Easy Hollandaise Sauce Recipe
Hollandaise Sauce sounds fancy but it is truly easy to make. It’s often drizzled over a classic dish of Eggs Benedict with crispy bacon, toasted English muffins, and Poached Eggs.
If you’re a lover of French-style breakfast foods, also try your hand at making our Perfect Omelette, Quiche Lorraine, or Crepes.

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What is Classic Hollandaise Sauce?
Hollandaise sauce is one of the five “mother sauces” in French cuisine and consists of egg yolks, butter, lemon juice, and water whisked to creamy perfection over low heat. When preparing this decadent recipe, opt for high-quality eggs and butter – it makes all the difference. I prefer to get grass-fed butter for its deep yellow color and organic eggs.

Hollandaise Sauce Ingredients
- Egg yolks – separate your eggs and use the yolks only which help thicken up the sauce. Save the egg whites for a healthy Egg White Omelette the next day!
- Lukewarm water – To regulate the temperature of the sauce, add lukewarm water.
- Lemon juice – The acid from the lemon juice helps the egg yolks absorb more fat from butter and adds a nice pop of tang. You also need it to prevent cracks and help the sauce thicken up.
- Dijon mustard – adds a great layer of flavor and bite to the sauce.
- Unsalted butter – Butter is the key ingredient to helping your hollandaise emulsify and thicken up to a nice consistency.
- Salt – We use fine sea salt in 99% of our cooking. Feel free to adjust the amount you use to your taste.
- Cayenne pepper – If you love a kick of heat, add cayenne pepper to taste.

How to Make Hollandaise Sauce
- Separate the Eggs – add yolks to a small saucepan and save whites for another recipe.
- Add water, lemon juice and dijon and whisk together until well combined.
- Add Butter – Slice the butter into small pieces and toss them into the saucepan.
- Cook the Hollandaise – Place saucepan over medium-low heat, whisking the sauce constantly and vigorously until the melted butter turns the mixture frothy. Continue whisking until the sauce just starts to thicken and coats the back of a spoon.
- Remove the Sauce from Heat – Once thickened, immediately remove the sauce from heat and season it with more cayenne pepper and salt to taste. Serve immediately or cover to keep warm.
Pro Tip: Make sure to whisk the sauce the entire time it’s over heat or the eggs will scramble!

To Serve
Aside from traditional Eggs Benedict, there are many ways to serve hollandaise sauce:
- Over Potatoes – use it as a topping for oven baked potato wedges or boiled potatoes.
- On Vegetables – For a quick and fancy veggie side dish, drizzle the hollandaise over air fryer asparagus or air fryer broccoli.
- With Protein – use it as a topping for salmon or steak.

Make-Ahead
- Storing: To keep hollandaise fresh, store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. This will prevent it from soaking up any lingering smells in your refrigerator.
- Reheating: To warm it back up, use a double boiler on the stovetop to reheat it over a steam bath (direct heat is prone to burning the delicate sauce). If you don’t have a double broiler, you can keep the sauce in the airtight container and let it sit in hot water for 25 minutes.
Common Questions
While they are super similar in texture and ingredients, there are key differences in the way that they are seasoned. Bearnaise typically contains shallots, peppercorns, tarragon, vinegar and wine.
A perfect hollandaise sauce will be perfectly silky and creamy. A poorly made hollandaise will be runny or overly gummy from cooking it at too high of a heat.
Your hollandaise sauce will crack if it’s cooked at too high of a heat. This will cause the dairy to cook too quickly, resulting in cracks. Keep the heat over medium-low and let the sauce cook gradually.
Your hollandaise sauce will turn out runny if you don’t whisk it vigorously and consistently while it’s heating. Aerating the mixture helps make it light, fluffy and thick. Also, avoid substitutions or modifications.
More Homemade Sauces
- Tzatziki Sauce Recipe
- Easy Chimichurri Sauce Recipe
- Horseradish Sauce
- Homemade Marinara Sauce
- Tartar Sauce
Easy Hollandaise Sauce Recipe

