Best Ways How to Reheat Hollandaise Sauce
Wondering how to reheat hollandaise sauce? Well, here are some of the best ways to reheat this delicious sauce.
What is Hollandaise Sauce?
Hollandaise sauce is one of the classic French sauces and is made using butter, raw eggs, and lemon juice. Its delicate flavor is delicious on eggs benedict, with or with out an english muffin. It is also good on asparagus and other vegetables.
However, it can be tricky to reheat correctly. In this blog post, we’ll share the best ways how to reheat a hollandaise sauce so that it tastes just as good as the first day you made it.
What are the Classic French Sauces?
There are five classic French sauces known as mother sauces some of which are considered emulsion sauces. They are béchamel, velouté, espagnole, tomato, and hollandaise. Each of these sauces can be made from scratch, and once you know how to make them, you can create any number of variations.
Béchamel sauce is an elegant white sauce with milk, flour, and butter as ingredients. It can be found in dishes like macaroni and cheese or as the creamy component in a classic lasagna.
Velouté is a light cream sauce made from chicken or fish stock and roux. It’s perfect for dishes like seafood bisque or creamy chicken soup.
Espagnole is a brown sauce you make from beef or veal stock, onions, carrots, celery, and tomato paste. It’s often the base for dishes like beef bourguignon or beef stroganoff.
Tomato sauce is just what it sounds like – a sauce made from tomatoes. I am sure you use this delicious sauce in many dishes like pasta primavera or pizza.
Hollandaise sauce is a buttery lemon classic sauce made from raw egg yolks and butter. You find it topping poached eggs or asparagus. But it is delicious as an elegant sauce on many mild foods like fish.
How to Make Hollandaise Sauce
Making Hollandaise sauce is not as hard as it seems. Basically, this is a very simple sauce of warmed egg yolks that are emulsified with butter and flavored with a little lemon juice. Simple and easy. Some recipes call for heavy cream, but the classic sticks with butter.
In fact, with a few simple tips, you can make a smooth sauce with a delicious buttery flavor every time.
Classic Recipe for Hollandaise Sauce
Here’s how many people approach making a hollandaise sauce on the stovetop:
- Start by melting the butter in a saucepan over low heat.
- Add the egg yolks and lemon juice to the butter and whisk until smooth.
- Raise the heat to medium-low and continue whisking until the sauce thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
- Serve immediately or store in a covered container in the fridge for later use.
You can find all the details for this hollandaise recipe in this blog post: Happy Eggs Benedict – How to Make The Hollandaise Sauce.
Using Your Blender to Make Hollandaise
Another great way to create this delicious concoction is to make a blender hollandaise sauce.
Blender hollandaise sauce is super easy!
These are highlights, but the entire recipe is available if you read Happy Eggs Benedict – How to Make The Hollandaise Sauce.
- Place eggs yolks, salt, cayenne, and a little lemon juice in a blender container. Cut the butter into pieces and heat them in a small saucepan until melted, hot, and foamy.
- Cover the blender jar and blend the egg yolk mixture on high for 2 seconds. Leave the blender running, remove the lid insert and pour the melted hot butter into the blender jar in a thin stream of droplets. By the time two-thirds of the butter has gone in, the sauce will be a thick cream.
- Salt and pepper to taste. If not used immediately, set the blender jar in lukewarm, but not a hot water bath. Use the sauce within a few minutes of blending; it will solidify if not used quickly.
How do I fix thin or lumpy blender hollandaise sauce?
If your sauce is thin or lumpy you may have overcooked the egg yolks. Strain out the lumps with a sieve and whisk the reheated sauce into an extra egg yolk that is gently heated in a clean glass storage bowl. Or put the strained sauce back in the blender jar with the extra egg yolk and blend.
You can also use an immersion blender.
Fine Cooking has an excellent post on fixing emulsion sauces.
How to Reheat Hollandaise Sauce
I rarely have leftover sauce. When I make eggs benedict for two, I make hollandaise sauce for six!
For those times when you find yourself with extra sauce or if you made it early to use the next day, then reheating is a good option to refresh the sauce.
There are a few different ways to reheat hollandaise sauce, and each method has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Here are the three best true ways to reheat hollandaise sauce.
How to Reheat Hollandaise Sauce in the Microwave
One good option, and possibly the easiest option, is to reheat hollandaise sauce in the microwave. However, it can also be pretty risky if you try to hurry the process.
To microwave cold hollandaise sauce, place it in a heat-safe bowl. Set your microwave power to a low setting. Use 20 – 30 percent or power level 2, depending on your microwave settings.
Slowly reheat the hollandaise for short periods of time. I use 15-second increments. In between bursts of heat from your microwave you need to whisk the sauce.
That said, remove the sauce from the microwave after each interval, whisk it, and set it back in the microwave for another 15-second interval.
Take it slow so the sauce does not split or break. Be careful not to overcook the sauce, or it will become dry and rubbery, or lumpy.
Remember the goal is to warm the sauce. You don’t have to make it hot.
Step-By-Step Reheating in the Microwave
- Put the hollandaise sauce in a glass or microwave-safe bowl.
- Set your microwave to low power – 20% or power level 2.
- Heat the hollandaise sauce for 15 seconds.
- Check on the sauce and whisk it.
- Repeat the intervals until your hollandaise sauce is warmed through. Don’t heat it until it’s hot as you just want an above room temperature or warmer sauce.
How do You Heat a Jar of Hollandaise Sauce?
In addition, if you purchase a jar of Maille Hollandaise then use the microwave to heat it up.
