Creamy Lemon Butter Sauce

This recipe is slightly different to other lemon butter recipes as this is more of a sauce and not just melted butter with lemon juice added. This recipe is very loosely based on a French Beurre Blanc sauce (an emulsified butter sauce) and delivers the creamiest, perfectly tangy sauce. It might take slightly longer than an easy lemon butter sauce recipe but the end result is so worth it.

Ingredients needed

White wine. The wine adds some complexity to the finished sauce and you’ll be reducing it which will burn off any alcohol but if you’d prefer to substitute, use good chicken broth/stock. I used sauvignon blanc but chardonnay, Chenin blanc or Pinot Grigio will all work. Fresh garlic clove. This is optional but I do like a hum of garlic in this sauce. You could also add fresh herbs like thyme, dill, parsley or chives for flavor. Heavy cream. Use heavy whipping cream with a high fat content for this sauce. Fresh lemon juice. Butter. I used salted butter but unsalted butter is fine too. Salt and pepper. Feel free to use black pepper but I like using white pepper as it’s a little milder in the sauce.

How to make lemon butter sauce

Start by reducing the wine and garlic clove in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Once reduced, add the cream and cook until slightly thickened then stir in the lemon juice. Simmer until the sauce has thickened slightly then remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, adding one tablespoon at a time, until thickened and smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Can I make this ahead?

I wouldn’t recommend making this lemon butter sauce ahead of time. It won’t reheat well and will likely split as the butter will melt and cause it to break. You could reduce the wine in advance to save some time if you are planning on serving this sauce to guests.

Serving suggestions

This lemon sauce is fantastic over seared fish (cod, halibut, tilapia, etc) , salmon, seafood/shellfish (shrimp or prawns, lobster, calamari) and it’s delicious served with vegetables, rice or pasta. It’s also similar to hollandaise sauce so can easily be served over poached eggs.

Pan-seared fish Seared Scallops Garlic butter rice Salt and pepper fried squid