This simple 2 minute easy hollandaise sauce is delicious and stress free. You can put your whisk away!!! This hollandaise sauce is delicious and using my method it is easy to make at home!
Use it for eggs benedict, as a dip for vegetables or a pour over sauce for steak or chicken. A rich and buttery sauce with the mild tang of lemon juice.
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How to make Easy Hollandaise
My method uses an immersion blender (also known as a stick blender emulsion blender, wand blender, or hand blender) to combine the eggs, lemon and butter.
This means you don’t have to spend 10 minutes whisking and you don’t have to worry about your hollandaise sauce splitting. YUP! You don’t have to worry about it splitting as my method ensure it won’t happen.
But why does hollandaise sauce split?
There are a few reasons why sauces split but for hollandaise it is usually one of two:
The melted butter was added too quickly. If the butter is added too quickly, the egg, which is what emulsifies the sauce, cannot do it’s job and you find your butter just puddles at the bottom of the bowl.
When we emulsify something we are trying to combine oil and water, if the process doesn’t work you find the two layers will seperate. (In traditional methods you can add a small amount of boiling water and this will help to bring the sauce back together)
The hollandaise sauce gets too hot. If the temperature of your sauce gets too high, the eggs start to coagulate, i.e you are starting to make scrambled egg.
Once that happens the eggs cannot work as an emulsifier and your sauce splits. (In traditional methods if this occurs it is almost impossible to rectify. Sometimes plunging the bowl into ice water and whisking like a crazy person can help)
BUT DON’T WORRY!!!
With my method you don’t have to worry about either of these!
I use a stick blender, which combines the butter and egg really quickly. Imagine The Flash is whisking the hollandaise. This speed and a slow but constant flow of butter doesn’t allow the eggs and butter to seperate.
I ensure the sauce is never above 110ºF, which stops the chance of the egg scrambling. To do this the eggs and lemon are combined with the stick blender. The friction here warms the egg yolks up. Then you add the melted butter straight from the pan/microwave. This has enough heat to thicken the sauce, but not enough to scramble the eggs.
Plus because everything happens so quickly thanks to the stick blender, you get easy hollandaise sauce in 2 minutes! So nothing has time to cool down and therefore doesn’t needed heating back up.
What are the ingredients in hollandaise sauce?
Hollandaise sauce uses simple ingredients to make something extra special. You can see the ingredients in the photo above.
- eggs
- lemon
- butter
A pinch of cayenne or pepper is usually added but even without that your hollandaise will be amazing! Creamy, thick and lemony. (please use fresh lemons the flavor is so much nicer than the plastic stuff in a bottle)
What butter to use when making hollandaise sauce
My recipe for easy hollandaise sauce calls for unsalted butter and then adds additional salt. Which seems odd but the salt content of salted butter varies so much. And too much salt in your hollandaise can seriously ruin a meal!
So my preferred method is to use unsalted butter and then salt the sauce.
BUT! On any given day you won’t usually find unsalted butter in my house, so if I suddenly get the urge for hollandaise I will use salted butter. It will still work and still be super easy.
Just don’t add any additional salt until the hollandaise sauce is finished and you have tasted it.
Will hollandaise keep in the fridge?
The short answer is yes, your hollandaise will keep in the fridge for 2 days. BUT it is very hard to reheat hollandaise.
I have had success by placing the jug into a bowl of boiling water and then after a couple of minute using the immersion blender to re-blend the sauce and distribute the heat.
But it doesn’t always work perfectly.
Try spreading cold hollandaise on toast and topping with a poached egg. It isn’t quite egg benedict but it is good!
What can hollandaise sauce be used on?
- The classic Eggs Benedict or Eggs Florentine.
- Dip your favourite steamed veg into it. Asparagus and roasted broccoli work very well.
- Use as a sauce for artichoke leaves.
- Serve with boiled waxy potatoes as an alternative to aioli.
- Add an extra dash of lemon juice and pour over salmon.
- Pour over a fresh spinach and smoked salmon salad.
- Add extra pepper and serve with seared swordfish and fries. (unlike Gordon Ramsey I like swordfish and hollandaise)
- Pour over a baked potato instead of the usual melted butter.
- Leftover hollandaise solidifies. I rather enjoy that spread over hot toast 😳
Enjoy x
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RECIPE – Easy Hollandaise Sauce
Ingredients
We don’t suggest scaling this recipe down, it makes it very hard to mix.
