Making a white sauce is one of those skills in life that you just need to learn! Whether it's for lasagne, macaroni cheese or potato gratin, it forms the base of many tasty dishes that we all love.
Yes, you can cheat and pop to the shops for a pre-made sauce, but why bother when it's so easy to make! Still not sure? Just take a look at our quick and simple recipe and see for yourself...
Ingredients
- 50g (2oz) butter
- 50g (2oz) plain flour
- 600ml (1 pint) milk
- Grated nutmeg, optional
GHI TIP: Makes 600ml (1 pint)
Method
- Melt butter in a pan over a low heat. Add flour and cook for 1min, stirring continuously, until mixture is smooth, thick and no floury lumps remain.
- Turn off heat and slowly add milk a little bit at a time, stirring continuously to make sure there are no lumps. When combined and smooth, turn heat back on and keep stirring, making sure to get spoon into bottom and edges of pan.
- Once sauce boils, it should start to thicken. Change to a whisk and whisk constantly, simmering sauce for 2min, to cook out floury taste and make sauce glossy.
- Season to taste. To enhance flavour, add a little freshly grated nutmeg. For macaroni cheese, just add the cheddar!
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An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
