especially the immersion ones. But yes, if it works it’s genius. I will run a few tests and post here my findings.
A true hollandaise sauce doesn’t have any mustard of any kind
Easy and delicious totally using all the time A++
Glad this hollandaise sauce worked out perfectly!
This is so easy and delicious! I can’t believe I avoided making homemade hollandaise for so long because I was intimidated by the idea of making it.
I’m looking forward to making this, but mostly I’d like to know where that gorgeous pottery dish with the spout is from in your hollandaise image :)
That’s from my friend Terri from the No Crumbs Left blog. She has some great pottery! :)
Easy and turned out perfect plus delicious!
Love this website, As somewhat of a at home chef, it’s nice to have access to easy recipes
I very rarely comment on recipes but this one is exceptional. I feel like it’s a hack but it’s really just sound technique. Worked perfectly with an immersion blender. The key, obviously, is slowly adding the very hot butter.
Thanks so much for your comment, Chris! I’m happy you loved the recipe and technique. :)
The final consistency was perfect. A bit more lemon juice and salt would improve the flavor. Mustard and cayenne can be adjusted to your taste. Best of all the sauce didn’t separate. Excellent and easy.
This was my first attempt at making homemade Hollandaise. I used an immersion blender and the consistency came out pretty close. I used large eggs, maybe medium would have been better. It was a little thick but still pourable. It’s also possible I over blended. The flavor seemed more mayonnaisey than buttery to me. Also I love Dijon but I really didn’t like it in this sauce. I’ll leave it out next time. Thank you for the recipe!
Under the heading how to store and reheat hollandaise sauce , you gave two methods on how to reheat the sauce, you however neglected to give instructions on how to store the hollandaise sauce.
Could you please forward those missing instructions, i’m wondering as well if the sauce can be frozen?
Hi Dave – yes, you can freeze it. Just make sure to thaw it in the fridge overnight, and then whisk it together again once thawed.
Not bad for my first attempt. I used bottled lemon juice. Probably more sour than fresh lemon. Added with the Dijon mustard, it came out quite tangy, which both the wife and I did not like this homemade version, seeing as it was my first time having hollandaise sauce at home. Next time I’ll either cut back on the lemon juice or omit it. But in terms of texture, creaminess, it was spot on!
Have made this recipe before and it turned out great! Today was “teach the kids how to make it” day, so they can become more self sufficient and get closer to moving out. Lol
Brilliant recipe though and tastes so close to the stove top method.
Haha, I love that you’re spreading the cooking knowledge. ;)
Really simple and delicious! I don’t think I will ever double broiler hollandaise again. For previous comments where recipie did not work, would the quality rating or temperature of the eggs affect the recipie?
Absolutely loved this hollandaise!!! I was so nervous to make it, but you were right- so easy. I used an immersion blender and a wide mouth mason jar. Thanks as always, Lisa!
Glad this worked out with an immersion blender!
I’ve made this sauce lots of times, so easy and quick and delicious
This recipe became a hot mess when I made it. Adding butter it immediately separated even though the butter was plenty hot. I would never try this blender recipe again. Also it had a dijon mustard color, looked nothing like Hollandaise sauce. Tried adding the extra egg yoke nothing helped it. Ruined my eggs Benedict with crab and asparagus that I had prepared for New Years brunch. Back to the pan method for me.
Being the one and only person on here who was unable to successfully make this sauce using this recipe I’m just curious if it’s the recipe that was faulty or the only person unable to complete that maybe should give it another go?
This was delicious and easy, thank you!
Worked very well – added a touch more lemon to thin out
Glad you enjoyed it Jerome!
Great recipe! For those whom may be familiar with Aunt Penny’s Hollandaise sauce in the can, this recipe is the closest (even better) I have come in my quest to replace it–the company is no longer, the product is gone forever ,I am told.
One thing I would change about it is to reduce or eliminate the 1/4 teaspoon of salt, particularly if you use salted butter in the recipe. Other than that it is definitely a 5 star rating in my humble opinion.
First time making this and within just a minute it got clumpy. What happened??
Probably too hot. Its a delicate temperature.
I prefer to boil a pot (low boil) and then set a metal bowl on top so that the steam heats the bowl. I whisk it there so I can control the temp
Can I get a “Ho yea!”?
Hooooooo yeaaaaaaa!