- 1 stick unsalted butter (see note 1)
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/4 tsp salt (see note 1)
- Pinch of pepper – cayenne/white/black all work
- 4 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
You will need a immersion blender (also called stick blender, wand blender, hand blender) for this recipe.
- Place the butter in a small pan and melt it over a low heat. (Don't allow the butter to brown and turn off the heat as soon as the butter is just melted.) (see note 2)
- Whilst the butter is melting, put the egg yolks, lemon juice, salt (if using) and pepper into a measuring jug that the head of your immersion blender fits into. (see note 3)
- Blend the egg yolk mixture for a minute, until it lightens in colour and is well combined.
- Keeping the blender in the jug, and with it running on the slowest setting, very slowly drizzle the hot melted butter over the egg mixture. (see note 4)
- As the sauce combines move the blender up through the sauce. (see note 5)
- Check the sauce, it should be slightly lemony and lightly seasoned.
- You can now add extra lemon, salt and pepper to taste. Add as required and give it a quick blend to combine.
- This is best served immediately but if that isn’t possible place the jug in a bowl of body temperate water for up to an hour.
Notes
- If using salted butter, omit the salt from the recipe.
- You can melt the butter in a microwave or on the stove top.
- You need to put the eggs in a measuring jug, also called a large volume measuring cup.
- You need to slowly add the butter, otherwise your sauce will be runny.
- As you add the butter lift the stick blender up through the sauce and then move it back down through the sauce.
Nutrition
Simple 2 Minute Easy Hollandaise Sauce Anecdote
(aka my recipe ramble for those who love the waffle)
Have you ever seen a TV chef make a hollandaise sauce? It is amazing to watch the eggs and butter come together to form a glorious pale yellow sauce. But the effort! Now I don’t mind effort in the kitchen, I will happily spend a few hours cooking a meal, but the effort to make a hollandaise sauce isn’t time, it’s physical effort. And that isn’t something I often embrace 😉 They whisk and whisk and whisk away; their arm muscles get a serious workout. I have tried it and I get arm ache within a minute!
Aside from the effort there is the constant worry that the sauce will split and everything will have to be thrown away!
Nope!!! Traditional hollandaise sauce is a non-starter for me, I am just not the arm aching, food throwing away kind of cook. So I have come up with the most perfect easy hollandaise sauce and there isn’t a whisk in sight.
I love this method so much, I show everyone!!!!!!
I even made it for some friends whilst a little drunk at the end of a party. Me and a few friends standing around a jug, cheering as the sauce came together and then reaching for bread sticks and lettuce leaves to eat the sauce we had made! I KNOW!!!! Parties at my house are so much fun 😉
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Sally says
I tried Hollandaise for the first time this morning using my immersion blender and your recipe! It was delicious and super easy! Yum, can’t wait to have Eggs Benedict again!
Claire McEwen says
Oh I am so pleased you enjoyed it Sally! The immersion blender makes it so easy doesn’t it 🙂
Thank you for coming back to comment. I love Eggs Benedict.
Cx
Melany Fiso says
Love this, it worked perfectly! Thanks for this quick recipe!
Claire McEwen says
Oh I am so pleased you enjoyed it Melany!!
I made a batch on Valentine’s Day to go with our asparagus 🙂
Marissa says
I can see the convienience but this didnt work at all for me! 🙁 Didnt scramble but stayed runny and didnt thicken at all. Also felt like once incorportated it was barely hot, nothing like when i make it over the hob. Had to start over and go back to the normal method which then worked perfectly.
Claire McEwen says
Hi Marissa,
Sorry this method didn’t work for you. From what you have described it sounds as though your butter wasn’t hot enough. It needs to be fully melted and really bubbling before it is slowly added to the eggs. It is the heat from the butter that starts to cook the eggs and thicken the sauce. Without the heat the sauce will end up quite runny.
Also the butter needs to be slowly poured over the eggs so it can cook them and thicken as it is added (see the video for this)
Hope that helps if you decide to use the method again.
Sandy from Dallas says
I’m 70 years old and have always been afraid of making the sauce for eggs Benedict…but not anymore. I gave up my blender a few years ago and love the hand emulsifier so loved to see this recipe use it. So fast and easy and it came out perfect. My husband said it was the best so that was a plus too. Thanks so much for destroying all those fears…I feel free!
Claire McEwen says
Oh Sandy!
Thank you for your comment, it has made my day!!! I am so happy to have helped.
Isn’t the hand blender just so handy!
