Easy Béarnaise Sauce

This post may contain paid links. See more info on my privacy page.

If you have yet to try Béarnaise, get ready to meet your new favorite sauce! Béarnaise Sauce is rich, velvety, and the perfect companion for steak, seafood, vegetables, and even burgers. As a child sauce to Hollandaise, it's an emulsion of egg yolks, butter, and seasonings that adds incredible flavor and creaminess to any dish you pair it with. Best of all, my easy Béarnaise sauce is ready in 35 minutes using simple ingredients!

Jump to:

• Béarnaise Sauce Recipe
• What is Béarnaise sauce?
• What does Béarnaise sauce taste like?
• Béarnaise Sauce Ingredients
• How to Make Béarnaise Sauce
• Storing Béarnaise Sauce
• How to Reheat Béarnaise Sauce
• Tips for Homemade Béarnaise Sauce
• Béarnaise Butter
• Sauce Béarnaise FAQ
• What to Serve with Béarnaise Sauce
• Bearnaise Sauce
• Reviews

Béarnaise Sauce Recipe

The first time I tried Béarnaise sauce was on an anniversary date to one of our favorite steakhouses. I've always loved hollandaise sauce over eggs benedict with steak, so I had a feeling Béarnaise sauce would be a winner - but I had no idea just how much I would love it!

If you're familiar with hollandaise, you might think this is a difficult sauce to make, and that you'll have to strain the sauce, use a blender, or otherwise need special equipment to make it. I'm happy to tell you: you don't! You don't even need a double boiler, and can instead make one yourself.

This Bearnaise sauce recipe is easy and, if I'm being honest, incredibly flavorful.

What is Béarnaise sauce?

Béarnaise (frequently misspelled as bernaise sauce) is an emulsified sauce made using egg yolks, butter, and a mix of seasonings. It is a derivative of Hollandaise sauce, one of the famous mother sauces of French cuisine that serve as a base for other sauces.

What does Béarnaise sauce taste like?

Classic Béarnaise sauce typically combines egg yolks and butter with shallots, white wine vinegar, tarragon, and pepper for a tangy, decadent flavor with a slight herbal note that pairs especially well with beef and seafood. 

Béarnaise Sauce Ingredients

• White wine vinegar
• Shallot, minced
• Fresh tarragon or dried tarragon
• Freshly cracked black peppercorns
• Large egg yolks
• Unsalted butter

How to Make Béarnaise Sauce

1. Create the vinegar reduction: Heat a small frying pan over medium-low on the stove. Once hot, add vinegar, shallot, black pepper, and chopped tarragon. Let the mixture simmer for 10-15 minutes, until well-reduced with no more than a few Tablespoons of liquid left. Then, set aside.
   
2. Prepare the double boiler: In a small saucepan, heat 1-inch of water. While the water heats, combine the cooled vinegar reduction with egg yolks and a splash of water in a metal mixing bowl. Place this mixing bowl on top of the water-filled saucepan, making sure the water does not touch the bowl (alternatively, use a double boiler).
   
3. Add butter and stir, stir, stir: While whisking continuously, melt butter into the mixture by adding 2 to 4 Tablespoons at a time. Whisk until each addition fully melts before adding more butter.
   
4. Once the sauce reaches your desired thickness, remove it from the heat and serve. Enjoy!

Storing Béarnaise Sauce

Store leftover Bearnaise in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days. It is best to use up all of this delicious sauce quickly, as it doesn't last long - but that shouldn't be a problem for how tasty it is!

How to Reheat Béarnaise Sauce

To reheat, gently warm the sauce in a saucepan over low heat. Continuously whisk as it heats until it regains the desired consistency. Be careful not to overheat the sauce or heat it too quickly!

Tips for Homemade Béarnaise Sauce

• Make sure to maintain a low cooking temperature while making the sauce to avoid scrambling the eggs. This is why using a double boiler (or making one yourself using a metal bowl and pot) is important. The heat should never directly touch the sauce mixture.
• Make sure to let the herb vinegar reduction cool before adding it to the other ingredients, or you will scramble the eggs.
• If the sauce thickens too much, add a small splash of water while whisking.
• Make sure to consistently whisk while making this sauce when adding the butter. You don't want to step away or stop while it cooks.

Béarnaise Butter

If you need to make this sauce more than 2 days ahead of time, I recommend instead making a Bearnaise butter by combining the vinegar and shallot reduction and seasonings with softened butter, then rolling it into a log and refrigerating for later. Simply leave out the egg yolks. Follow my Garlic Butter Recipe to learn how to make compound butter and form it into a log for later.

Sauce Béarnaise FAQ

What to Serve with Béarnaise Sauce

• Filet mignon: The combination of rich, beefy filet mignon with this sauce is unbeatable. 
• Lobster tail: Serve this alongside the filet mignon above for the perfect surf and turf with bearnaise.
• Crab legs: I love crab legs with this dish - give my grilled crab legs or steamed crab legs a try!
• Wagyu beef burger: There is nothing like a burger slathered in bearnaise sauce.