Remove the lid from the jar of Maille Hollandaise. Microwave on medium-low as many times as needed to warm through at 15-second bursts. Stir the sauce in-between bursts. Repeat as many 15 second bursts as needed until the sauce is warm, but stick with medium-low, not high temperatures.
How to Reheat Hollandaise Sauce Using a Double Boiler
A double boiler is a great way to reheat hollandaise sauce without the risk of overheating it.
Put a few inches of cold water in a saucepan and bring it to a simmer. Place a second pot or bowl over the water without making contact with the water.
The water heats up creating steam. This steam stays trapped between the top pan of the double boiler and the bottom pot. This steam heats the food in the top pot. If needed, remove the top pot and replace any water that has escaped to continue the process.
A double boiler will gently reheat any sauce or dish that can suffer when placed over direct heat for longer periods of time. This includes custards, chocolate, and delicate sauces like hollandaise.
You can also use a double boiler to cook eggs without them scrambling or to make a roux for thickening sauces. This method is a bit more time-consuming, but it’s very reliable.
The gentle heat from the simmering water will heat the sauce evenly and prevent it from becoming too hot, which can cause it to become lumpy or scramble the eggs.
Step-by-Step Reheating with a Double Boiler
- Fill the bottom of a pot or saucepan with one or two inches of water.
- Turn the heat to medium and bring the water to a simmer. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer, not a boil.
- Place a glass or metal bowl on top of the pot, making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
- Add the hollandaise sauce to the bowl and stir constantly.
- Keep stirring until it’s soft and warm throughout.
Go slowly so you don’t split your sauce.
What if I don’t have a double boiler?
If you don’t have a double boiler, but you need to cook over indirect heat, you can create one pretty easily.
A fairly common substitute for a double boiler is to use a heatproof bowl set on top of a saucepan that contains a couple of inches of simmering water.
If you are going to use this method, make sure there is some space between the mixing bowl and the simmering water. You don’t want your bowl to be touching the water. If this happens, it might result in too much heat transfer, causing your hollandaise sauce to turn into scrambled eggs. Ugh!
How to Reheat Hollandaise Sauce on the Stove
If you don’t have a double boiler, you can also reheat hollandaise sauce in a skillet or a heavy-bottomed pan. This is pretty risky as you are cooking over direct heat.
Make sure you use the size pan that is big enough to accommodate the sauce in a thin layer to completely cover the bottom of the pan.
It is also a good idea to keep a little warm water, not cold water, nearby to help thin the sauce and keep it from splitting or becoming too dry.
Additionally, if you are not averse to a few more calories, you can add a few teaspoons of butter to melt into the sauce as it heats to re-emulsify the sauce. This basically helps prevent the sauce from spitting, breaking, or separating.
Step-by-Step Reheating on the Stove
- Place the heavy-bottom pan or skillet over warm heat or the lowest setting.
- Add the hollandaise sauce to the pan.
- Stir the sauce continuously as it warms up.
- Once the sauce is warmed, add a teaspoon of warm, not hot water or extra butter at a time to re-emulsify the sauce. Use what you need for your desired consistency.
- Heat the sauce until it’s warmed through.
- Serve warm.
Tips for Storing and Reheating Leftover Hollandaise Sauce
It really is best to consume your hollandaise sauce the day you make it. Or the next day if you made it early to save time when your guests arrive.
But keep in mind, that the quality of your delicious sauce will decline the longer it sits and become more difficult to reincorporate once you decide to reheat it.
- Be sure to store hollandaise sauce in the refrigerator. Pour your sauce into an airtight container with a lid and lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface. Then affix the lid for an airtight seal.
- No matter how you reheat your sauce there is a good chance it can separate. This is called a broken sauce, but you don’t necessarily have to make a new batch. It just means the fats and liquids have separated. This is pretty common. So, if your hollandaise sauce does separate or split, reduce the heat and whisk, whisk, whisk. If needed you can add a little warmed water or butter just a few drops at a time.
- When reheating, take it slowly and be prepared to add your butter or water a 1/2 teaspoon at a time while you keep whisking your hollandaise sauce. Just a little warm water or even a few teaspoons of butter could help re-emulsify the sauce, but it is critical to keep whisking it.
- If you make your sauce early and will consume it in a short period of time you could leave it on a warming plate. But be sure to set the warmer at a very low temperature so it doesn’t keep cooking the hollandaise. Make sure you consume or store the sauce in the refrigerator within 2 hours to avoid possible food poisoning. Don’t leave your sauce at room temperature for more than 2 hours. Hollandaise sauce can be a food poisoning issue anyway, as undercooked egg yolks or not using a relatively high heat setting when initially making the sauce may not kill the bacteria.
- You can also add your stored hollandaise sauce to a new hollandaise sauce to reheat it. Add the stored sauce at the end of the cooking process of your new sauce. It should incorporate well as it heats through. Give it a good whisk.
- Always have extra egg yolks on hand when making hollandaise sauce as you might need them. Also, for best results, start with warmer yolks not eggs right out of the refrigerator.
Invite Friends Over for Brunch
Ready to enjoy a delicious brunch with your friends? Be sure to top off your meal with a classic hollandaise sauce.
Wondering what is the best way or simply how to reheat this sauce so it’s just as good as when it was first made? We’ve got you covered. You can use your microwave, double boiler, or on the stovetop to warm up this sauce – but be sure to do it slowly and whisk often! No one will be able to resist those delicious eggs with hollandaise.
Cheers Y’all!
P.S. If you can pass this on to a friend who needs the info or post it on your social media, I would appreciate it! Thanks in advance for sharing!
Also, if you try any of these methods, let me know how it goes in the comments below!
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