Creamy White Wine Sauce (2024)

FAQs

How do you thicken a creamy white wine sauce? ›

Use Flour and Water

Combine 2 tablespoons flour with every 1/4 cup cold water and whisk until smooth. Add the mixture to your sauce over medium heat, and continue to stir and cook until you've reached your desired consistency.

Dry White Wine: Any type of crisp dry white wine such as a sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, or unoaked chardonnay will work. I highly recommend a sauvignon blanc as it's brightness and acidity brings out the best flavors in cream sauces and seafood.

White wine sauce is a light sauce made with white wine and butter and flavored with shallots and garlic. It has a smooth, creamy texture and a rich, savory taste. White wine sauce can be tossed with pasta or as a sauce for chicken or fish dishes.

To make a store-bought pasta sauce creamy, you can simply stir in some heavy cream, half-and-half, or even plain yogurt to the sauce while it's heating. Start by adding a small amount and then adjust to your desired creaminess. You can also melt in some butter or grated cheese to enhance the creaminess and flavor.

The most readily available sauce-thickener is flour. For a too-thin sauce, try adding a slurry (equal parts flour and water, whisked together) or beurre manie (equal parts softened butter and flour, kneaded together to form a paste)—both are ideal thickeners for rich and creamy sauces, such as steak sauce recipes.

Avoid Strong Acids

If your sauce or soup contains an acidic ingredient like wine, tomatoes, or lemon juice, the milk is more likely to curdle. To counteract the effect of the acid, you can use a starch along with the acid.

Stir in 1 cup white wine, increase heat to high, and bring to a boil. Add remaining 1/2 cup wine; boil for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to medium-low. Season with white pepper. When sauce is no longer boiling, slowly stir in cream, lemon juice, and salt.

Bacteria is responsible for releasing an impact compound called Diacetyl, which gives wine buttery/creamy aromas. Also called malo or MLF, malolactic fermentation is a process where tart malic acid in wine converts to softer, creamier lactic acid (the same acid found in milk).

Adding wine to your favorite stews, sauces, and marinades adds rich and complex flavors that can't be achieved with other ingredients.

When you reduce either the wine or the sauce it's in by boiling or simmering, you will be concentrating the sourness as well, so be mindful of how far you reduce a sauce after adding the wine. It can easily become unpleasantly sour. Wine starts out as grape juice, and grape juice is sweet as well as sour.

What wine is best for white wine sauce? ›

Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris:

Flavor Profile: Pinot Grigio or Pinot Gris tends to be light and zesty with notes of green apple and citrus. It's a great option for delicate white wine sauces, particularly those accompanying lighter fare like salads, vegetables, or white fish.

Look for grape varietals like pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc, vermentino or chardonnay. Avoid white wines like moscato or riesling, which may include words like sweet, auslese or demi-sec on their labels.

Additionally, some recipes call for adding butter or flour to the sauce for added thickness. You can also opt to try other common thickeners, like cornstarch or arrowroot, if you prefer.

Take a teaspoon of cornstarch and some liquid from your sauce that has cooled. Take a small wisk and mix it until the cornstarch has completely broken up. Increase the heat by a third and slowly pour and wisk the liquid into your sauce. Mix until it's well blended and watch it so you don't burn it.

A ratio of 1 1/2 tablespoons each of flour and butter per cup of milk makes a thickened yet still pourable sauce, great for all sorts of recipes.

To change the thickness of a white sauce, simply use more or less butter and flour (keeping them equal) while using the same amount of milk. Thin white sauce: Use 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour. Medium white sauce: Use 3 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of flour.