Béchamel sauce

Name: Béchamel sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 1
Ingredients: Whole milk 4 ¼ cups; Butter 7 tbsp; Type 00 flour 0.8 cup; Fine salt 1 pinch; Nutmeg for grating to taste

Vegetarian

Difficulty: Very easy
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Makes: 1 Kg
Cost: Very low

PRESENTATION

Béchamel sauce has a paper trail specific enough to name names. The most widely accepted account holds that Caterina de' Medici brought it to France under its original name, salsa colla, where courtier Louis de Béchameil later claimed it and gave it the name it still carries. Pellegrino Artusi pushed back in his own way, Italianizing it as "balsamella" in his celebrated cookbook — a term that faded, though the sauce itself never did.

It works across lasagna, baked pasta, fennel gratin, and creamy chicken dishes with equal ease. The case for making it yourself comes down to texture. Packaged versions reliably miss the genuine creaminess and lump-free consistency that a proper Béchamel sauce recipe delivers — and once you have that consistency down, reaching for a carton becomes harder to justify.

How to prepare Béchamel sauce

To prepare the béchamel, first pour the milk into a small saucepan 1, add the nutmeg 2 and the salt 3, then heat it.

Put the butter in another saucepan 4 and let it melt over low heat, then add the flour all at once 5. Whisk vigorously by hand to prevent lumps from forming 6. Continue stirring until you obtain a golden mixture, the roux.

At this point loosen the roux by pouring in a little hot milk first 7, whisk 8, and then add the rest of the milk 9.

Continue stirring 10 over low heat until you reach the desired consistency 11; cooking the béchamel for 5–6 minutes will give you a medium thickness. The béchamel is ready and can be used immediately or stored. In that case, pour it into a bowl 12.

Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface 13 and let it cool. When you need to use it, whisk it to bring it back to a smooth texture 14. If it is too cold you can heat it in the microwave, adding a little milk. The béchamel is ready 15!

Storage

If you don't use the béchamel immediately, pour it into a bowl and let it cool slightly, then cover it with plastic wrap directly on the surface so that a skin doesn't form. Once cold, béchamel can be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 2–3 days.

To bring it back to smooth and creamy, simply beat it with the whisk of an electric mixer; if necessary, you can add a little milk to make it more fluid while whipping.

Béchamel can be frozen for about 1 month.

Tip

This recipe yields a medium-thick béchamel: if you prefer a looser sauce, reduce the amount of butter and flour; for a thicker béchamel, increase the butter and flour.

If lumps form in the béchamel, don't panic: simply strain it through a fine-mesh sieve to fix it!

Trivia

It seems that the How to prepare roux, the basic mixture of flour and butter essential for preparing béchamel, was already known at least a century before the invention of the sauce: Sabina Welserin, in 1553, included it in her cookbook as a sauce to season meats and fish.

For the translation of some texts, artificial intelligence tools may have been used.

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Questions from our community59

Lisa

Can I swap whole milk for lactose-free milk in the béchamel? If so, do I need to change the amounts of the other ingredients too? Thanks, Rossana

GZ Editors

Hi Lisa, if you want to make a lactose-free béchamel, we recommend following our butter-free béchamel recipe and using a plant-based milk instead of whole milk!
Heather

What can I use instead of béchamel in lasagna, for example?

GZ Editors

Hi Heather, it usually depends on the recipe you're following and the result you want to get. You can make a tomato sauce or a ricotta cream, like we did for the ricotta lasagna!

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