Making béchamel at home is really easy. But can you do it without butter? Of course you can! Do you have some oil on hand?
The Recipe: Béchamel Sauce Without Butter
Ingredients:
¾ cup seed or extra-virgin olive oil
⅔ cup flour
4 cups milk (preferably whole milk)
Nutmeg
Salt
Method:
To make béchamel sauce without butter, heat the milk with salt and nutmeg in a saucepan, without letting it boil.
Separately, heat the oil and slowly add flour, stirring quickly with a hand whisk.
You’ll want a consistency similar to hazelnut cream (because it’s important that the flour is well toasted to give off more flavor).
Then add the hot milk to the mixture and continue stirring over low heat with a hand whisk until you reach the right consistency.
It’s impossible to tell the difference
We bet no one will notice that you used béchamel sauce without butter to make your lasagna or baked pasta.
That’s because the consistency is practically identical and the taste is only slightly more intense, but only if you use extra-virgin olive oil.
You can use it in your recipes just like a traditional béchamel sauce. You can also replace cow's milk with vegetable milk if you want a completely vegan béchamel sauce.
This is a great alternative if you have high cholesterol, too!
Chemistry
Béchamel sauce is basically a chemical formula and we'll tell you why.
It is composed of a liquid part that represents the base of the sauce which can be water, milk, wine, broth or clarified butter. Then there is a thickening agent, such as flour or starch, and finally a fatty part, consisting of butter or oil. Together these ingredients create a creamy, dense sauce with a velvety texture perfect for enhancing any kind of pasta, vegetables or baked meat.
Béchamel without the milk
Béchamel without butter, sure. But what about without milk? Why not? Here’s another dinner-saving recipe!
Just replace the milk with broth and the result will be very delicate and light, especially if you use oil instead of butter.
Would you like a super light béchamel sauce? Here’s the solution.
Obviously, the color will not be milky white like the traditional béchamel, and the consistency will be less thick and creamy (because the fat is practically missing), but it will still be a good solution if you need to enrich one of your dishes with a tasty, creamy sauce.
In the photo gallery, discover some interesting combinations for béchamel without butter.