I can easily admit that I have an addiction for béchamel sauce. I could literally eat it with a spoon, and I actually do that all the time I make béchamel for lasagna. Béchamel sauce is, in fact, the classic white sauce that in the Italian cuisine we use for lasagna, cannelloni or veggies au gratin.

The process to make béchamel from scratch is extremely easy. You need only 3 ingredients, but the results is surprising. Adding béchamel sauce can completely change a dish, and again, you cannot really make lasagna without béchamel, so you gotta learn it! 🙂

What is béchamel sauce made of?

Butter
Milk
All-purpous flour

The secret for the perfect béchamel is in the proportions of butter, flour and milk. In the first phase you need to make the roux: a paste made by whisking melted butter and all-purpose flour together. This is the base where you will add the milk and also what makes your sauce more or less thick. As I said the proportion among these 3 ingredients is important. So, if you like a more liquid béchamel sauce you should reduce the amount of butter and flour. On the contrary, if you decide to make a thicker sauce you should increase the amount of butter and flour. In both cases the amount of milk will be the same, 1L.

Béchamel Sauce Recipe

Recipe by GiadaCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Béchamel is the classic white sauce that in the Italian cuisine we use for lasagna, cannelloni or veggies au gratin.

Ingredients

100g Butter
100g Flour
1L Milk

Directions

Warm the milk and keep it on the side. In another saucepan melt the butter over low heat. Once the butter is melted, add the flour and stir constantly with a whisk until it gets golden. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Make the roux. In a large saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in flour and whisk constantly to avoid lumps. At this point the flour starts cooking together with the butter and you will get to a paste, the roux, that is ready when it gets to a sandy color.
Little by little pour hot milk into the roux while keep whisking to avoid lumps. Cook it over a low heat until it gets to a boil. You will understand the béchamel sauce is ready because it will start to get thickened while you are whisking it.
Add salt and a pinch of nutmeg for a more wintry taste