Bechamel is a basic sauce recipe. Master this recipe and you can make many different sauces, including a fantastic cheese sauce!

Béchamel sauce is known as white sauce, is made from a white roux (butter and flour) and milk. It is a mother sauce of French cuisine. This simply means it’s the base sauce for other sauces, such as Mornay sauce, which is Béchamel with cheese.

With a medium thickness, this sauce is perfect for mac and cheese. It’s often used in gratins like potatoes and baked vegetables.

Table of Contents

Bechamel Sauce and Cheese Sauce

You can make this white velvety sauce in two easy steps. Make a roux and add gradually your milk. Season with salt.

It’s simply delicious!

Gnocchi Mac and Cheese — gnocchi mac and cheese

How do you make this sauce?

Melt butter in a saucepan.
Stir in an equal amount of flour
Cook the mixture for just under a minute. This is known as a roux.
Stir in milk, a little at a time, making sure to stir well so that no lumps form.
Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring constantly, so that the mixture thickens and becomes glossy.

Melt butter, add flour and cook 2 minutes.

Add milk and bring to a boil.

whisk in saucepan of white cheddar cheese sauce.

Add 2 c cheese and stir until melted for Cheese Sauce.

Basic Bechamel Sauce (instructions for Cheese Sauce included)

How to make the 'mother sauce' bechamel as well as cheese sauce.

Author: Paula

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 6

Servings: 8 servings

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons self-rising flour
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste
1 cup whole milk

Instructions

Melt 2 T butter in a sauce pan.
Whisk in 2 T self-rising flour. Cook a couple minutes. Do not let brown.
Add Salt and pepper.
Pour 1 c milk into sauce pan and whisk until smooth.
Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer until thick.
Taste and adjust seasoning.For Cheese Sauce
Add 2 cups you favorite cheese to Bechamel Sauce.
Whisk until melted.

Nutrition

Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.

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10 Comments

Perfect results! I added mixed cheese and made delicious Mac ‘n cheese. Tks.

Great recipe. I added another cup of milk to make a cheese sauce to pour over savory chicken crepes. Big hit!

Why self rising flour?

Pingback: Does Bechamel Have Cheese? - The Whole Portion

How much pasta should you use for this sauce?

Paula says:

09.12.19 at 7:06 am

It just depends on how saucy you want the noodles. I would use 8 ounces of dry pasta. You can also double, triple, etc that base sauce for as much as you need.

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