Life-changing recipe: the easy no-lumps white sauce

Have you been looking for an easy white sauce recipe that'll guarantee you no lumps? If so, read on...

by Carol Muskoron

I always used to feel I had no control over white sauce recipes. I'd whisk hard while adding the milk but still, sometimes, the lumps might well end up in there. Grrrr! And once there, they could not be shifted unless you sieved the sauce, losing half of it. But then I had a couple of revelations through trial and error: use less flour than fat, and add hot milk not cold, and you can't go wrong. Well, I've had lump-free white sauces ever since adopting these principles. Here's my recipe for a basic easy white sauce that's enough to cover a whole cauliflower in a cauliflower cheese with a cheesy white sauce, or enough to make a lasagne with a basic white bechamel sauce, or use in a cheesy fish pie made with white sauce, or simply feed four as a pasta sauce.


To serve four: Melt 80g butter and sprinkle on 50g plain flour, mix and cook on a low heat for a couple of minutes. The quantities are important here because usually people use far too much flour. Heat about 1 litre of milk and, with a whisk at the ready, and when the milk is hot but not boiling, throw it in the saucepan and whisk well, continuing to do so for a few minutes while the sauce thickens. Whisking in hot milk makes it pretty much impossible for the pesky lumps to form and the result is a really professional white sauce that is so so smooth! I always add Dijon mustard, garlic and cheese to my white sauce and have it with fresh veg with fresh pasta, sprinkled with almond slithers. Yum! Enjoy your lump-free life from now on!


Find more SAUCE RECIPES


Try my sauce technique in this CHEESY VEG BAKE RECIPE.


Life changing recipe: SPICY STAPLE.

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About The Authors

Carla  Griscti

Carla Griscti

Editorial assistant on allaboutyou; Music lover, travel bee and food fanatic.

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Emma Marsden

Emma Marsden

Food consultant of All About You, loves creating something out of nothing and decluttering.

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Bernadette  Fallon

Bernadette Fallon

Editor of All About You; an online journalist with a fetish for glossy magazines.

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Adrienne  Wyper

Adrienne Wyper

Deputy editor of All About You. I love cycling, cooking and creating

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Carol  Muskoron

Carol Muskoron

Associate editor of All About You, loves life (mostly) and one-pan recipes (always).

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