Perfect Blender Bearnaise Sauce

Roast beef with bearnaise sauce and vegetables

Craig van der Lende / Getty Images

Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 5 mins
Total: 10 mins
Servings: 10 servings

Bearnaise sauce is a reduction of vinegar and wine that's mixed with shallots and tarragon and then thickened with egg yolks and butter. It's absolutely an exquisite sauce that is perfect for steak, but it's also great with salmon, chicken, and vegetables, too. It's considered a "child" hollandaise sauce, (one of the five French mother sauces), except that the vinegar and tarragon replace the lemon.

And while you could certainly make your bearnaise the traditional way, in a saucepan and then emulsified using a double boiler, it's a lot more work. This simple blender version from Ina Garten works really well without the fuss, in a fraction of the time, and tastes exactly the same?

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup white wine vinegar

  • 1/4 cup white wine

  • 2 tablespoons shallots, minced

  • 3 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped, divided

  • 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided

  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  • 3 extra-large egg yolks

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, melted

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Combine vinegar, white wine, shallots, 1 tablespoon chopped tarragon, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and the black pepper in a small saucepan.

  3. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes until mixture is reduced to a few tablespoons. Cool slightly.

  4. Transfer cooled mixture with egg yolks and 1 teaspoon salt into a blender. Blend 30 seconds.

  5. With blender on, slowly pour hot butter through opening in lid. Add remaining 2 tablespoons tarragon leaves and blend for only a second.

  6. If the sauce is too thick, add a tablespoon of white wine to thin.

Raw Egg Warning

Consuming raw and lightly-cooked eggs poses a risk of food-borne illness.

Tips

Bernaise is so good on many different things, including steak, salmon, and chicken. Here are a few suggestions.

it would be positively decadent on top of these salmon patties.

Drizzle it on top of these grilled tarragon chicken breasts.

Use it instead of the compound butter called for in this recipe for grilled strip steak.

How to Store Blender Bearnaise Sauce

  • You can also make the sauce up to an hour ahead; just keep it in the blender. Right before serving, add 1 tablespoon of very hot water and blend for a few seconds to reincorporate the ingredients, which may have separated.
  • Bernaise does not freeze well. The whole idea behind this sauce is to make it as you need it and use it fresh.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
198 Calories
20g Fat
1g Carbs
2g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 10
Amount per serving
Calories 198
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 20g 26%
Saturated Fat 12g 60%
Cholesterol 123mg 41%
Sodium 183mg 8%
Total Carbohydrate 1g 0%
Dietary Fiber 0g 1%
Total Sugars 0g
Protein 2g
Vitamin C 1mg 7%
Calcium 21mg 2%
Iron 0mg 3%
Potassium 44mg 1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)