How to Make Besciamella (White Sauce)

Guido Pedrelli
Guido Pedrelli
Italian Cuisine Expert and Food Blogger
Guido Pedrelli
Guido Pedrelli, the mastermind behind Nonna Box, has honed his culinary expertise for decades, inspired by family feasts in Emilia-Romagna. Mentored by his restaurateur nonna, he mastered Italian classics and furthered his skills with professional culinary studies in desserts and gelato making from Mec3. Today, he shares this rich legacy and authentic recipes through Nonna Box.
Expertise: Italian cuisine, Pasta, Pizza, Pastry, Dessert

Known in Italy as besciamella or balsamella, this basic recipe is simply hot milk whisked into a creamy roux. The term béchamel is often used interchangeably with white sauce, since it is indeed a sauce that is white in color. However “white sauce” is a more generic term that also applies to béchamel’s variations and other sauces that happen to be white as well.

besciamella recipe white sauce step by step by nonna box

When it comes to knowing your way around a kitchen, nothing declares your pro status quite like being able to make delicious sauces. Roasting veggies or creating a quick pasta dish is easy, but it takes real skill to create a delicious sauce to go with it. If you want to take a leap forward in the kitchen by making “mother sauces” like a professional, especially béchamel, a pinch of confidence and dash of patience will be your most important ingredients. Keep reading to find out how to make besciamella at home with this simple recipe.

Equipment you need to make besciamella

For equipment, you won’t need much to make this sauce, just two saucepans and a whisk really. However, you will need to stay next to your stove top the entire time, because constant stirring is one of the most important aspects of making sure your white sauce comes out smooth and creamy. Here is all you will need:

  • two saucepans, one with high sides
  • a whisk

Luckily, the recipe from start to finish will take you only about 20 minutes and if you follow our tips and instructions you are sure to create the perfect creamy white sauce.

Ingredients for making basic bechamel sauce

besciamella ingredients white sauce layed on a table: butter, black pepper, nutmeg, milk, flour and salt.
  • Whole milk (2 cups)  – you can use either full fat or reduced fat milk. You can even make this recipe vegan, see our vegan adjustments below by substituting soy milk and margarine.
  • Butter (4 tablespoons) – most Italians cook with unsalted butter, so if you can find it then that is the preference. However, salted butter will work fine too.
  • All-purpose flour (4 tablespoons) – you can use all-purpose flour or Italian “00” flour for this recipe. You will need to sift it to ensure it doesn’t have lumps.
  • Salt – to taste, we recommend sea salt.
  • Pepper – to taste, we recommend freshly ground pepper.
  • Nutmeg – just a dash is all you’ll need to give your white sauce that special flavor. This is optional, but we highly recommend it when making Italian dishes.

How to make bechamel sauce step by step

  1. Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat, until just about to boil. You’ll know it’s ready when a small amount of steam comes up as you stir the sauce. photo 1
  2. While the milk is heating, in another saucepan with high sides melt the butter over medium low heat. photo 2
    besciamella recipe, add the milk to a saucepan and in an another pan melt the butter
  3. Slowly add the flour to the melted butter photo 3, whisking continuously, creating a smooth mixture. Keep whisking for another minute as the roux cooks photo 4. Be careful not to let it brown.
    besciamella recipe, add the flour to the pan with the melted butter slowly, and mix until the roux if formed.
  4. Begin to slowly whisk the milk into the roux, one small ladleful at a time. Be patient and don’t rush. The mixture will be thick and difficult to whisk at first, but will thin out as you add the remainder of the milk.
    besciamella recipe step by step picture: add the warmed milk little by little to the roux and mix
  5. Once all the milk is fully incorporated, season to taste with the salt and pepper. If you want to add nutmeg, go ahead and add a pinch now. photo 7
    white sauce recipe step by step, incorporate the nutmeg, pepper and salt and continue to mix until the sauce thickens.
  6. Keep whisking slowly until the sauce thickens. This will take about 12-15 minutes, so don’t worry if your sauce seems too thin at the beginning. It’s ready when it begins to stick to the whisk in a nice thick coat. photo 8
  7. Remove from heat and use in your recipe, or let cool completely before storing.

photo of ready besciamella white sauce in a bowl on a table

Other sauces to try out:

Expert tips

  • Knowing how thick a sauce you want is essential. You will want your sauce to be thick enough to make your lasagna nice and moist but not soupy mess. It generally shouldn’t be thin enough to be runny, although a thinner version (made with a little more milk) makes a nice base for a creamy soup.
  • Where to use besciamella. Besciamella appears in a number of Italian recipes, usually acting as a luscious binding agent for pasta or vegetable dishes, for the main course or sides. One of the most well-known is traditional Italian lasagne, but it can also be added to creamy macaroni and cheese. Mornay sauce is simply a béchamel with cheese melted into it. Which means the next time you make homemade macaroni and cheese you can call it your Pasta a la Mornay.