Hollandaise Sauce is a French sauce that sounds fancy but is truly easy to make. It's served for breakfast or brunch over Eggs Benedict.
Ingredients
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 Tbsp lukewarm water
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, (8 Tbsp)
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt, or more to taste
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, or more to taste
Instructions
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Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Store the egg whites in an airtight container in the fridge for another recipe.
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Add the egg yolks to a small saucepan with water, lemon juice, and dijon, and whisk until well-combined.
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Cut the butter into small pieces and add them to the egg mixture.
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Place the pot over medium-low heat, whisking the mixture constantly. As the butter melts, it will get a little frothy. Continue whisking constantly for about 3 minutes or until the mixture starts to thicken then immediately remove from heat. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
-
Season with salt and cayenne pepper, adding more seasoning to taste. Serve right away or cover to keep warm. If the sauce gets too thick, whisk in a teaspoon of warm water to loosen it up.
I am a 76 year old granny and have cooked all my life, but I have to congratulate you on the excellent recipes they all work perfectly…..I live on a farm in the middle of Zimbabwe….Well done
Thank you so much, I appreciate that a lot!
I thought this recipe easier than the blender recipe I’ve used before. Came out perfect, next time I might add a little more lemon.
Hi Jack! So glad you loved the recipe. Thank you for sharing.
I had to add 2 more eggs into the mixture and it still was a watery mess. In my personal opinion, this was not good.
It should not come out watery at all, it’s supposed to be silky and creamy. We’ve never had that issue before, a poorly made hollandaise will be runny or overly gummy from cooking it at too high of a heat.
Hello how are you kindly asking what can be used instead Dijon mustard as it’s a little tricky to find in zambia
I haven’t tried any substitution to advise but yellow mustard is the next best thing.
Hi! I’m sorry but I didn’t like it. It was too buttery (or raw egg-y?) and unfortunately made me feel sick. I also didn’t appreciate the tang of dijon in the background. I did get it at the right consistancy at least pretty fast. So far, nothing comes close to replicating the powdered packets, but those come w things mixed in and you add butter and come to think of it, milk. Maybe it would benefit from that. At least for putting on eggs, maybe others liked it on smth else. My 2¢
HI RK, since the sauce is cooked, the egg gets to the right temperature where its not really raw. I wonder if maybe you used a bad egg? Did your eggs have any off smell when you cracked them?
I had abit of mapel syrup to mine & it split. Made it again but put mapel in at start, & I put some zest in. Also split a second time, I read another review of a lady said how nice it was not using a blender. I popped it in the blender & it was saved. Delicious, thanks for sharing
You’re welcome and good to know that you liked the end result!
I made your sauce this morning with poached eggs and tomatoes on a bun, very delicious!!
There isn’t a recipe of your that we haven’t liked
Thank you,Natasha!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Karry!
I had the pleasure to make this easy sauce for my Eggs Benedict. So easy and the flavor was spot on! Perfect quantity for 4. Thanks, Natasha!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Laura!
If you liked it so much why the low score? Did you have problems making the recipe or was the taste not as you expected?
Hollandaise worked well. i used two TB of Key Lime juice since no lemon handy. Worked well. I used it the otheer day i stead of lemon in crabcakes and it worked then also. About a half stick of salred butter, none added. I took the soft boiled eggs out and put in dish, to keep from overcooking, topped them with a bit of hot cooking water to keep them warm while making the Hollandaise.
Thanks.
Thank you for sharing that with us, Ed. Great to hear that the recipe worked well!
