Skip to content

Top Navigation

MyRecipes MyRecipes
  • Course
  • Baking
  • Global
  • Healthy
  • Favorite Ingredients
  • Holidays and Occasions
  • Quick and Easy
  • Convenience Recipes
  • BBQ and Grilling
  • How To
  • Extra Crispy
  • Well Done
  • News

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Account

  • Register
  • Recipe Box this link opens in a new tab
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Pin FB

Explore MyRecipes

MyRecipes MyRecipes
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 1 55+ Easy Dinner Recipes for Busy Weeknights

      Everybody understands the stuggle of getting dinner on the table after a long day. If you're looking for a simple recipe to simplify your weeknight, you've come to the right place--easy dinners are our specialty. For an easy supper that you can depend on, we picked out some of our tried-and-true favorites that have gotten us through even the busiest of days. Whether you're cooking for yourself or for a family, these easy dinners are sure to leave everyone satisfied and stress-free. Read More Next
    • 2 The Brilliant Secret to Making Better Mashed Potatoes

      Trust me, it’s so worth it. Read More Next
    • 3 65 Super Easy Finger Foods to Make for Any Party

      From chips and dip to one-bite apps, finger foods are the perfect way to kick off a party. No forks or spoons required, just easy-to-pick-up party foods, so you can clean up in no time.  Read More Next
  • Course

    Course

    See All Course
    • Appetizer Recipes
    • Drink and Cocktail Recipes
    • Salad Recipes
    • Side Dishes
    • Soup and Stew Recipes
    • Menus & Parties
    • Breakfast and Brunch Recipes
    • Main Dishes and Entrées
    • Dinner Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
  • Baking

    Baking

    See All Baking
    • Bread Recipes
    • Our Most-Loved Cake Recipes
    • Cookie Recipes
    • Pie Recipes
  • Global

    Global

    See All Global
    • Spanish Recipes
    • Thai Recipes
    • Vietnamese Recipes
    • Middle Eastern Recipes
    • Mexican Recipes
    • Malaysian Recipes
    • Korean Recipes
    • Japanese Recipes
    • Italian Recipes
    • Indian Recipes
    • Greek Recipes
    • French Recipes
    • Chinese Recipes
    • African Recipes
    • American Recipes
    • Cajun and Creole Recipes
    • Caribbean Recipes
    • South American Recipes
    • Southern Recipes
    • German Recipes
  • Healthy

    Healthy

    See All Healthy
    • Easy, Healthy Recipes
    • Healthy Breakfasts
    • Healthy Dinners
    • Healthy Desserts
    • Diabetic Recipes
    • Gluten-Free Diet and Recipes
    • Vegan Recipes
    • Low Carbohydrate Recipes
    • Low Cholesterol Recipes
    • Low Fat Recipes
    • Low Sodium Recipes
    • Low Calorie Recipes
    • Vegetarian Recipes
  • Favorite Ingredients

    Favorite Ingredients

    See All Favorite Ingredients
    • The Ultimate Guide to Chicken
    • Vegetable Recipes
    • Beef Recipes
    • Cheese Recipes
    • Chocolate Recipes
    • Pasta Recipes
    • Pork Recipes
    • Seafood Recipes
    • Shrimp Recipes
  • Holidays and Occasions

    Holidays and Occasions

    See All Holidays and Occasions
    • A Foodie's Guide to Halloween Recipes
    • The Ultimate Thanksgiving Guide
    • Hanukkah Recipes
    • Your Ultimate Christmas Recipe Guide
    • Our Most Festive New Year's Recipes
    • Super Bowl Recipes
    • Best Valentine's Day Recipes
    • Mardi Gras Recipes
    • Easter Recipes
    • Labor Day Recipes
    • The Ultimate Fourth of July Guide
    • Memorial Day Recipes
    • Tailgating Recipes
    • Wedding and Shower Recipes
  • Quick and Easy

    Quick and Easy

    See All Quick and Easy
    • 15-Minute Recipes for Busy Home Cooks
    • 45-Minute Recipes
    • 5 Ingredients or Less
    • Dinner Tonight
    • No-Cook Recipes
  • Convenience Recipes

    Convenience Recipes

    See All Convenience Recipes
    • Instant Pot Recipes
    • Kid Approved
    • Our Top Make-Ahead Recipes
    • Our Favorite Slow Cooker Recipes
  • BBQ and Grilling

    BBQ and Grilling

    See All BBQ and Grilling
    • Grilled Beef Recipes
    • Grilled Chicken Recipes
    • Grilled Fish Recipes
    • Grilled Pork Recipes
    • Grilled Shrimp Recipes
    • Grilled Vegetable Recipes
  • How To

