Gordon Ramsay’s hollandaise sauce is bright, buttery and sharp, made with egg yolks, melted butter, tarragon vinegar and lemon juice, ready in about 10 minutes. It should coat the back of a spoon like a thick custard, glossy and golden, not thin or grainy.
In Ultimate Home Cooking, Ramsay uses this as the centrepiece of his eggs benedict, writing that “the hollandaise will hold in a warm place for 30 minutes or so.” On his YouTube eggs benedict video he calls it “the secret behind a great eggs benedict” and says to use a big balloon whisk because it “makes it easier to incorporate air and helps prevent your mixture from separating.”
The risk with hollandaise is scrambled eggs. In the video, Ramsay warns that “if the eggs have direct contact with the gas, hollandaise will become scrambled egg.” The bowl sits over the water but never touches it, and you take it on and off the heat to control the temperature. Once the foam holds, you kill the heat completely before the butter goes in.
Gordon Ramsay Hollandaise Sauce Recipe
Course: SaucesCuisine: British, FrenchDifficulty: Medium4
servings2
minutes8
minutes320
kcal10
minutesGordon Ramsay’s hollandaise from Ultimate Home Cooking, where he serves it over eggs benedict with crispy Parma ham. Ten minutes, five ingredients, no reduction needed.
Ingredients
3 free-range egg yolks
2 tsp tarragon vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
200ml unsalted butter, melted
Lemon juice, to taste
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Set up the bain-marie: Bring a large pan of water to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Place a large heatproof bowl over the pan. The base of the bowl must not touch the water.
- Whisk the yolks: Add the egg yolks and vinegar to the bowl. Whisk vigorously until the mixture forms a golden, airy foam. If it starts getting too hot, lift the bowl off the heat for a few seconds and keep whisking.
- Add the butter: Turn the heat off under the pan. Whisk in the melted butter a little at a time until it is all incorporated and the sauce is almost as thick as mayonnaise.
- Finish: Whisk in lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Add a little warm water from the pan if the sauce is too thick. Cover and set aside over the warm water until ready to serve.
FAQs
Why does Ramsay teach two different versions of hollandaise?
Most people don’t know this, but Ramsay makes hollandaise two completely different ways across his cookbooks. The Ultimate Home Cooking version above uses melted butter, which is the traditional French method and the one most home cooks expect.
But in Sunday Lunch he makes a minted hollandaise with light olive oil instead of butter. In the Ultimate Cookery Course he explains why: “very few chefs still make hollandaise this way, but use olive oil instead of butter to make a kind of cooked mayonnaise. This results in a much more practical and stable sauce.” If your hollandaise keeps splitting, the olive oil version is worth trying because it’s far more forgiving.
Why does Ramsay use tarragon vinegar instead of plain white?
In the YouTube video he reaches for tarragon vinegar first, then adds “you cannot get tarragon vinegar, any white wine vinegar will do, just as long as you got that acidity in there.” So tarragon is his preference but not essential.
The tarragon adds a subtle anise note that lifts the sauce beyond plain butter and lemon. It’s the same herb he uses in his béarnaise, which is really just a hollandaise with a tarragon vinegar reduction underneath it. Once you’ve made both, you can taste how closely related they are.
Why does Ramsay turn the heat off before adding butter?
In Ultimate Home Cooking, the method is specific: whisk the yolks over simmering water until foamy, then “turn the heat off under the pan” before adding butter. The residual heat in the water bath is enough.
If the heat stays on, the yolks keep cooking while you’re trying to emulsify the butter. In the video he puts it bluntly: “you don’t whisk it enough, the egg yolks don’t take the butter, it causes it to split.” Turning the heat off gives you breathing room to whisk properly without racing against the temperature.
How does Ramsay keep hollandaise warm without it splitting?
In the YouTube video: “the best way to keep hollandaise nice and warm is just leave it to sit over that nice warm water bath.” In Ultimate Home Cooking he says it “will hold in a warm place for 30 minutes or so.”
The water bath cools gradually, which keeps the sauce at serving temperature without cooking it further. Cover the bowl with cling film to stop a skin forming. After 30 minutes it starts to thicken too much, so add a splash of warm water and whisk again. Beyond an hour, make a fresh batch.
What can you flavour hollandaise with?
Ramsay treats hollandaise as a base sauce you can take in different directions. In the Ultimate Cookery Course he writes that you can steer it with “different citrus flavours, grapefruit or lemon, or different herbs” and that “with mint it makes a particularly good accompaniment to barbecued lamb.”
He puts this into practice across his books. Quick and Delicious has a pink grapefruit version with chives for salmon. Sunday Lunch has a minted version with coriander seeds for lamb. The classic lemon and tarragon version above works on eggs benedict, poached asparagus, and grilled salmon. Same technique, different finishing flavours.
Does hollandaise keep well?
Same answer as béarnaise: not really. It’s an emulsified egg sauce, so once it cools the butter sets and the texture changes. Ramsay gives it 30 minutes over the warm water bath, which lines up with my experience.
Don’t try to refrigerate and reheat it. The butter solidifies, the emulsion breaks, and reheating scrambles the yolks. Make it last and serve it first. If you need a sauce you can prep ahead, the madeira sauce reheats perfectly and keeps for days.
