Main Dishes
Bechamel Sauce Recipe
Prep
5 minutes
Cook
20 minutes
Yield
1 large serving
A classic Bechamel Sauce Recipe can add a cheesy flavour to any recipe. It's super versatile and a classic sauce. I'm going to teach you how to make bechamel vegan!
Bechamel sauce is a white sauce that is so yummy and creamy. Famously used in French cuisine but expanded to basically using it on anything from in mac n’ cheese, to vegetables, bechamel is made with milk and flour. It’s super easy to make, however, how do you make bechamel vegan? Well, I got you with this dairy-free Bechamel Sauce Recipe coming your way!
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Bechamel Sauce Recipe
- Easy: This Bechamel Sauce Recipe is so easy and quick to whip up. Have it ready in 20-minutes
- Versatile: This recipe is incredibly versatile and can be used in many different ways (more on that below)
- Impressive: Bechamel just seems fancy. People will think you’re a real chef or something 😉
🍲 Ingredients
Vegan Butter – Vegan butter is a non-dairy substitute to butter and is made with plant-based ingredients. You can totally swap it in this Bechamel Sauce Recipe for regular butter if you aren’t following a plant-based diet.
Nutritional Yeast – Nutritional yeast is a great source of vitamins and minerals and a staple in the pantry for those that eat plant-based or vegetarian diets. It is a deactivated yeast that looks like little yellow flakes or powder and can be used in a magnitude of recipes to achieve that creaminess or cheese flavor without the dairy products.
Nutmeg – Nutmeg is a key ingredient in making this bechamel vegan. I, of course, used my friends at Mountain Rose Herbs nutmeg because I trust that I’m going to get a high-quality spice whenever I use their products.
Mountain Rose Herbs is a grower, processor, distributor, and retailer of organic (and amazing) herbs, spices, teas, and even essential oils. All their products are sustainably grown and harvested ingredients. I trust that when I shop my spices from them that I’m getting spices made with care, versus mass-produced stuff without any flavour.
For this recipe, the use of nutmeg is critical for the flavour you’re going to want to achieve. I used the whole nutmeg in this recipe, so you’ll need a grater to grate it down for the sauce. I suggest their spice grater for this. Nutmeg is popular in baking recipes, but believe me when I say that it’s the perfect ingredient in this dairy-free sauce.
👩🍳 How to Make This Bechamel Sauce Recipe
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- To make sure you use good quality ingredients, seriously though, that nutmeg 😉
- Use a heavy-bottomed saucepan to help prevent sticking
- Whisk and whisk until your arms fall off – this will help you achieve that perfect silky smooth consistency
🗒 Variations & Substitutions
If you aren’t following a plant-based diet, you can make a regular version of this Bechamel Sauce Recipe by following the recipe here. Traditional bechamel uses eggs, whole milk, and cheese.
🗒 Best served with
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Store leftover Bechamel Sauce in an airtight container for up to 3 days. When you’re ready to re-use, heat it up slowly.
🤔 Common Questions
The one thing about bechamel is you cannot leave it on the stove. You have to stir the butter, stir the flour, whisk in the milk, and keep stirring/whisking until you have the right consistency. Otherwise, you’ll burn your bechamel.
So many things! Basically anything that you’d use a creamy or cheese sauce on. Things like macaroni and cheese, casseroles, vegetables, pot pies, the list goes on.
If your consistency of your sauce is not right, this could be caused by having a big jump in temperature if you turned up/down your heat. It can also be caused by too much fat or liquid.
Bechamel Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
For the Bechamel:
- 3 heaped tbsp. of vegan butter
- 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
- 2 1/2 cups almond milk
- season to taste
- 1/2 tsp Mountain Rose Herbs Nutmeg grated
Instructions
- For the bechamel, melt your butter on low heat in a medium-sized pot. Once melted, add your flour, stir till a ball or more lumpy consistency appears. Add your nutritional yeast and stir more. Now, slowly add your milk and whisk aggressively while cooking on medium-high heat (the whole proces should take around 20 minutes). Stir till you’ve added all your milk and a more silky smooth sauce comes together. Add the nutmeg and stir even more! At the last minute season to taste, remove from heat and set aside.
Video
Notes
Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs.
Absolutely delicious! I tried it before I put the nutmeg in (as I was a bit skeptical) and it was so bland and yeasty. So I added the nutmeg and it blew my mind how it elevated the flavour! Thank you
Thanks, Jess!
Can I use another flour? Coconut or almond flour etc.
Yes you can! Use 2/3 the amount of flour as both almond and coconut flour absorb more liquid and thicken faster. Blend this really well so it does not become grainy! 🙂