How to make the perfect Hollandaise Sauce
As much as we love Eggs Benedict, we don’t always love making the dreaded hollandaise sauce… We know we’re not alone on this! So to celebrate National Eggs Benedict Day (and to help us work up the courage to make eggs benedict more) we tested and created three ways to make a delicious hollandaise sauce every time. There’s one recipe for every skill level!
Beginners hollandaise
This is for those who have never made or tried hollandaise sauce before. This is your fool-proof option, and let me tell you, it is still delicious! Here’s what you need to make the sauce:
- 50g Butter
- 100g Water
- 1 pack Hollandaise Sauce Powder
To make the sauce all you have to do is add your butter to a small to medium-sized pot. Once the butter has melted you can add the water and bring it to a simmer. Then slowly add the hollandaise powder while whisking the sauce until it is a creamy consistency. Take off the heat and it’s done!
Intermediate
If you like to cook, but are nervous to try the full recipe (we’ve all heard the rumors of how temperamental it can be!), this is a great way to ease into the technique of making a hollandaise sauce and getting prepared to perfect it!
- 100g Butter
- 1 Egg Yolk
- ½ tsp Lemon Juice
- A few drops of Tabasco Sauce
To make this version of the sauce you will want to melt your butter (in the microwave is fine) and set this aside so it cools. You want the butter to be warm but not hot. In a bowl, whisk your egg yolk and lemon juice until it is frothy. Once the butter has cooled down a bit, add half of the melted butter to your egg yolk whilst whisking. Keep whisking until it has thickened up a bit. Then add the rest of your butter and continue to whisk until the sauce has reached a honey-like consistency. Add a few drops of tabasco sauce, whisking it in thoroughly. Now you can say you made a hollandaise sauce from scratch! Maybe you’ll be ready to give the advanced version a try next time….
Advanced
This one is for the passionate cooks, seasoned eggs benny makers, or risk takers. Just joking! But this is the toughest version of the three. While there isn’t that much difference in ingredients from the intermediate recipe, this is a lot more hands on as you only add the butter in small increments. You’ll need:
- 100g Butter
- 1 Egg Yolk
- ½ tsp Lemon Juice
- A few drops of Tabasco Sauce
- A few drops of Worcestershire Sauce
Follow the same steps as above, and stop before you add any butter! This is where this version differs. You are only going to want to add the butter in a little bit at a time, whisking the mix constantly. Continue to add the butter and whisk until there is no more butter left and the sauce has reached a thick, honey-like consistency. Then you can add a few drops of tabasco and Worcestershire sauce, mix thoroughly until combined and voila!
Hot tip
The key to really nailing this sauce is to have your butter temperature right. If your butter is too hot it increases the chance of the sauce splitting.
In case of emergency
Things happen, sauces split and it leaves us feeling less than accomplished… SO! If you find that your sauce splits, don’t stress because it can be recovered! We recommend melting a bit more butter and adding this, keep whisking until you see the sauce come back together.
We hope this guide helps you and gives you the extra confidence boost to make some hollandaise sauce! Now you’re ready to try out our delicious smoked salmon eggs benedict recipe.