How To Make the Best Bearnaise Sauce from Julia Child
Only one thing is better than a perfect steak! A steak topped with a delectable bearnaise sauce!
The two are the perfect match-made-in-heaven food combination! With a French bearnaise sauce, an ordinary steak transforms into an elegant, flavorful dish to “wow” your guests!
We just returned from a trip to the Midwest and bought some “Iowa Beef” that’s corn-fed for a richer flavor. So I immediately knew that I needed to whip up some bearnaise sauce to drizzle or dip the steaks in. For anything French, I turn to none other than Julia Child for her brilliant recipes!
You can prepare this bearnaise sauce in less than a half-hour! Plus you can make it ahead of time! Double-bonus!
Bearnaise sauce is a sauce made of butter, egg yolks, lemon, champagne vinegar, white wine, green onions, and tarragon. It’s not the same as Hollandaise sauce, although they are both from French cuisine.
Always start by setting out the ingredients: butter, egg yolks, vinegar, green onions/shallots, tarragon, lemon, salt, and pepper.
After mincing the green onions/shallots in butter, saute’ them in a small saucepan. Then add the vinegar and wine … cook until evaporated. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Cook until foamy. Set aside.
In a small bowl, slowly pour the butter into the egg yolks, stirring constantly.
With an immersion blender, whip the egg-butter mixture for about 3 minutes until thickened and foamy. Very important for bearnaise sauce.
Add BOTH the green onion/vinegar mixture AND the minced tarragon. Whip again with the immersion blender until thickened.
Pour into a small container with a lid. Place bearnaise sauce in the refrigerator up to an hour before serving.
Ways To Serve Bearnaise Sauce
- Obviously, bearnaise sauce pairs well with steak. You can’t go wrong drizzling this sauce on any cooked meat. Give your steaks that extra ‘wow’ touch by brushing garlic butter on the meat while grilling or pan-frying. How about pork chops or chicken? Why not? Italian Pork Chops with Garlic and Rosemary.
- Amp up your veggies too, whether they’re cooked, roasted, or raw. It’s delicious with carrots, broccoli, asparagus, green beans, and yes potatoes! Try it on Creamy, Dreamy Mashed Potatoes — it’s just heavenly! This bearnaise sauce would really elevate the flavor for our Roasted Cauliflower
- Salmon steaks. This combo is just as delicious as serving the sauce with steak. In Salmon, Peas, and Asparagus recipe, simply change out the lemon cream sauce for bearnaise sauce . . . or better yet . . . offer both sauces! Bearnaise would also be fabulous on Blackened Garlic Butter Redfish. It would go well with any firm fish too, such as halibut.
More Sauces that You Might Enjoy
- Fresh Basil Pesto Sauce
- Truffle Cream Sauce
- Creamy Lemon Caper Sauce
- Amatriciana Sauce
- Garden Fresh Marinara Sauce
- Garlic and Rosemary Sauce
- Roasted Sweet Red Pepper Sauce
- Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce
Pin for Later!
Products Recommended for Making Bernaise Sauce:
A GOOD QUALITY Hand-held Immersion Blender
A Great Steak Recipe For You To Enjoy Some Bearnaise Sauce Drizzled on Top!
Enjoy this wonderful classic recipe for Bearnaise Sauce from Julia Child!
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The Best Bearnaise Sauce from Julia Child
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 1–1/2 cup 1x
Description
This bearnaise sauce from Julia Child is the perfect way to enhance a delicious steak to a new height of flavor perfection! From ordinary to elegant with just a dollop on top. Perfect on fish and vegetables too! It can be made in advance to help free up your time in the kitchen. Creamy and yummy, if you’re a bearnaise fan, you will love this sauce!
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons minced green onions or shallots
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (add more later to taste if preferred)
- 2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh tarragon
- couple of pinches of freshly cracked black pepper
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Add green onions / shallots: stir to coat with butter.
- Stir in vinegar and white wine, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until vinegar and wine are evaporated, about 3 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low and continue cooking green onions / shallots, stirring frequently, until tender and translucent, about 5 minutes longer.
- Transfer green onions / shallot vinegar and wine reduction to a small bowl and let cool completely.
- Melt remaining butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until butter is foamy. Transfer butter to a small bowl.
- Combine egg yolks and lemon juice in a small mixing bowl.
- With an immersion blender, purée yolks and lemon juice until smooth.
- With blender running, slowly pour in warm butter in a thin, steady stream.
- Continue blending until a smooth, creamy sauce forms, about 3 minutes.
- Add in the tarragon and the green onion – vinegar and wine reduction. Give everything a whirl for another minute or two.
- Pour sauce into a medium bowl.
- Season to taste with salt, pepper.
Notes
Can be made 1 hour ahead.
Hello – I’m just wondering how much 2 sticks of butter is?
This is the recipe I use for Béarnaise sauce. It comes out great!
I do have a question on the measurements for the white wine and wine vinegar. Is it 1/4 cup of each? Mine takes much longer to evaporate than 3 minutes
Yes, Liz. The measurements are correct. Everyone’s appliances and pots/pans differ in heat conduction, etc. so a few minutes difference isn’t a problem. I sure hope you enjoyed it and that you’ll return to let us all know!
