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This silky Lemon Butter Sauce (Beurre Blanc Recipe) is rich, tangy, and perfect for salmon, shrimp, or veggies. Easy to make in just 12 minutes – restaurant-quality flavor at home!
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This Beurre Blanc Sauce Recipe – also known as lemon butter sauce with white wine – is rich, velvety, and packed with a tangy flavor. Traditionally French, it’s the ultimate butter lemon sauce for fish, but it also works beautifully with veggies or even tossed with lemon butter sauce pasta.
Whether you’re cooking salmon, shrimp, or asparagus, this sauce instantly elevates the dish. Plus, it’s ready in just about 12 minutes!
⭐ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Quick & easy – Ready in under 15 minutes
- Elegant – Restaurant-style flavor with simple ingredients
- Versatile – Perfect lemon butter sauce for fish, seafood, or veggies
- Customizable – Easy to tweak for your taste
🛒 Ingredients & Substitutions
- dry white wine – such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. Avoid anything sweet.
- lemon juice – fresh is best, but bottles works in a pinch.
- shallot – No shallots? Finely minced white or yellow onion works – use 2 teaspoons.
- crème fraîche – or substitute with heavy cream or high-fat sour cream
- salted butter – Unsalted butter? It also works fine – just add a pinch of salt to taste.
✨ Variations
- Herbed Beurre Blanc – Stir in chopped chives, dill, or tarragon before serving.
- Zesty Kick – Add a bit of lemon zest for extra citrus flavor.
- Garlic Lovers – Add a small clove of garlic with the shallots for more depth.
🔥 Tips
- Keep the heat low when adding the butter to avoid breaking the sauce.
- Whisk constantly to emulsify the butter into a smooth texture.
- Serve immediately for best results – this sauce doesn’t hold or reheat well.
❓ FAQs
It’s best fresh, but you can keep it warm over low heat for a short time. Whisk gently if it starts to separate.
Absolutely! Toss it with cooked pasta for a quick and elegant lemon butter sauce pasta dish.
Yes! It’s a classic lemon butter sauce for fish, especially salmon, halibut, or cod.
This usually happens if the heat is too high or butter is added too fast. Keep the heat low and add butter slowly while whisking.
Nope! It’s optional. Straining gives you a smoother sauce, but leaving them in adds texture and flavor.
It’s perfect for salmon, scallops, shrimp, asparagus, green beans, and other steamed or roasted veggies.
Try fresh herbs like tarragon, chives, or dill. A bit of lemon zest also boosts the citrus notes.
Beurre Blanc doesn’t keep well. If needed, store in the fridge for one day. Reheat very gently over low heat while whisking to re-emulsify.
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Lemon Butter Sauce
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Equipment
- fine mesh strainer optional
Ingredients
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 small shallot, finely minced
- ¼ cup crème fraîche, or heavy cream or high-fat sour cream
- 6 tablespoons salted butter, cold and cubed
Instructions
- Reduce the Wine & Shallots: In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the white wine, lemon juice, and minced shallot. Simmer until the liquid reduces by half, about 4 to 5 minutes.
- Incorporate the Crème Fraîche: Lower the heat and whisk in the crème fraîche until smooth.
- Emulsify with Butter: Reduce heat to low. Whisk in the cold butter, one cube at a time, allowing each piece to melt before adding the next. Continue whisking until the sauce is smooth and velvety.
- Strain & Serve (Optional): For an ultra-smooth sauce, strain out the shallots before serving. Drizzle warm over salmon, seafood, or vegetables.
Notes
- Store: Best served fresh – Beurre Blanc doesn’t keep well. It can be refrigerated for 1 day and very gently reheated over low heat while whisking to re-emulsify.
- Use with: Salmon, shrimp, scallops, asparagus, green beans, or pasta.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
