Hollandaise Sauce

This classic hollandaise sauce recipe is easy to make in the blender! Rich, creamy, and tangy, it's delicious on eggs Benedict, vegetables, and more.

Have you ever made homemade hollandaise sauce? I won’t judge if you say no. This classic French sauce is an emulsion of egg yolks, melted butter, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper. For YEARS, it was something I only ate on eggs Benedict at brunch restaurants. It seemed way too fussy to make at home.

But a while back, I wanted to serve eggs Benedict at a family brunch, and I decided to try my hand at making hollandaise sauce from scratch. Turns out, hollandaise sauce is actually easy to make in the blender (5 minutes! 6 ingredients!), and I’ve been whipping up this hollandaise sauce recipe for special occasions ever since.

Try it for your next brunch over eggs Benedict or poached eggs, or drizzle it on roasted asparagus or roasted carrots for a luxe side dish. This creamy, buttery, lemony sauce is surprisingly simple and absolutely delicious.

Hollandaise Sauce Ingredients

Traditional French hollandaise sauce is made with 5 ingredients:

• Egg yolks
• Melted butter
• Fresh lemon juice
• Cayenne pepper
• And salt

I couldn’t resist adding a bit of Dijon mustard to my recipe too. It gives the sauce an extra tangy kick, which I love. You may also need a bit of hot water for thinning the sauce.

Find the complete recipe with measurements below.

How to Make Hollandaise Sauce

The traditional method for how to make hollandaise sauce is by hand. You’d whisk the melted butter into the egg yolks in a saucepan over low heat or in a double boiler. With this method, you run a higher risk of the sauce splitting, not to mention the fact that you have to do all that whisking.

Instead, I like to make blender hollandaise sauce. Here’s how I do it:

1. Blend the egg yolks and lemon juice, cayenne, mustard, and salt until frothy, 5 to 15 seconds.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. While you could melt the butter in the microwave, I prefer to use the stove. The butter melts more evenly and reaches a higher temperature this way, which is essential for creating a thick, smooth sauce. You also don’t have to deal with it sputtering in the microwave.
3. With the blender running on low, slowly pour the hot butter into the egg mixture. The sauce should have a thick and creamy but pourable consistency. If it’s too thick, blend in hot water, 1 tablespoon at a time, to loosen it.

That’s it! The whole process takes minutes.

Recipe Tips

• Make sure the butter is hot. Hot butter is essential for lightly cooking the egg yolks and thickening the sauce. Add the melted butter to the egg mixture as soon as you take it off the heat—you don’t want to let it cool down before streaming it into the blender.
• Add the melted butter gradually. This will help the sauce emulsify and thicken—if you pour it in all at once, the sauce can split. I like to transfer the butter to a liquid measuring cup after I melt it so that it’s easy to pour in a thin stream.
• Salted butter works too. Don’t have any unsalted butter on hand? Use salted butter and skip the additional salt. After you add the butter, season to taste with a pinch of salt if necessary.
• Don’t toss the egg whites. Use them to make scrambled eggs for a healthy breakfast!

How to Store and Reheat Hollandaise Sauce

Hollandaise sauce is best freshly made, so I recommend making it just before serving. It only takes a few minutes, after all.

If you have leftovers, you can store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Gently reheat them on the stovetop or in a double boiler, adding a little water to thin the sauce if necessary.

I’ve also successfully frozen hollandaise sauce for up to a month. I let it thaw overnight in the fridge, then reheat it on the stovetop.

More Sauce Recipes to Try

Want to try more classic sauces? Try making one of these easy recipes next:

• Lemon Butter Sauce
• Basil Pesto
• Remoulade Sauce