1-Minute Microwave Hollandaise (and How to Turn It into Béarnaise)
If you can separate an egg, you can make this easiest-ever hollandaise in 1 minute flat.
Makesabout 2/3 cup
Prep3 minutes
Cook2 minutes
A one-minute cooking hack is one thing. But getting two (one-minute) hacks from the same recipe? Ingenious. I first found this one-minute microwave hollandaise recipe years ago in the book Desperation Dinners by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross. Released in 1997 and now sadly out of print, this book of fast, family-ready meals was so handy, it was my go-to gift for new parents for years.
If you can separate an egg, you can make this hollandaise in one minute flat. OK, maybe one minute and 15 seconds if you use half-and-half instead of cream. It works every time. It’s so stable, you can even refrigerate it and reheat it in the microwave. Asparagus for Easter, broccoli for Thanksgiving or Christmas — what steamed vegetable doesn’t get sexy under fat drizzles of hollandaise?
A Chef Hack For Béarnaise Sauce
For a while, that’s all I did with it. But then I remembered a chef hack I learned years ago for making béarnaise sauce. In the French sauce world, béarnaise is the “child” of the mother sauce hollandaise, both emulsions based on melted butter and egg yolks. It’s unbelievable drizzled over grilled flank steak.
Béarnaise sauce is also fussy: It starts with simmering white wine vinegar, peppercorns, shallots, tarragon and chervil until it all reduces down to a couple of tablespoons, then stirring that into hollandaise. The chef trick? Skip the vinegar reduction and just stir a little A1 steak sauce into hollandaise. That’s when I looked at my microwave hollandaise and it hit me: Microwave béarnaise, in less than 90 seconds. It’s so fast, you can make it after you take the steak off the grill to rest.
Microwave Hollandaise and Béarnaise Sauces
If you can separate an egg, you can make this easiest-ever hollandaise in 1 minute flat.
Prep time 3 minutes
Cook time 2 minutes
Makesabout 2/3 cup
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons
(1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- 2
large egg yolks
- 1/2
medium lemon
- 1/4 cup
heavy cream or half-and-half
- 1/2 teaspoon
Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon
A1 steak sauce (optional, for béarnaise)
Kosher salt
Instructions
Place 4 tablespoons unsalted butter in a 2-cup glass measuring cup or medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high until mostly melted, 30 to 45 seconds. Stir until the butter is completely melted.
Place 2 large egg yolks in a small bowl and whisk with a fork to break up. Squeeze the juice from 1/2 medium lemon. Add the yolks, 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice, and 1/4 cup heavy cream or half-and-half to the melted butter and stir until combined.
Microwave in 15-second bursts, whisking between each burst, until slightly thickened but still pourable (about 185ºF), 1 to 1 1/2 minutes total.
Add 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard and whisk to combine. For béarnaise, whisk in 1 tablespoon A1 steak sauce. Taste and season with more lemon juice and kosher salt as needed. Serve warm.
Recipe Notes
Storage: Refrigerate the sauce in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Reheat in the microwave for about 15 seconds.