Cx
Ida Hurwitz says
I’ve always used this method for mayonnaise, and have never had a problem with it splitting. So easy … who wants to mess with all that slow beating!
Claire McEwen says
I agree Ida, that is how I make my mayonnaise too.
Theresa says
I have thought my whole life I’m just going to have to go out for eggs Benedict when I want them….NOT ANYMORE! YAY!! so easy and tasty! Thank you!!
Claire McEwen says
YEAH 😀
I am so happy you tried the recipe Theresa! No one should go without eggs Benedict!
Thank you for coming back to comment, I love hearing that my recipes helped.
Enjoy your breakfasts for years to come
Cx
Julie says
So in your notes you say you take the butter right from the microwave, but in the instructions the microwave isn’t mentioned at all. And then you say to pour the sauce OVER the butter, but again in the notes talk about the butter being added to fast. ?♀️ I’m assuming you can use the microwave or stove, and that you are actually pouring the butter over the sauce, so I’m going to try it that way, but just wanted to pass along that this was confusing to me in case it is to anyone else.
Claire McEwen says
Hi Julie,
The notes in the recipe say you can use the microwave or the stove top to melt the butter. Both will work, I will update the blurb at the top of the recipe so it mentions the microwave as well as the stove top.
With adding the butter, the instructions say to keep the blender in the jug and pour over butter. So you would need to pour the butter over the egg mixture. I hope that makes it clearer 😀
Mary says
Made this yesterday for breakfast of Florentine Eggs Benedict. Used immersion blender, which made the sauce easy and perfect! Can’t wait to use the leftovers today on corned beef hash with eggs.
Claire McEwen says
Oh thank you for coming back to comment Mary 😀
So pleased you loved the method.
Isn’t it the easiest Hollandaise Sauce ever!
Enjoy your corn beef hash Cx
Shannon says
I dont have the hand blender, so i used my magic bullet, and i added a bit of garlic powder to the sauce, IT was AMAZING with my eggs benedict!
Claire McEwen says
I am so happy you enjoyed it Shannon, and so good to know it worked with a magic bullet!
Thank you for coming back to comment 😀
Lesley says
Made it this morning, nervously. It was indeed delicious and easy! I used my immersion blender, worked great. Inner Julia Child on fire! Thank you!
Claire McEwen says
Woooo, so happy 😀
Isn’t it just the easiest way ever to make hollandaise sauce!!!
Thank you for coming back to comment x
Jennifer says
Thank you for this recipe…Delicious made them with my leftover mash potatoes as the base for Eggs Benny!!!
Claire McEwen says
Oh I do love Eggs Benny!!!!!
Sue says
I used my regular hand mixer and it worked just great! I did a keto version of the egg benidict. I put a layer of broccoli, then hollindaise sauce, two strips of bacon, the poached eggs and another dollop of holindaise sauce. It was amazing!
Claire McEwen says
I am so happy you loved this hollandaise sauce recipe Sue 😀
And your keto version sounds great!!! I bet you didn’t even notice the lack of carbs!!!!
MBGizmo says
Why didn’t I think of that. I have always made the traditional way. My daughter told me she uses the blender method and it’s easy. I made for the second time 2 days ago. The method, easy. Washing the blender pieces? Horrible. Getting the 1/2 cup out of the walls, blade, and the inside of the blender lid? Insanely time consuming. This method sounds spot on!!
Claire McEwen says
Thank you. I used the bench top blender method for several years and I completely agree, cleaning it took longer than making the sauce!!! The immersion blender is so much easier to clean 😀
Mary Beth says
Thanks for your feedback.
Denise says
I have never had eggs benny, let alone hallandaise sauce but it looks so good and your recipe looks so easy that I must try it 🙂
Claire McEwen says
It really is such a quick and easy recipe 😀
I hope you love your eggs benny!!!! YUM!
Tori says
How much is 1 stick of butter please ?
Claire McEwen says
Hi Tory, 1 stick of butter is 120g. Hope that helps 😀
Also If you look at my recipes, at the bottom of the ingredients there is US Customary – Metric you can click on each and get the quantities in either US (cups/sticks/oz/lb) or metric (ml/grams) that helps if the ingredients are measured differently to your usual method 😀 😀
Tjet Martin says
Never thought of doing it that way. Thank you for the idea. Making it for one so this is perfect.
Claire McEwen says
Thank you Tjet 😀
Codrut Turcanu says
I’ll share this recipe with my mother-in-law — thanks for sharing it with us!
Claire McEwen says
I hope your MIL approves 😀