    How To

    See All How To
    • 7 Ways With
    • Cooking Questions
    • Ingredients and Tools
    • Kitchen Cleaning
    • Videos
  • Extra Crispy
  • Well Done

    Well Done

    See All Well Done
    • Homemade vs. The Internet
    • How-to and Explainers
    • Mom vs.
    • Recipe Videos
  • News

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Account

  • Register
  • Recipe Box this link opens in a new tab
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home Chevron Right
  2. Course Chevron Right
  3. Sauces Chevron Right
  4. Master Cooking Sauces

Master Cooking Sauces

Updated December 18, 2008
Skip gallery slides
Save Pin
Credit: Evan Sklar

Nothing gives you more confidence as a cook than knowing how to make a great sauce.

Start Slideshow

1 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email

Béchamel Sauce

Credit: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Jan Gautro

A béchamel sauce, or white sauce, is one of the foundations of creative cooking. It's traditionally made by stirring milk or cream into a butter-flour mixture called a roux. It can be used alone as a topping for vegetables, or as the creamy component in soups, casseroles, and pasta dishes. Here, a light white sauce is used as the creamy base for lasagna.

Recipe: Mushroom Lasagna with Creamy Béchamel

1 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email

Mornay Sauce

Credit: Rick Lew; Styling: Ana Kelley

A Mornay sauce is a variation of a basic white sauce and can be made with a variety of cheeses. Because it's a fairly mild sauce, it typically served with eggs, fish, shellfish, vegetables and chicken. Here, it's featured in the classic French dish Croque-Madame, a toasted ham and cheese sandwich topped with an egg and the creamy sauce.

Recipe: Croque-Madame

2 of 9

3 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email

Béarnaise Sauce

Credit: Coastal Living

A Béarnaise sauce is a classic French sauce made with a reduction of vinegar, wine, tarragon, and shallots, and finished with egg yolks and butter. It's usually served with meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables. We feature it here with grilled sirloin and potato cakes.

Recipe: Grilled Prime Aged Sirloin with Garlic-Scallion Potato Cakes and Béarnaise Sauce

3 of 9

Advertisement

4 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email

Alfredo Sauce

Credit: Randy Mayor; Styling: Melanie J. Clarke

This sauce is best known in the traditional dish fettuccine Alfredo, which is how it's used here. It's a rich sauce of butter, Parmesan cheese and heavy cream.

Recipe: Alfredo Sauce (with fettuccine)

4 of 9

5 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email

Marinara Sauce

Credit: Becky Luigart-Stayner

There are a number of different definitions of a marinara sauce, but it's typically some kind of tomato sauce, either from fresh or canned tomatoes. It's a versatile sauce, but you'll often see it spooned over pasta.

Recipe: Marinara Sauce over Rotini

5 of 9

6 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email

Gravy

Credit: Annabelle Breakey

A gravy is simple a sauce made with the juices or drippings of meat and poultry. The juices are usually combined with broth, wine, or milk and thickened with some type of flour or cornstarch. See our how-video for tips on making gravy.

Recipe: Sunset's Best Easy Gravy 

6 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email

Mushroom Sauce

Credit: Randy Mayor

You can make a mushroom sauce with a variety of mushrooms and get a hearty, almost "meat-like" flavor. This mushroom sauce with port is reminiscent of the classic bordelaise sauce, a French sauce made with wine, brown stock, and bone marrow, but made in a fraction of the time.

Recipe: Port-Wine Mushroom Sauce

7 of 9

8 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email

Custard Sauce

Credit: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Cindy Barr

Custard sauce is also known as stirred custard, boiled custard, and crème anglaise (English cream). It's traditionally used for Bavarian creams and ice creams and for spooning over fruits and desserts and is a classic dessert sauce.

Recipe: Cinnamon Crème Anglaise

8 of 9

9 of 9

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email

Chocolate Sauce

Credit: Evan Sklar

Four ingredients are all you need for this luscious chocolate sauce to spoon over cake, ice cream, or fruit.

Recipe: Fudge Sauce

9 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 9 Béchamel Sauce
2 of 9 Mornay Sauce
3 of 9 Béarnaise Sauce
4 of 9 Alfredo Sauce
5 of 9 Marinara Sauce
6 of 9 Gravy
7 of 9 Mushroom Sauce
8 of 9 Custard Sauce
9 of 9 Chocolate Sauce

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email

Login

MyRecipes

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Advertising this link opens in a new tab
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
MyRecipes.com is part of the Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. MyRecipes is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. MyRecipes may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.myrecipes.com

View image

Master Cooking Sauces
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.