Vegan and runny variations of besciamella

  • To make vegan besciamella. To make a vegan version of this recipe you can substitute the butter with a high-quality margarine and substitute the milk with soymilk (be sure it is not a sugary version or your sauce will be too sweet).
  • To make a runny besciamella for soup. To make a runnier béchamel sauce to use as the base for a creamy soup you can use less flour and butter. For example, when making this recipe you can reduce to  2 ½ tablespoons of flour and 2 ½ tablespoons of butter with the same amount of milk (2 cups).

FAQs

Are besciamella and brown sauce the same thing?

A roux is equal parts butter and flour cooked over low heat. A brown sauce begins the same way, except for brown sauce the roux is allowed to cook a little longer to turn a darker brown color. The roux in a béchamel isn’t cooked as long and therefore should stay a creamy white hue.

How to store béchamel sauce

Besciamella is best used on the day you make it – and it really doesn’t take much additional time or effort to add this sauce to your meal prep. But you can cool it and then refrigerate it overnight if you’d like. Just let it come to room temperature and stir well before using.

Can bechamel be frozen?

Yes, you can freeze it by first letting it cool completely while covered so the sauce doesn’t develop a skin on top. Then pop it into a freezable container and store it for a rainy day. Pro tip for freezing: pour your sauce into ice cube trays to freeze lovely little individual portions. Then you can turn any quick after-work meal from bland to beautiful with absolutely zero extra effort.

besciamella recipe white sauce step by step by nonna box

Classic Italian Besciamella

The common use of this “mother sauce” is in lasagna or cannelloni, but you can get creative and use it to bring flavor to other dishes as well, like with cooked vegetables, as the base for a creamy soup or added to macaroni and cheese.
4.62 from 21 votes
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Course: Sauce
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 2 cups
Calories: 402kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 4 tablespoons all purpose flour sifted
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • a dash of nutmeg optional

Instructions

  • Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat until just about to boil. You’ll know it’s ready if it sends up a little steam when you stir it.
  • While the milk is heating, melt the butter in another saucepan over medium low heat.
  • Slowly add the flour to the melted butter, whisking continuously, to create a smooth mixture. Keep whisking for another minute to let the roux cook. Be careful not to let it brown.
  • Begin to whisk the milk into the roux slowly, a small ladleful at a time. Be patient and don’t rush. The mixture will be thick and hard to whisk at first, but it will thin out as you add the rest of the milk.
  • Once all the milk is fully incorporated, season to taste with the salt and pepper. If you want to add nutmeg you can add a generous dash of grated nutmeg at this point.
  • Keep whisking slowly as the sauce thickens.It will take approximately 12-15 minutes to reach the right density, so don’t worry if your sauce seems too thin at first. It’s ready when it begins to stick to the whisk in a nice thick coat and stirring becomes more difficult.
  • Remove from heat and use, or let cool completely before storing.
Serving: 50g | Calories: 402kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 89mg | Sodium: 273mg | Potassium: 389mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 1095IU | Calcium: 309mg | Iron: 1mg
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Is béchamel French or Italian?

Béchamel, also sometimes called white sauce, is one of the five “mother” sauces all chefs learn during their training, especially those studying traditional French cuisine. Although touted to be French in origin, first appearing in Le Cuisinier Francois in the 1650’s, some historians think besciamella was created in Italy as far back as the 1300s and that it only later arrived to France when Catherine de Medici married the future king of France and brought her cooks along with her to the French court. Either way it’s been part of these countries’ cuisines for centuries now, so it is firmly entrenched in both food cultures.

Do traditional lasagna and cannelloni have besciamella sauce?

The most notable use of besciamella may just be in classic lasagne, one of the oldest recipes in Italy’s rich culinary history. Thousands of years ago Greek chefs used laganon, one of the world’s earliest forms of pasta, to bake pastitsio – or Greek lasagna. It’s been a staple in the Mediterranean region, in one form or another, ever since.Some modern lasagna recipes use a tomato-based red sauce and skip the besciamella all together. However, the true Italian recipes, like Lasagna alla Bolognese from the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, call for besciamella in their lasagna alongside the red meat sauce. The result is incredibly rich, thick and delicious lasagna that the entire family will love.

2 Responses to “How to Make Besciamella (White Sauce)”

  1. Emilia Rosa says:

    Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. When I was a kid in Brazil, our maids added an egg yolk and some grated parmesan to the “molho branco”–white sauce.

    • Nonna Box says:

      Ciao Emilia – Interesting! That was probably a slightly different version of besciamella. Thank you for stopping by!

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