The Five Mother Sauces of French Cuisine: Master the Basics
The 5 mother sauces are the foundation of French cuisine. Learn their history, variations, and how to make and use them to elevate your cooking!
Mastering the Five Mother Sauces
What Are the Five French Mother Sauces?
How to Use This Guide
This article gives you a quick breakdown of each mother sauce—what it is, how it’s used, and some of its most common variations.
But if you’re ready to start cooking, I’ve linked detailed, step-by-step recipes in the list above and below each section so you can jump straight into making them!
Why Are the Five Mother Sauces So Important?
Mastering these sauces teaches essential techniques—thickening, emulsifying, and balancing flavors—the building blocks of great cooking. If you’ve ever made cheese sauce for mac & cheese or gravy from scratch, you’re already halfway there!
Who Created the Five Mother Sauces? A Brief History
Marie-Antoine Carême: In the early 1800s, Carême wanted to bring structure to French cooking, so he categorized sauces into four main types—Allemande, Béchamel, Espagnole, and Velouté. His system made it easier for chefs to learn and build on classic techniques.
Auguste Escoffier: Later, Escoffier refined Carême’s system, adjusting and expanding it into the five mother sauces we use today. His approach helped standardize French cuisine and made it more practical for restaurant kitchens.
Evolution Over Time: These sauces have influenced cooking around the world, evolving with new ingredients and techniques while staying essential in both classic and modern dishes.
The Importance of Roux
Four of the five mother sauces—Béchamel, Velouté, Espagnole, and sometimes Tomato Sauce—start with roux, a mixture of butter and flour used to thicken sauces. The type of roux used affects both color and flavor.
White Roux: Mild and neutral, used in Béchamel.
Blond Roux: Lightly toasted, used in Velouté.
Brown Roux: Deeply cooked, giving Espagnole its rich taste.
Aromatic Roux: In some versions of Espagnole and Sauce Tomate, aromatics like onions, carrots, and celery are cooked into the roux before adding liquid for extra depth.
Mastering roux gives you full control over a sauce’s thickness and texture, ensuring a smooth, velvety finish that clings beautifully to whatever it’s poured over.
Now, let’s take a closer look at each of these sauces and their derivatives, then learn how to make and use them!
The Five Mother Sauces and Their Most Common Variations
1 - Béchamel Sauce (The Creamy Classic)
A smooth, creamy white sauce made by whisking milk into a white roux.
Traditional French recipes often infuse the milk with onion cloute—an onion studded with cloves and bay leaf—before straining it out to create a subtle depth of flavor.
Personally, I prefer infusing the milk with garlic, bay leaf, and nutmeg. This combination brings out a more savory complexity that works beautifully in the sauce.
Common Uses: Lasagna, mac & cheese, croque monsieur, gratins, scalloped potatoes, and creamy soups.
Common Derivatives:
Mornay: A béchamel with melted cheese (Gruyère, Parmesan, or cheddar).
Nantua: Enriched with crayfish butter, commonly served with seafood.
Soubise: A béchamel blended with slow-cooked, puréed onions for a sweet-savory flavor.
Applications & Tips:
Use in Lasagna: For an authentic Italian-style lasagna, layer béchamel with Bolognese, mozzarella, and pasta sheets.
Make It Extra Creamy: Swap milk for heavy cream for a richer texture, ideal for baked mac & cheese or casseroles.
Adjust Thickness: Use more roux to make a thicker sauce, ideal for moussaka, or less roux for a lighter consistency, perfect for soups like chowder.
2 - Velouté Sauce (The Light and Elegant One)
A silky, light-colored sauce made by thickening white stock (chicken, fish, or veal) with a blond roux.
The word velouté means velvety, which perfectly describes this sauce. It has a rich yet delicate flavor that adapts easily, making it one of the most versatile mother sauces.
Common Uses: Chicken pot pie, poached fish, roasted chicken, soups, and mushroom sauces.
Common Derivatives:
Suprême sauce: A richer variation made by adding heavy cream to chicken velouté, often served with chicken or roast turkey breast.
Allemande sauce: Veal velouté thickened with egg yolks and cream, then finished with a splash of lemon juice.
Bercy sauce: A fish velouté enhanced with white wine, shallots, parsley, and lemon juice, perfect for delicate white fish like cod, sole, or halibut.
Applications & Tips:
Use in chicken pot pie: Velouté makes the perfect base for this classic dish—just add cooked veggies and shredded rotisserie chicken, then top with puff pastry like in my French-style chicken pot pie recipe.
