Gordon Ramsay’s horseradish sauce is three ingredients: crème fraîche, creamed horseradish and seasoning, stirred together in a bowl and ready in under 5 minutes. The recipe comes from Fast Food, one of five books where he uses horseradish in everything from Yorkshire pudding batter to salmon cures to beef cheek dumplings.
He pairs it with smoked salmon on pumpernickel and calls the combination of “savoury smoked salmon and creamy horseradish” a match that works to “delicious effect.” The crème fraîche does the heavy lifting: its natural tang softens the heat of the horseradish without burying it the way double cream would.
What’s consistent across all five books is how he picks the form. For sauces and dressings he reaches for creamed horseradish from a jar, where the vinegar acts as a stabiliser. For raw finishes like the grated root over stone bass in Bread Street Kitchen, he uses fresh. Most recipe sites say one is always better than the other. He uses both and chooses based on the dish.
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Gordon Ramsay Horseradish Sauce Recipe
Course: SaucesCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy10
servings5
minutes40
kcal5
minutesA 3-ingredient horseradish cream from Fast Food that Ramsay serves on pumpernickel with smoked salmon. He uses horseradish across five cookbooks in sauces, batters, dumplings, cures and dressings.
Ingredients
125ml (½ cup) crème fraîche
2 to 3 tbsp creamed horseradish sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Mix: Add the crème fraîche and creamed horseradish sauce to a mixing bowl and stir until smooth.
- Season: Taste and season with salt and pepper. Ramsay gives a range of 2 to 3 tablespoons of horseradish because the heat varies between brands, so start lower and adjust.
- Serve: Spread on pumpernickel with smoked salmon, or serve in a bowl alongside roast beef or grilled fish.
FAQs
What is the difference between horseradish sauce and horseradish cream?
Horseradish sauce is the shop-bought version with vinegar, mustard and sometimes flour, which gives it a tangy bite and longer shelf life. Horseradish cream uses crème fraîche or double cream as the base, which makes it milder, richer and smoother. Ramsay’s recipe is a cream: crème fraîche plus jarred creamed horseradish, so you get the sharpness from the jar softened by the tang of the crème fraîche.
The cream version lasts 3 to 4 days in the fridge in a sealed container. It doesn’t freeze well because the crème fraîche separates when it thaws, so make it fresh each time. At under 5 minutes, that’s no hardship.
Can you add horseradish to Yorkshire pudding batter?
Yes. In Ultimate Home Cooking, Ramsay stirs 6 tablespoons of freshly grated horseradish, or 3 tablespoons creamed, directly into the standard batter before pouring it into smoking hot fat. The horseradish doesn’t affect the rise at all, it just adds a sharp kick that pairs with roast beef.
His horseradish Yorkshire puddings are served alongside his stuffed rib of beef in the same book, so both dishes are designed to land on the same plate. If you use creamed rather than fresh, the flavour is slightly milder but more evenly spread through the batter.
What meat does Ramsay serve horseradish sauce with?
Beef, across three separate cookbooks. In Ultimate Home Cooking he pairs horseradish with his stuffed rib of beef, a 3-bone prime rib roasted on a bed of carrots and parsnips. In Next Level Kitchen he melts horseradish cream with Swiss cheese in the pan for his fillet steak sandwich. In Great British Pub Food he stirs creamed horseradish into dumpling dough for braised beef cheeks.
Three books, three cuts, three techniques. The pattern is always the same: horseradish cuts through the richness of beef, whether roasted, griddled or braised.
Does horseradish sauce go with fish?
Yes, and Ramsay proves it in two books. In Sunday Lunch he rubs creamed horseradish into a salmon cure alongside sea salt, sugar and fresh herbs, giving the fish “a slight peppery kick.” He also suggests serving “mayonnaise spiked with a little horseradish as a creamy sauce on the side.”
In Bread Street Kitchen he takes it further and grates fresh horseradish root over seared stone bass with an avocado purée. The heat works with oily fish like salmon and meaty white fish like bass because it lifts the richness the same way lemon juice does, through sharpness rather than acidity.
Can you make horseradish sauce with mayonnaise instead?
Yes. In Bread Street Kitchen, Ramsay makes a different version by mixing mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and half a teaspoon of horseradish sauce together as a dressing for cold roast beef. The result is thicker and richer than the crème fraîche version, more like a dip than a drizzle.
The two versions serve different purposes. The crème fraîche base is lighter and works as a condiment alongside hot beef or on canapés, while the mayo base is denser and clings to cold beef in sandwiches. He picks the base to match the temperature of the dish.
