Bechamel sauce is a basic in French cooking. It’s a thick sauce made of butter, flour, milk and nutmeg that adds creaminess to a lot of famous French dishes. You can use it for making veggies au gratin with spinach, egg plant, Belgian endives or anything you like! Bechamel is often used in lasagna and eggs mimosa. You can even subsitute creme fraiche with Bechamel when making quiches! Explore 
Bechamel sauce is also used in the famous Croque-Monsieur served in Parisian brasseries. Coming soon…
Preparation time: 15 to 20 minutes 
Ingredients (for 2 cups)
1.4 oz (40 g) of butter
4 tablespoons (1.4 oz/ 40 g) of flour
2 cups (50 cl) of milk
1/4 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
Salt & pepper
Instructions
1/ Dice butter and melt it in a small pan over low heat. (Be careful not to let your butter get burnt! Once it gets a brownish color, it’s too late… The taste has changed and it’s pretty bad for health eating it like that. If it happens to you, best choice is to throw it out and do it again with new butter.)
2/ Once butter is melted, add all flour at once and stir energically with a wooden spoon until mixture is homegeneous.
3/ Let mixture cook for about 5 minutes stirring often so it doesn’t get burnt. (You’ll see it bubbling; mixture should keep its white color at all times.)
4/ Pour a small quantity of milk and stir. Repeat operation until you get a nice creamy texture. (If it is too liquid, just leave it for a while over low heat, it will thicken.)
5/ Season with grated nutmeg, salt and pepper and stir again. (At this point, you should taste your bechamel and adjust seasoning if needed.)
6/ That’s it! Ready to use
lasagna recipes Says: août 1st, 2010 at 4:19
I didn’t know that you call it that, I usually make this(without the nutmeg) for my lasagna.
I thought I was just sort of improvising because I don’t have enough cheese at the time so I made it to make my lasagna looked liked heavy on cheese, lol! Then I’ve been doing it ever since because I noticed that it makes my lasagna really moist. Perhaps I’d tried adding grated nutmeg, I bet it does makes a lot of difference.
Shree Says: août 1st, 2010 at 6:55
nice instructions. Although if the butter does change color, you get Ghee (clarified butter) which is just notorious for the amount of saturated fats, it can be had in moderation, not that you’re going to keel over in a day
) The point of the bechamel is the purity of the white color to resemble creaminess and all the good stuff, so I can see why one would want to restart using fresh butter if the color does change.
Cristina Says: août 1st, 2010 at 9:00
I luv how you laid out the directions supported by images. I’ve used bechamel in lasagna and really enjoyed it. It was odd at first, having lasagna without a tomato-based sauce. Great post!
Sharlene (Wheels and Lollipops) Says: août 1st, 2010 at 9:02
Definitely a sauce to know especially living in France. However within recent years I’ve seen this being used less and less…
Brie Says: août 2nd, 2010 at 10:24
ooo, what a great looking sauce – i love how thick it is. delicious!
Cookie Says: août 13th, 2010 at 3:52
OOOH! I just made some bechamel sauce for the first time the other week. Wasn’t sure if it was supposed to get so thick, but looks like I did ok! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Sophie Says: août 16th, 2010 at 11:32
I don’t eat béchamel sauces in summer time but I love them in wintertime!!
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM,..I use it with steamed caulifolwer & ham wrapped witloof in a cheese bechamelsauce in the oven,…with mashed potatoes!!
G. Says: août 20th, 2010 at 6:20
it’s hard to beat a good bechamel sauce! yours looks so perfect!
Gaelle@whatareyoufeedingyourkidsthesedays.com Says: août 23rd, 2010 at 5:56
One dish we make with Bechamel is Moussaka! For those who master the Bechamel, it’s basically a start to make cheese souffles.
Penelope Says: septembre 14th, 2010 at 1:52
Hey, I was reading your post and I just wanted to thank you for putting out such excellent content. There is so much crap on the internet these days its hard to find anything worthwhile. I actually have cooked this recipe before, I got this book last month on recommendation from a friend http://ninjahq.com/go/cookingrecipes and it turned out very nice! I’m very eager to try your variation of it though, it looks excellent. I think you might enjoy those recipes, they’re very good. Thanks for the article and great ideas.
marie mlmmm Says: septembre 17th, 2010 at 3:07
last week i had croque monsiour at a small local cafe in oingt beaujolais – it was dreadful!!! remind the french to use bechamel sauce – no packet ham & grated cheese svp
Claudia Says: septembre 26th, 2010 at 6:42
I love the fresh nutmeg in this. I love how the Italians and French have basically the same sauce with different pronunciation!
The Kindle 2 Cookbook Says: février 10th, 2011 at 8:19
wows!!!!!it looks delicious…i love thick sauce…thanks for sharing this
Tanisha Says: mai 7th, 2011 at 3:48
Ghee is NOT burnt butter.
Natashia Says: juin 9th, 2011 at 5:49
Second time (out of million times) i follow an online recipe and i do it so WELL…
GREAT is not the word!
The texture of this recipe is mind boggling
Id say the secret lies in knowing when to cook on heat and when to cook without heat..
TRIED, I’d give it 4.5 on 5 !