Thanks,
Roz
I beg to differ on the corn fed beef comment– I think corn fed beef tastes blah. It’s grass fed that has the best flavor. Corn feeding is tha cheap way to fatten them up quickly, in my opinion it does not improve flavor and actually hurts the quality. But thanks for the recipie!
M.,
I really appreciate your opinion and am glad that you shared it with us. Whether grass or grain-fed, I hope you’ll enjoy this bernaise sauce.
Have a great day!
Roz
I have been a Julia Child fan for about 50 years and consider myself a gourmet cook. I was looking for her Bearnaise recipe to go with the filets I got for dinner tonight. Your recipe came up and I thought I would try it. It was awesome!! I did add a little more lemon at the end and used a food processor to mix it and add the butter (no immersion or regular blender).
Kim
Thanks go to Ms. Child from both of us. This is a delicious bernaise indeed and I’m so glad that you found it here.
Thanks for your comment that others read when deciding on trying a recipe. It is so helpful for all of us.
Ciao,
Roz
How are the eggs cooked in this recipe? Or are they not cooked at all?
Hi Aimee,
No, the eggs are not cooked. Rather they are ‘warmed’ by the warm vinegar and wine sauce that is slowly mixed in to prevent the eggs from becoming scrambled eggs. I tried to show this in the step by step instructions above. Truly, if you like Bearnaise sauce, this recipe from Julia Child is excelllent! Let me know how it turns out; snap a photo and I’ll share it here with the community of readers!
Ciao,
Roz
OK…I’m inspired!!! Have never made a Bearnaise sauce, but now I’m dying to make one. Guess I’ll have to send Bobby out the buy some steak, so he can sear them while I make the sauce. What a meal!!!
Yes, I highly recommend Julia’s recipe MJ, every one of her recipes has never disappointed! Go grab those steaks!
Ciao,
Roz
My husband LOVES bearnaise sauce! I’ve made it before but I’ll get Julia’s recipe is divine!
Hi Susan,
This bernaise comes straight from one of the French masters and it is pretty darn good. I’d love to know how you make your bernaise!
Ciao,
Roz
I can’t begin to tell you how much I adore Bearnaise sauce! Our tarragon bush grows so thick and high that my husband is constantly giving it a haircut. It’s a bit decadent, but I’m going to make some, just like you did. Slathered over a perfectly cooked steak…bliss!
Wow, Debby, you are so LUCKY to have tarragon grow year round and so abundantly! You’ve got to make some homemade bearnaise since, like me, you love it so much. Tarragon doesn’t survive the colder (even though milder than the north) temps in S.C., so I buy fresh tarragon from the market. If you try this (Julia’s) recipe, please let me know and I’ll feature your results and YOU here.
Ciao,
Roz
I don’t recall ever trying Bearnaise Sauce, but I am definitely inspired by your mouth watering photos. The process is similar to Hollandaise (which I love) but I’m sure the addition of herbs and wine make it special. As always, your photos give me a major craving!! Thanks Roz!
Hi Jan,
I just popped by your blog and tried to leave a comment on your blueberry coffee cake with lemon glaze (WOW!) and it didn’t publish, so maybe you’ll get this via email (not sure) . . .
“Hi Jan! I’m so glad that you stopped by my blog and now that I have found YOU, I have subscribed to your delicious recipes! I agree, lemon goes so well with blueberries and oh my goodness, I love the addition of sour cream for extra moistness. My family would devour this in a second! Glad to read that you enjoyed the Keys; it’s been almost forever since we’ve been there and we’d love to return someday! You have a WONDERFUL blog Jan! I hope to read many more recipes to inspire me!
Roz”
If you give this Bearnaise sauce a try, let me know what you think!
Ciao,
Roz
Hi Roz, I found that your comments had gone to the spam folder. That rarely happens but has since been fixed so Thank you! I will definitely let you know when I make the Bearnaise sauce, it looks and sounds divine! Thanks for the kind words, you made my day!
Hi Jan,
Comments have been going to spam folders more frequently and I don’t know why. Glad that you found it!!! Hope your day is great!
Ciao,
Roz
Oh geez. Now you have me craving filet mignon and bernaise sauce. I’ve never made it but you make it look so easy. Tarragon is an herb I seldom think to use but it has such a good flavor.your photos are mouth watering, as always.
Hope you enjoyed this sauce, Linda!
The sauce sounds and looks really amazing! And I am seriously drooloving over that juicy, perfectly prepared steak!
As the saying goes, Angie, ‘great minds think alike’. Would love to enjoy this together with you!
Ciao,
Roz
Hi Roz! This sauce looks amazing! and your photos are just beautiful! Congrats on your monthly or weekly cooking column in the magazine – that’s so exciting! Can’t wait to see more delicious recipes!
Thank you Anna and Liz. It’s a favorite of mine and you just can’t go wrong with Julia’s magnificent recipes! And also thank you for your kind words about my magazine column….it’s fun!
Ciao and xoxo,
Roz