Velouté Sauce
A hearty vegetarian built around butter, plain flour and white stock — roughly 60 minutes start to finish, and rated easy to make. Below: the ingredients split into pantry staples and a quick shopping list, a built-in serving scaler, and the method in 7 steps.
You'll mainly reach for saucepan and pan. At easy difficulty across 7 steps, it's a good one for a busy evening. As written, it's meat-free.
What you'll need
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
🔁 Unit converter
How to make it
- Bring the white stock to a boil in a saucepan, then keep it hot over low heat while you prepare the roux.
- Melt the butter in a separate heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat until it foams but does not brown.
- Sprinkle in the flour and whisk constantly, cooking the roux for 2 to 3 minutes to form a pale blond paste without letting it take on any color.
- Pour the hot stock into the roux a little at a time, whisking vigorously after each addition to keep the sauce smooth and free of lumps.
- Once all the stock is incorporated, bring the sauce to a gentle simmer and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring often, until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Skim off any skin or foam that rises to the surface and season the veloute with salt and white pepper to taste.
- Strain the finished sauce through a fine sieve for a silky texture and serve warm, or cover the surface directly with buttered paper to prevent a skin from forming.
You'll use: Saucepan · Pan · Whisk
Ingredient substitutions
- Butter
- olive oil (¾ the amount) · coconut oil · margarine
Tips & common questions
How long does Velouté Sauce take to make?
About 60 minutes from start to finish — an estimate based on the 7 steps and 5 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of butter?
Try olive oil (¾ the amount). See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes — use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
Is Velouté Sauce vegetarian?
Its ingredients contain no meat or fish, so it's suitable for vegetarians. Check any cheeses for animal rennet if that matters to you.
Related recipes
Velouté Sauce is an original recipe developed in-house by Consomee. Photo: Velouté de mousseron.jpg by Raphaël Labbé, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. We add the serving scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure on top — how we source recipes.