Achieve the perfect velvety texture: Patience is key—gradually whisk in warm stock one ladle at a time to prevent lumps, and strain through a fine-mesh sieve for extra smoothness.
Build deep flavor: A high-quality homemade stock makes all the difference. Save bones from rotisserie chicken and vegetable scraps in a freezer bag so you always have ingredients on hand for a flavorful stock. See my full article on how to make stock from kitchen scraps to get started.
💡Learn how to make my classic veloute with homemade chicken stock.
3 - Espagnole Sauce (The Dark and Savory One)
A deep, rich brown sauce made with brown stock, tomatoes, and a brown roux. Its complex, hearty flavor and dark color make it similar to a refined brown gravy.
The key to a great Espagnole sauce is starting with a flavorful brown stock—made by roasting beef or veal bones and simmering them with mirepoix (carrots, celery, onions), aromatics (bay leaf, peppercorns, herb stems), and tomato paste for a few hours to develop depth.
Common Uses: Braised short ribs, steak, stews, and holiday roasts.
Common Derivatives:
Demi-glace: More commonly used than its mother sauce, this rich, glossy reduction combines Espagnole with equal parts brown stock, simmered until thick and deeply concentrated.
Bordelaise: A luxurious sauce infused with red wine, shallots, and bone marrow, perfect for beef tenderloin.
Chasseur: A rustic mushroom and shallot sauce that pairs beautifully with steak or chicken.
Applications & Tips:
Use for braising: Stir into the braising liquid for beef brisket or short ribs for incredible depth.
Upgrade your gravy: Use Espagnole as the base for gravy, blending it with pan drippings from holiday roasts like Thanksgiving turkey for an elegant finish.
Store for later: This sauce freezes exceptionally well—pour into ice cube trays or small containers so you can easily grab a portion for your next steak dinner.
💡Learn how to make Espagnole and turn it into sauce Chasseur.
4 - Hollandaise Sauce (The Buttery Emulsion)
A lusciously rich sauce made by emulsifying egg yolks with warm butter and an acid like lemon juice or vinegar.
Unlike the other mother sauces, Hollandaise relies on emulsification for its thick, creamy texture. Think of it like a warm version of mayonnaise or Caesar dressing—egg yolks act as the emulsifier, holding the butter and acid together.
The classic method can be tricky though, with a high risk of breaking or curdling if the steps aren’t followed precisely. But with my immersion blender trick for hollandaise, you can get a consistently smooth sauce in just 5 minutes!
Common Uses: Eggs Benedict, roasted asparagus, poached salmon, and steak.
Common Derivatives:
Béarnaise: Infused with tarragon and shallot wine reduction, perfect for steak.
Mousseline: Lightened with whipped cream for a fluffier texture, great on delicate fish dishes or vegetables like green beans.
Maltaise: Made with blood orange juice for a citrusy twist, pairing nicely with duck breast.
Applications & Tips:
Perfect for brunch: A must-have for eggs Benedict, breakfast hashes, steak & eggs, and soft-boiled eggs.
Elevate vegetables or seafood: Drizzle over asparagus, Brussels sprouts, salmon, or scallops.
Use leftovers as a sandwich spread: Cold Hollandaise works surprisingly well as a creamy spread on an English muffin or sandwich. Refrigerate leftovers and give it a try!
💡Learn how to make my foolproof hollandaise with an immersion blender.
5 - Tomato Sauce (The Universal Favorite)
The French mother sauce version of tomato sauce traditionally includes salted pork, and mirepoix (carrots, onions, and celery), and is sometimes thickened with a roux.
That said, many chefs—including my culinary school instructors—prefer the Italian-style version because it’s more practical and widely used in modern kitchens.
With good-quality canned tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, fresh basil, and a few hours of slow simmering, you’ll have a deeply flavorful sauce that works in countless dishes.
Common Uses: Pasta, braised meats, as a dipping sauce, or as the base for tomato soup.
Common Derivatives:
Marinara: A quick, lighter tomato sauce with garlic, onions, and herbs—perfect for easy pasta dishes.
Creole Sauce: A Southern-style version with bell peppers, celery, and a bit of heat, great with seafood.
Provençal Sauce: Features basil, fennel seeds, rosemary, and thyme—pairs nicely with mussels or eggs.
Applications & Tips:
Use it for pasta: The classic choice for spaghetti, lasagna, or baked ziti.
Braise meats in it: The perfect base for dishes like veal osso buco or turkey cacciatore.
Cook it low and slow: Let it simmer all day to develop deep, caramelized flavors and a thick texture.
FAQs
What is the 6th mother sauce?
