How to Thicken Cream Sauce

Thickening cream sauce is simple! You can make the cream sauce thicker by heating it on the stove. If cooking on the stove doesn’t work, or you’re in a hurry, you can use thickeners to change the texture of the sauce. Flour, butter, eggs, and cornstarch are the basic ingredients for a thicker cream sauce.

Table of Contents

Heat cream sauce

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Heat the creamy sauce. The easiest way to thicken cream sauce is to cook it on the stove. This method causes some of the sauce to evaporate and thicken during the cooking process. Adjust the heat of the stove to simmer the sauce. ^{[1] X Research Source}

The sauce will not reach boiling point while simmering.

Avoid boiling the sauce. It is important that you do not boil the cream sauce. High heat can cause the milk to separate, ruining the texture of the cream sauce. Let the sauce simmer and make sure it doesn’t boil. If the fever starts to boil, reduce the heat immediately or remove the pot from the heat.

Letting the milk separate can affect the taste of the sauce, so you need to pay attention while cooking.

Stir the sauce frequently. You need to be careful while cooking the sauce. Cream sauces burn very easily and you need to stir the sauce frequently while cooking. ^{[2] X Research Source}

Use a wooden spoon to stir the sauce during the cooking process.

Simmer the sauce until the consistency you want. The time it takes to thicken the sauce will depend on your preference and the type of sauce. Maybe the cream sauce needs to be boiled for about 10 – 30 minutes to have the right consistency of the chef. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Remember to test the consistency of the sauce by tasting it every 10 minutes to avoid overcooking.

Add thickener if the boiling method doesn’t work. Sometimes boiling the sauce isn’t enough to give the sauce a chef’s standard consistency. If you have simmered the cream sauce for 30 minutes and the sauce is still not thick as desired, try using a thickener.

Use thickener ingredients

Thicken the sauce with the flour mixture. Stir together flour and water in equal amounts in a small bowl. After stirring the flour and water into a smooth paste, you will add the mixture spoon by spoon to the cream sauce. The next step is to simmer the sauce for about 5 minutes so that the sauce no longer smells of raw flour. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Typically, you will need 4 teaspoons or 20ml of flour mixture for one quart of cream sauce.

Use roux to thicken the sauce. Measure out the butter and flour in equal amounts. Melt the butter over medium heat and stir in the flour until well combined. Stir the roux into the cream sauce bit by bit until the sauce is the consistency you want. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

If you want the roux to be richer, you can simmer it for a few more minutes before adding the cream sauce.
You will need about 2-4 tablespoons or 30-60ml of roux to thicken each cup or 250ml of cream sauce.

Try adding the cornstarch mixture. Stir in the cornstarch and water in equal amounts until a paste is formed. Make sure the cornstarch mixture is well stirred so that the cream sauce doesn’t thicken. After stirring the cornstarch with the water, you will add tablespoons or 15ml of this mixture in turn to the cream sauce. Continue stirring and cook the cream sauce over medium heat for about 2 minutes to thicken the sauce. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

You will need about 2 tablespoons or 30ml of the one-corn mixture for each cup of cream sauce.
Note, the amount of cornstarch mixture needed will vary depending on how thick you want the cream sauce to be.

Use egg yolks to thicken egg-based cream sauces. If you’re making a creamy egg-based sauce like hplandaise, the egg yolk will be a suitable thickener. Crack the eggs into a bowl and transfer the yolks to another bowl. Beat the egg yolks and slowly add the cream sauce to the bowl; Stir in the cream sauce, one tablespoon at a time, until you have about 1 cup or 240ml of the egg yolk mixture. Gently stir the egg yolk mixture into the cream sauce until the sauce reaches the desired consistency. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

You won’t need to use up the entire egg yolk mixture to thicken the cream sauce.
Add only a little of the egg yolk mixture or just enough to thicken the sauce as desired.

Stir in the butterballs into the sauce. Using a spoon, mash the room-temperature butter and flour in equal parts in a small bowl. Continue to mash the butter and flour until the mixture is thick. Take a small spoon of the flour mixture and knead the dough into balls with your hands. Add the butterballs to the sauce and stir quickly. Continue stirring until the sauce has the texture you want.

You can add more butterballs to create the desired consistency of the sauce.
Make sure you only add one buttermilk ball at a time.

Things you need

Electric stove or gas stove
Small pot
Wooden spoon
Whisk eggs
Measuring cup
Measuring spoon
Small bowl for mixing thickening ingredients

Steps

Heat cream sauce

Use thickener ingredients

Things you need

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