This easy Hollandaise sauce recipe doesn't require a blender, a double boiler, or constant whisking. If you want a thick, creamy, and tangy sauce that's easy to make and an easily-scalable recipe that's a cinch to memorize, give this one a shot!
For extra-lemony Hollandaise (the way I love it, but it's not for everyone)
4tbspbutter
4tbsplemon juice
4egg yolks
For a more traditional Hollandaise
8tbspbutter
1tbsplemon juice(or to taste)
4egg yolks
Instructions
Bring a medium saucepan half-full of water to a light simmer, with a two-cup Pyrex measuring cup sitting in the middle.
Melt the butter in the measuring cup.
Remove the measuring cup from the saucepan and add the lemon juice (fresh or bottled is fine) to bring the temperature of the butter down a bit.
Slowly pour the butter-lemon mixture into the bowl that contains your egg yolks, whisking constantly to prevent curdling the eggs. (This is the "tempering the eggs" part).
Pour the mixture back into the measuring cup and return to the saucepan.
Cook over medium/medium-low heat (water bath should be a low simmer) for 10 minutes or so or until the sauce thickens, stirring frequently with a fork or whisk. Every minute or two should be fine - this does not require constant whisking.
Notes
I love lemon, so the 1:1:1 ratio yields a very tangy Hollandaise sauce. If you like your Hollandaise sauce less tart, add more butter or reduce the lemon juice to taste. For a much less lemony (more traditional) sauce, double the butter and quarter the lemon juice (1:4:8 ratio of lemon:yolks:butter). If sauce gets too thick, you can thin it out by adding hot water from the sauce pan into the sauce one spoonful at a time, whisking to combine thoroughly.Scale the recipe up or down as much as you need - 1:1:1 for each person (for extra-lemony version).