Velouté sauce
Non-vegetarian
Sauce velouté
Light chicken stock thickened with a pale blond roux and simmered until silky. One of the five classical mother sauces, and the base for sauce suprême, sauce allemande and countless cream-of soups.
Velouté sauce is a French sauce from France, ready in about 45 minutes and made with chicken stock, unsalted butter and all-purpose flour. It serves 10 and is rated intermediate to cook.
No licensed photograph of this dish yet.
- Prep
- 5 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Total
- 45 min
- Serves
- 10
- Level
- Intermediate
- Calories
- 108
Method
Step 1
Weigh the butter and flour exactly: 60 g of each per litre of finished sauce gives a classic nappe sauce. (40 g each gives a thin sauce for soups; 80 g each gives a thick binding sauce.) Warm the stock in a separate pan until steaming, about 70–80 °C, and keep it warm.
- 5 min
- medium heat
- Saucepan (opens in a new tab)
Step 2
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan (opens in a new tab) over medium-low heat. Add the flour and stir constantly with a wooden spoon (opens in a new tab) for 4–5 minutes to make a blond roux: it should bubble gently, loosen slightly, turn the colour of straw and smell of biscuits, with no brown flecks.
- 5 min
- medium-low heat
- Saucepan (opens in a new tab)
- Wooden spoon (opens in a new tab)
If the roux darkens beyond pale gold, the sauce will be greyish and less thick; start again.
Step 3
Take the pan off the heat for 1 minute. Add about 250 ml of the warm stock and whisk (opens in a new tab) vigorously until completely smooth and very thick, then whisk in the rest in three or four additions, whisking each smooth before the next.
Food safety: Lumps form when a hot roux meets hot liquid all at once. Add warm (not boiling) liquid gradually, whisking each addition smooth, or let the roux cool a little first.
How it looks · Photo: Kampus Production on Pexels Step 4
Return to medium heat and bring to the boil, whisking, then lower to a bare simmer. Cook for 25–30 minutes, uncovered, stirring the bottom and corners every few minutes and skimming the skin and fat that collect at the edge. The sauce reduces from about 1.2 litres to 1 litre and loses all floury taste.
- 30 min
- low heat
- Whisk (opens in a new tab)
- Ladle (opens in a new tab)
How it looks · Photo: Bachir Mamud on Pexels Step 5
Check the consistency: the sauce is ready when it is nappe — it coats the back of a spoon evenly, and a finger drawn across the coated spoon leaves a clean line that does not run back. Too thin, simmer a few minutes longer; too thick, whisk (opens in a new tab) in a little hot stock.
Step 6
Season lightly with salt and white pepper (opens in a new tab), then pass through a fine sieve into a clean pan or container. To stop a skin forming, dot the surface with a few flakes of butter or press baking paper onto it.
How it looks · Photo: Katerina Holmes on Pexels
About this dish
- Origin
- France · Well documentedNamed as a grande sauce by Carême in the early 19th century and kept by Escoffier in Le Guide culinaire (1903). The ratio given here (60 g each butter and flour per litre of finished sauce) is the standard modern school ratio for a medium, nappe-consistency sauce.Also popular in United Kingdom, United StatesMore food from France
- Dish
- Lunch · Dinner · Sauces
- Cooking method
- Simmered
- Taste
- savoury, mild, buttery, rich
- Diet
- No nut ingredients · Low-carbWorked out from the ingredients. How labels work
All labels
Non-vegetarian · Flexitarian-friendly · Egg-free · No nut ingredients · No added sugar · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free · Low-carb - Good for
- Make-ahead · Freezer-friendly · Batch cooking
- Cook more with
- Chicken stock · Unsalted butter · All-purpose flour · White pepper
- Techniques
- Boiling · Simmering · Reduction · Roux thickening
Allergens
- Contains: Milkfrom unsalted butter
- Contains: Wheatfrom all-purpose flour
- Contains: Glutenfrom all-purpose flour
- May contain: Celeryfrom chicken stock
Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.
Nutrition
108 kcal per serving
Calculated1 serving ≈ 100 g · recipe makes 10
Where the energy comes from
- Protein 14%
- Carbohydrate 33%
- Fat 53%
| Nutrient | Per serving | Per 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 108 kcal | 108 kcal |
| Protein | 3.7 g | 3.7 g |
| Carbohydrate | 8.9 g | 8.9 g |
| Net carbohydrate | 8.7 g | 8.7 g |
| Sugars | 1.9 g | 1.9 g |
| Added sugars | 0 g | 0 g |
| Fibre | 0.2 g | 0.2 g |
| Fat | 6.4 g | 6.4 g |
| Saturated fat | 3.4 g | 3.4 g |
| Trans fat | — | — |
| Cholesterol | 17 mg | 17 mg |
| Sodium | 289 mg | 289 mg |
| Salt equivalent | 0.7 g | 0.7 g |
Vitamins & minerals per serving
- Potassium
- 134 mg
- Calcium
- 6 mg
- Iron
- 0.5 mg
- Magnesium
- 6 mg
- Vitamin A (RAE)
- 42 µg
- Vitamin C
- 0 mg
- Vitamin D
- 0 µg
- Vitamin B12
- 0 µg
- Folate (DFE)
- 24 µg
How these numbers were made
- Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
- “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
- Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.
Good to know
Tips
- The full skimming simmer is what makes velouté 'velvety': the long cook removes the floury taste and lets the impurities rise so they can be skimmed off.
- Make the stock yourself if you can, or use a low-salt one; a salty cube stock becomes unpleasantly salty when reduced.
- For sauce suprême, add 150 ml double cream to 1 litre velouté and reduce back to nappe, then finish with 30 g cold butter.
Common mistakes
- Browning the roux. Velouté needs a blond roux that is cooked but not coloured.
- Serving it after five minutes. Undercooked velouté tastes of raw flour and has a pasty finish.
- Seasoning at the start. The sauce reduces by about a sixth, so salt added early ends up too strong.
Serve with
- Poached chicken or blanquette-style dishes (finish with cream and egg yolk for sauce allemande).
- Base for cream of mushroom, chicken or asparagus soup — thin with stock and add puréed vegetables.
- Vol-au-vent and chicken pie fillings; fish velouté with poached sole or cod.
Food safety
- Stock-based sauces are a good medium for bacteria. Cool quickly (spread in a shallow container or set the pan in iced water), refrigerate within 2 hours and bring back to a full simmer before serving.
Storage
- Refrigerate, surface covered, for up to 3 days; freeze for up to 3 months.
Reheating
- Reheat gently, whisking, with a splash of stock; bring to a simmer before serving.
Variations
- Sauce suprême (France): Velouté reduced with cream and finished with butter; the classic sauce for poached chicken.
- Sauce allemande (parisienne) (France): Veal velouté thickened further off the heat with a liaison of egg yolks and cream, sharpened with lemon juice.
- Fish velouté and sauce vin blanc (France): Made with fish fumet; reduce with white wine and mount with butter for poached fish.
Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated
Goes with
Recipe DNA
How this dish is built
Grouped by each ingredient’s role in the dish. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.
What the dish is built around
Main ingredient
- Unsalted butter, cut into cubes60 g
- All-purpose flour, plain (all-purpose), sifted60 g
Make it milder, swap ingredients for your diet, change the batch size or thickness — the original stays as it is.
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