Technically, there are only five classical French mother sauces: béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise, and tomato. But if you ask modern chefs, some consider mayonnaise an honorary sixth.
Like hollandaise, mayonnaise is an emulsion-based sauce, but it’s made with oil rather than butter and served cold. It’s a fundamental technique in cooking and incredibly versatile, acting as the base for countless variations and flavored sauces, like my jalapeño aioli recipe.
How does emulsification work?
Emulsification is the process of forcing two things that don’t naturally mix—like oil and water—to come together into a smooth, stable sauce. The key is using an emulsifier (egg yolks, mustard, tahini, or even garlic) to help suspend fat droplets in water-based ingredients.
The emulsifier is bi-polar, meaning it’s attracted to both water and oil, acting as a bridge between the two. When the fat and liquid are dispersed into tiny droplets, they form a stable suspended solution instead of separating.
Temperature plays a role too—hot butter in hollandaise helps thicken the egg yolks slightly, almost like a custard, which stabilizes the sauce so it can be served warm.
Blending or whisking aggressively while slowly adding the fat is another essential step. I like using an immersion blender to make this process effortless like in my Caesar dressing recipe.
Can I use salted butter in a roux?
Yes, and I do it all the time. Just be mindful of the overall salt level in your dish—use a low-sodium or no-salt-added stock and hold off on adding extra salt until you’ve tasted the finished sauce.
Can I use olive oil to make roux?
Yes, but expect a slightly different result.
Olive oil lacks the milk solids and water content of butter, so the roux can cook faster in oil. It also won’t have that nutty aroma that butter-based roux develops. That said, if you’re making a dairy-free velouté or a Mediterranean-inspired dish, olive oil is a great option.
Other dairy-free fat options include rendered bacon fat, duck fat, beef tallow, lard, or even coconut oil—each bringing its own distinct flavor to the roux.
What temperature should the liquid be before adding to the roux?
Ideally, warm to hot. If you pour cold liquid straight into a hot roux, it can seize up and create lumps.
Warm stock or milk helps the roux incorporate smoothly, thickening evenly as you whisk it in. The key is to add it one ladle at a time, waiting until the mixture thickens, smooths out, and comes to a boil before adding more. Incorporating the liquid slowly like this results in a perfectly velvety sauce.
That said, if you do end up with lumps, don’t panic—just keep whisking vigorously, and they usually work themselves out. Worst case, strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve at the end.
What is the difference between a derivative, daughter, or sister sauce?
A derivative sauce (sometimes called a daughter sauce) is just a fancy way of saying a sauce made from one of the five mother sauces. Think béchamel turning into Mornay when you add cheese, or Espagnole becoming sauce Chasseur when mushrooms, shallots, and wine are added.
A sister sauce is a similar concept—it’s related but made with slightly different ingredients. For example, Allemande sauce is often considered a sister to velouté because it starts the same way but is thickened with egg yolks and cream instead of just a roux.
Mastering the basics made easy!
I first learned to make these sauces in chef school, and I quickly realized how often these techniques appeared in other recipes.
In professional kitchens, these sauces are everywhere. Once I started working in restaurants, I was making hollandaise every weekend for brunch, Mornay (Béchamel + cheese) for mac & cheese, and Demi-Glace (reduced Espagnole + beef stock) for saucing steaks on a regular basis.
These sauces form the backbone of great cooking. They help build deep, layered flavors that you don’t often get at home. But they’re not difficult to master—in fact, three of the five sauces start the exact same way, with a simple roux.
Once you’ve got that down, you’re already halfway there. Combine that with a great homemade stock, and you’ve unlocked the key to elevating home-cooked meals, impressing your family and friends, and having a little fun along the way!
Give these sauces a try and see how they transform your cooking! Let me know how it goes in the comments, or tag me @onecreativecook on Instagram—I’d love to see what you make!
Enjoy!
More Sauce Recipes You’ll Love
Brown butter maple buffalo sauce: Turn up the heat with a touch of sweet! The perfect sauce for wings, crispy chicken tenders, or cauliflower bites.
Spicy zhoug herb sauce: This vibrant Middle Eastern green sauce is packed with fresh herbs, garlic, and chili. Pair with falafel, grilled lamb, shawarma, and more!
Quick stir-fry sauce and marinade: A quick, versatile sauce and marinade made with pantry staples. Toss with veggies, chicken, or tofu for an easy meal.
Extra beefy bolognese sauce: A slow-simmered, deeply savory meat sauce with extra umami from browned beef, red wine, and tomatoes.
All-purpose marinade for meats and veggies: A simple yet flavorful marinade that works on everything from grilled chicken to roasted vegetables.