I’m never getting out my blender and pouring butter into it ever again. I will forever use this hollandaise from now on. Simple, easy, no mess, perfection. Thank you!!!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Julie!
Thank you so much for your recipe for Hollandaise! I’ve been waiting for it and you always deliver! Cant wait for your cookbook!!!!
Melody
You’re very welcome, Melody! 🙂
How much water is needed in the first step please? (When the yolks are added to water). Thanks.
Hi! In the ingredient list (above the steps) I mention 2 tbsp lukewarm water.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ve been waiting for your hollandaise sauce recipe! You always deliver! ❤️
You’re so welcome! I hope you love it. 🙂
Lovely and easy to make! I was staying in an Airbnb and didn’t have a whisk, but used a bowl over pot of simmering water and kept stirring until I got a nice custard texture. Thank you for this recipe. 😊
You’re welcome, great to hear that you loved it!
This recipe turns out perfect. I find it takes less effort and less clean up then using a blender. Just keep whisking the whole 3 minutes and you can’t go wrong. Thsnks for this recipe!
Thank you for your good comments and feedback, Amanda!
Hi Natasha,
I watched a chef make Hollandaise this morning and he threw everything in a blender and put the 1/2 cup of very warm butter to basically cook the egg yolks at the very end. So that also sounds easy. Thank you for all the good advice.
Hi Beverly. You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy this recipe.
This is a great recipe thank you. Why is it when I click on air fryer broccoli it switches to a different web site? Do you endorse these other sites?
Hi Jacqueline! The Air Fryer Broccoli recipe is my good friend Natalia’s recipe! We share each other’s recipes from time to time. In this case, she has a broccoli recipe, and I don’t. I hope you love it!
Mmm ! Love Eggs Benedict ! I used to make it all the time ..
Gotta get some eggs in the a.m.
and that is going to be brunch along with a side of asperagus ..
so good with hollandaise also !
Have a nice weekend Nat ! 😃
Eggs Benedict is a must-have! Have the best weekend also, Juniper!
Hi Natasha, my Grandparents were from Belgium. My Grandmother always made a sauce similar to this for steamed cauliflower. Place a glass bowl over a simmering pan of water on the stove. In the bowl. Melt 4 tablespoons butter, add 4 tablespoons yellow wet mustard, whisk well, whisk in 2 large egg yolks, salt and pepper, (remove the bowl if it is getting too hot so your yolks don’t scramble). Toss steamed well drained cauliflower in the sauce. Very good and never fails.
Thank you for sharing that with us, Cathy! We appreciate it.
Hi Natasha, did you use electric whisk? I´d like to try this sauce with fresh salmon but not really sure, how to whisk it to reach the perfect outcome.
Btw i love your recipes, already tried a few of them (tiramisu, chicken cajun, cauliflower, breakfast burritos,..), always tasty 🙂
Thank you
Greetings from Slovakia
Hi Zuzana, I used a handheld whisk 🙂 I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes, Zuzana!
I don’t understand why many recipes call for unsalted butter but then add salt. Why can’t I just use my salted butter?
You can control the amount of salt when using unsalted butter. You can experiment with salted butter if you’d like.
Super easy hollandaise sauce! You’re so right; it’s perfect on asparagus! My husband loves it on Eggs Benedict. I need to try it on Haricot Vert or green beans! Ikea has been serving hollandaise on salmon lately and it’s pretty good…but I really like it on the mashed potatoes. Great recipe. Lots of applications!
Thank you, Betsy. I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe. It really is delicious and so versatile.
Love hollandaise!! Just had some over my breakfast, yesterday! This is a delicious, easy recipe!
Hollandaise is a must! I’m so glad you love it too, Kristyn!
Delicious! I made this for eggs benedict but it was delicious with roasted veggies too!
So good over veggies!
This sounds delicious! And easy. Does it matter if the butter is cold from the fridge or should it be room temperature?
Hi Linda, we used cold butter, it melts into the sauce.
Will try this soon, but is it possible for me to add some beetroot pureed for a more richer flavour and pop of color? Have you ever experimented that, or can you give me advice from your professional opinion?
Hi Vanessa, I have not tested this to advise. If you try it, please share your experience.