Also known as white sauce, Bechamel is one of the most basic sauces that has a wide range of variations and uses. Its versatility makes it an excellent sauce for the home cook to have in their back pocket.
Equipment | Single burner |
Difficulty | Medium |
Use this dairy-free, simple bechamel sauce recipe to create several vegan meals.
Made with simple ingredients, this dairy-free bechamel is a great alternative to make many favorite dinner recipes into easy vegan recipes, from lasagnas to gratins. Whether drizzled over pasta, layered in lasagna, or used as a creamy sauce for vegetables, this vegan bechamel sauce creates the same lusciousness and flavor you expect from traditional recipes.
This is the trick to making vegan lasagna so creamy that it feels naughty!
"White sauce" is so versatile that it is definitely worth your time to learn how to make it, even though it is not particularly easy. Luckily, despite being a little finicky the first time or two that you make it, it does come together pretty quickly and doesn't take too much time. After only a few tries you'll become a pro at white sauce and be able to whip it up with no trouble!
Substitutions?
Can I substitute white pepper with black? Yes! It is possible to substitute the white pepper for black. However, using black pepper will add black specks to your sauce, so if you want the sauce to look completely white it is probably best not to use black pepper.
Substitute for nutmeg: You can use mace or allspice. If you don't have those, or don't want to use them, you can them out. It is traditional and adds a warm depth of flavor, but it will still work without.
Can I omit the salt? Go for it, no biggie. This is an easier recipe to omit the salt because it is almost always balanced by other ingredients. It you are concerned about your salt intake, omitting the salt here is a great place to do it.
Can I use extra virgin olive oil? Absolutely. Honestly that's how I usually make it, but the final product will taste strongly of olive oil. In the case of certain foods, like lasagna, strong olive oil flavors work well
Pro tips!
Varied uses: This bechamel recipe make a lot, but I often like to keep a little in my fridge for later in the week and whisk it into some tomato sauce for a lazy pasta dinner. It makes a nice change from straight marinara! It can also be tucked into calzones, or spooned onto pizzas.
Get that beautiful golden brown top on casseroles and baked recipes! One of the best benefits of this recipe is that it will also start to brown on top. This is really nice when used on top of a food that needs to bake, making it a good substitute for recipes that would otherwise rely on a cheese topping for browning, such as Vegan Moussaka or lasagna.
Lactose Free: This is a naturally lactose-free bechamel recipe! If you are lactose intolerant and need a bechamel substitute that doesn't require butter, then this is a recipe you can use. That way you can also easily make lactose-free lasagna as well!
Let's Begin:
Gather all the ingredients. For this recipe I recommend collecting all the ingredients in small bowls (mise-en-place style) beforehand. You don't want to be fumbling around still measuring when it's time to start pouring things in if you can help it.
Warm the 1/4 cup oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. When it is warm, shiny, and slides around the pan easily add the sifted 5 Tbs of flour to the heated oil. It should bubble a little as it cooks if the oil is hot enough. It is important to cook the flour long enough that the raw flavor of the flour is removed. You will be able to tell when the raw flavor is gone when the color darkens slightly and it starts to smell toasted.
Keeping the heat medium, slowly add the 2 1/2 cups dairy-free milk while whisking constantly to keep the mixture smooth. It can help to add it in sections, whisking out any lumps between. Be sure you whisk all the lumps out of the flour while it is cooking! This is absolutely necessary! If you leave lumps this early there is no way to make your sauce lump-free later. A little elbow grease here goes a long way toward success!
Keep adding the milk in sections as you whisk any lumps out as soon as they form. Once all the milk has been added cook the sauce for another 5-10 minutes while it thickens, whisking often and scraping the edges to keep the sides and bottom from burning.
The bechamel sauce is ready when it is thick enough to stick to the back of a spoon. Then, remove it from the heat and use immediately because it rapidly forms a skin. If you cannot use it right away then keep it covered or stir it often while it cools. Frequent stirring can help prevent a bad skin from forming. You can whisk a slight skin back into the sauce while it is still warm without much trouble.
How can I use this bechamel sauce?
