Whisking cold butter into simmering water creates a silky smooth emulsion called Beurre Monté that's perfect for drizzling over lobster or grilled vegetables.

Beurre monté is a classic French sauce that's simply butter and water.  Two ingredients, that's it.

And miraculously, the resulting sauce is silky and thick, almost the consistency of heavy cream which means it will adhere better to lobster, scallops, or grilled vegetables - my favorite ways to use it.

Beurre monté could not be easier to make. With just the two ingredients, it comes together in just minutes. 

There isn't really a recipe, it's more of a technique that's used to create an emulsification between the butter and the water. 

A small amount of water is brought to a simmer, and then cold butter is slowly whisked into the water, which recombines everything and turns it into a lovely thick "butter sauce".

America's Test Kitchen breaks down the science of it all, if you're interested. 

But the long and short of it is that the resulting sauce is thicker than regular melted butter, so it clings better to whatever it's poured over or anything that's dunked into it. 

Since discovering this sauce, I have started serving it with lobster, instead of the clarified butter I had been serving.

But it's also lovely for dunking bread, or drizzling over seafood, steak, vegetables or mashed potatoes.

2-Ingredient Beurre Monté Sauce

Small batch 
1 tablespoon water and up to 8 tablespoons of cold good-quality salted butter, cut into cubes
or
Large batch
4 tablespoons of water and up to a pound of cold good-quality salted butter, cut into cubes

Or really anything in between. Just don't use too much water, you only need a tablespoon or two unless you're making a huge batch!

Bring the water to a simmer in a saucepan. Slowly whisk in the cold butter, one cube at a time, whisking to incorporate each cube before adding the next. 

Use the sauce immediately, or refrigerate leftovers and use them as you would regular butter. Beurre Monté can't be reheated after it's cooled. It will break and separate.

©2025 Coop to Kitchen by cookbook author and certified Le Cordon Bleu recipe developer Lisa Steele. All rights reserved.