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Here is a short video explaining the process, scroll down for detailed ingredients and step by step recipe method. Thanks for coming and do not forget to check other recipes on our homepage.
If you’ve ever sat down to a beautifully cooked steak and thought, “Something is missing,” — I have news for you. That something is Béarnaise sauce. Rich, buttery, herbaceous, and just a little tangy, Béarnaise is, in my humble opinion, the single greatest thing you can pour over a piece of beef. And the best part? If you’ve ever made a Hollandaise, you’ve already done most of the heavy lifting.
Because here’s the thing: Béarnaise is just Hollandaise. Specifically, it’s a Hollandaise flavored with a tarragon and shallot reduction. That’s it. That’s the secret. But oh, what a difference that reduction makes.
So let’s walk through the whole process, step by step — including one secret weapon that I believe takes this sauce from great to truly extraordinary.
What You’ll Need
For the Tarragon-Shallot Reduction:
- About 1 cup of fresh tarragon leaves, roughly chopped
- Shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
- A generous pinch of whole black peppercorns
- White wine vinegar
- White wine (nothing expensive, but something drinkable)
- A small splash of water (optional, but recommended — more on this in a moment)
For the Tarragon-Caper Compound Butter:
- Fresh tarragon
- Drained capers
- Cold, firm butter (softness matters here — cold works best)
For the Hollandaise Base:
- 2 large egg yolks
- The 3 tablespoons of reduction you just made
- Cold butter, cubed
- Salt and cayenne pepper to taste
Step 1: Make the Reduction (The Most Important Part)
This is where Béarnaise earns its character. Don’t rush it. Don’t skip it. This reduction is everything.
Start by roughly chopping your tarragon leaves. You don’t need to fuss too much about removing every single stem — it’s all going to get strained out later anyway. Then thinly slice your shallots.
A quick note on substitutions: Don’t use onions. I know it’s tempting, but it won’t be the same. Shallots are widely available now, so please use them.
Once your tarragon and shallots are prepped, transfer them into a saucepan. Add a fair amount of whole black peppercorns. (If you’d prefer, you can skip the whole peppercorns and simply season the finished sauce with freshly ground pepper — but this old-school method adds something special.)
Now pour in your two mandatory liquids: white wine vinegar and white wine. Then add that optional splash of water. Why water? Because we’re going to reduce this mixture severely — all the way down to about 3 tablespoons — and we want to give the shallots and tarragon enough time to release their flavor. The extra water slows things down just enough to make that happen without scorching.
Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and bring it up to a simmer. Once it starts simmering, give it a stir, then back the heat down to medium-low to maintain a steady, gentle simmer. Do not walk away. Seriously. A reduction like this can go from “almost there” to “burned beyond saving” in under a minute. Stay close, stay watchful, and budget about 20–30 minutes for this step.
You’ll know it’s ready when you have approximately 3 tablespoons left in the pan. You might only see 2 tablespoons visually, but there’s always at least another tablespoon hiding in the vegetation waiting to be squeezed out.
Step 2: Strain It Thoroughly
Pull the pan off the heat and pass the reduction through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Now press — press firmly — on all the solids with a spoon to extract every last drop of liquid.
As the saying goes in the Béarnaise business: the last drops are the best drops.
Just be careful not to grip so hard that you knock the strainer into the bowl and spill everything. Yes, it would be hilarious. It would also mean starting over.
Your goal is a clean, intensely flavored liquid — about 3 tablespoons of deep, savory, aromatic reduction. If you’re prepping ahead, wrap it up and refrigerate until you’re ready.
Step 3: Make the Secret Weapon — Tarragon-Caper Compound Butter
Most Béarnaise recipes are simply a Hollandaise with the reduction stirred in, plus a bit of fresh tarragon. That’s fine. But this compound butter? This is what makes this version superior.
Into a mortar, add:
- A handful of drained capers
- A handful of fresh tarragon leaves
Pound and mash for about a minute to get things started. Then add your cold, firm butter. This is key — if the butter is too soft, it doesn’t incorporate the same way. Keep working everything with the pestle until it becomes a uniform, pulverized, herby green compound butter.
You might notice a little liquid pooling at the bottom of the mortar — that’s just brine from the capers. Completely normal.
Transfer the compound butter onto a piece of plastic wrap, roll it up into a log, and chill it until you’re ready to finish the sauce. When the time comes, you’ll cut it into 3 or 4 pieces and whisk it into the finished Hollandaise.
Why does this matter so much? Two reasons:
- Better flavor — introducing the fresh herb this way gives a brighter, more vibrant tarragon taste.
- Better color — that gorgeous pale green hue you want in a beautiful Béarnaise comes from this step.
Classic win-win.
Step 4: Make the Hollandaise
Into a stainless steel bowl, add:
- 2 large egg yolks
- Your 3 tablespoons of tarragon-shallot reduction
Whisk those together. Then add all your cubed cold butter (minus whatever went into the compound butter).
Take the bowl to the stove and whisk fairly constantly over low to medium heat. Hold the bowl with a towel in one hand and whisk with the other. Other than not setting the towel on fire, there’s really nothing complicated happening here — just keep whisking.
If you’ve never made Hollandaise this way before, you might be skeptical. There’s no double boiler? No thermometer? Stick with it. The butter will melt, the mixture will slowly come up to temperature, the color will turn paler, and eventually — if you keep whisking — it will thicken into a gorgeous, silky Hollandaise.
A note on heat: low is safer, medium is faster. Medium heat does work, and works well, but you need to pay attention. If your eggs start to look like they’re scrambling, get the bowl off the heat immediately and keep whisking.
Step 5: Finish the Sauce
Once your Hollandaise has thickened beautifully, drop the heat to low and whisk in your compound butter, piece by piece. Watch the color transform — that vibrant green tarragon butter is going to make this sauce beautiful.
Taste it. Adjust with a little salt and a shake of cayenne. Some chefs also add freshly ground black pepper at this stage — since the peppercorns went into the reduction, that extra hit of pepper isn’t necessary here, but it’s entirely your call.
Aim for the perfect thickness — not too thick that it sits in a clump, not so thin it runs off the plate. You’ll know it when you see it.
Serving Suggestions
Transfer your finished Béarnaise into a warm sauce boat (or honestly, whatever vessel you have on hand).
The classic pairing is, of course, medium-rare steak. And there’s something almost magical about the combination — the sweet, anise-forward tarragon, the savory shallots, the black pepper, all that butter — it just works with beef in a way that’s almost impossible to fully explain. You have to taste it to understand.
But don’t stop there. Béarnaise is also spectacular on:
- Roasted potatoes
- Vegetables of all kinds
- Seafood — pretty much any of it
- Eggs Benedict — swap out the Canadian bacon for steak and replace the Hollandaise with this Béarnaise, and you will become an absolute brunch legend.
A Few Final Tips
- Make the reduction ahead. It keeps beautifully in the fridge.
- Keep your compound butter in the freezer. It’ll be there whenever you need it.
- Don’t rush the reduction. The whole point of that 20–30 minutes is flavor extraction. Respect the process.
- Stay at the stove. Both the reduction and the Hollandaise require your attention. This isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it sauce.
Béarnaise might have a reputation for being fussy or intimidating, but once you break it down into these steps, it’s really just a matter of patience and attention. Make the reduction. Make the compound butter. Make the Hollandaise. Combine. That’s it.
One taste and you’ll understand exactly why this has been the world’s greatest steak sauce for centuries. Give it a try — I really think you’ll be glad you did.