Bechamel is used in many different genres of cooking from Mediterranean to French as a base sauce. Basically anything that needs a creamy sauce of some kind will begin with bechamel and build on it, that's why it is so handy to have a vegan version on hand! If you need some basic ideas of things that require bechamel, you can use in any of the following vegan recipes;
Lasagna
Gratins
Fettuccine Alfredo
Chicken Pot Pie
Macaroni and Cheese
Pasta Bakes
Seafood Pie
Etc.
Honestly bechamel is extremely similar to southern style country gravy. All it needs is some heavy cracks of black pepper and a splash of soy sauce and it's practically there. It is also the basis for Fettuccine Alfredo, missing only the garlic and cheese. You can make a cheater, pseudo Alfredo sauce by doubling the yellow mustard and nutritional yeast and adding fresh minced garlic or garlic powder. Neither this gravy nor this Alfredo are correct, but the basic concept is there in the basic bechamel base. So really, it is pretty wide-spread in usage.
Storage.
This sauce recipe will last in an airtight container in the fridge 4-5 days. If you want to prevent a skin from forming in the fridge you can lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the sauce, being sure to tuck it along the edges so the surface it's in contact with air. Do not use plastic wrap if it is still hot! And be sure to remove the plastic wrap before heating! If you don't care about the skin, you can whisk it back into the sauce while reheating.
Can I freeze it? Freezing it is not recommended.
Can I reheat it? Yes! However, it is a little difficult to return it to its original consistency. You can heat it slowly in a pan and add a little water (or plain, unsweetened, non-dairy milk) and try to whisk it back to creamy, it takes some time, but can still be easily used! If you are going to incorporate the leftovers into some other dish that doesn't need the bechamel texture, or is adding other liquids (see tips below), then there may not be a need to reheat the bechamel by itself first, you can just add it directly to whatever you're cooking.
Here are some ideas on how to use leftover bechamel sauce.
If you have leftover bechamel there are many things you can do with it later in the week!
Tuck it into Calzones: One of the benefits here is you can add the bechamel cold! Calzones often have mozzarella as a filling, which bechamel does a reasonable job pairing with, or even replacing if you don't have (or don't eat) mozzarella. It also compliments all the other common calzone fillings! Making lactose-free or vegan calzones couldn't be easier!
Spoon it into a Lasagna Layer: There are all kinds of lasagna variations out there, from traditional, to Mexican, to Greek, and all of them could benefit from a little added vegan white sauce. You can tuck cold bechamel into the layers, or you can heat it up for a more even distribution and to pour over the top!
Mix it with Marinara Sauce to Pour over Pasta: If you only have a small amount leftover you can give yourself a change from straight marinara by making a pseudo "pink sauce". Simply whisk leftover bechamel into marinara and add a little garlic. "Pink sauce", which is sometimes randomly called "Aristocrat sauce", is usually marinara mixed with alfredo, but using bechamel and garlic can make a similar product.
Mix it into a Soup: Maybe you want to make a soup creamier? You can whisk leftover bechamel into your soup recipes to make them more decadent! If you want to do this I recommend you put the bechamel in a bowl and add small amounts of hot broth to it while whisking, then pour the mixture back into the soup pot. Or reheat the bechamel slowly over a stove while whisking before pouring it in. If you don't whisk it smooth before adding it to a large pot of soup you run a slight risk of having lumps because there may be too much fluid to effectively whisk it.
Mix it into a Pot Pie Filling: Whether you're making a chicken-style pot pie or a seafood-style pie, you could improve the sauce texture with some leftover bechamel. Whisk the leftover bechamel directly into the sauce you are making for the pie to easily add a little more depth of flavor and a smoother texture.
Simply add Pasta: A simple, but effective way to use up the leftovers is to just reheat the sauce slowly over a burner while whisking it, then tossing it with al dente pasta. Be sure to add a ladle of the pasta water to the sauce to help it be creamier and stick better to the pasta. You could also add some diced garlic and blanched spinach to make the recipe a little healthier.
Other ideas and thoughts?
Do you have any other ideas for how to use leftover bechamel? Of do you have a favorite dish that uses it? Or perhaps you have a favorite, bechamel-based dish that you want to convert to vegan that needs more help? I'd love to hear from you in the comments! I am sure there are a thousand more uses I haven't even considered! It would be very helpful to me and others to learn new and exciting ways to up our white sauce game. So please share your tips and tricks and deepest bechamel secrets below in the comments!
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