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Béchamel sauce

Béchamel sauce is a smooth milk-based white sauce thickened with a flour-and-fat roux.

Béchamel sauce — illustrative ingredient image

About Béchamel sauce

Béchamel sauce is a cooked white sauce made by thickening milk with a roux of flour and fat. It is used in layered pasta dishes, gratins, baked vegetables, savoury pies, and other preparations that need a creamy sauce. Plain béchamel is distinct from cheese-enriched sauces and other versions with substantial additions.

Plain béchamel has a mild dairy flavour and a smooth texture ranging from pourable to spoonable. Its consistency depends on the proportions, cooking time, and any later dilution with milk or other liquid. It is commonly used warm, though it can firm when chilled.

The sauce is generally pale in colour and smooth in appearance. It is prepared and sold as a ready sauce or made from its component ingredients. Warming makes chilled béchamel more fluid; chilling firms it, while dilution loosens it. Baking can thicken the sauce further or set it within a finished dish.

Ingredient type
compound ingredient

Forms & related ingredients

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Where béchamel sauce appears

4 linked foods

Find foods to recognise by country and type. Recipes and products vary; these are recorded ingredient connections.

Showing 1–4 of 4

Main dishes

Snacks

Noodle dishes

Rice dishes

Ingredient connections awaiting review · Coverage is still growing, including packaged snacks.

Name examples awaiting language review. Confirm the specific food or product.

Local names for béchamel sauce

Names and romanised forms to recognise on menus and labels.

English

white sauce

English

béchamel sauce

English

Home-made Bechamel sauce

Search alias · Not a confirmed translation

Available names only. Languages may be spoken in other countries; a name alone does not identify every ingredient in a dish.

Béchamel sauce nutrition & diet

Béchamel sauce nutritional value

Reference: Bechamel sauce with butter, homemade

Per 100 g of the edible portion of the explicitly named reference food.

Calories
147kcal
Protein
3.8g
Carbs
9.0g
Fat
10.6g

Per 100 g edible portion. ANSES Ciqual 2025; energy and protein follow EU Regulation 1169/2011 (protein = nitrogen × 6.25); carbohydrate excludes fibre. Values describe this food form, not every brand or recipe. Reused under the Etalab Open Licence 2.0: https://www.etalab.gouv.fr/licence-ouverte-open-licence/.

Portions & preparation

Treat béchamel sauce as a finished preparation, not as an interchangeable listing for its individual ingredients. Record recipe proportions, thickness, reduction, added cheese, seasoning, and serving amount because these determine the sauce form assessed.

Compare the right form: Match references to the finished béchamel sauce recipe, specifying milk or substitute, fat, flour, thickness, additions, and served portion.

Diet considerations

Béchamel sauce generally combines milk with a fat-and-flour roux, but brand or recipe details determine the actual ingredients. Animal additions may include butter, milk, cheese, or stock; cereal ingredients may come from flour. The sauce’s carbohydrate pattern is portion-dependent and recipe-specific.

AI-authored reading notes · Awaiting editorial review. Measured values, where available, have a separate source above.

Dietary compatibility

  • Vegan
    Typically incompatible
  • Vegetarian
    May be compatible
  • Pescatarian
    May be compatible
  • Keto
    Not established
  • Paleo
    Typically incompatible
  • Low-carb
    Not established
  • Halal
    Not established
  • Kosher
    Not established
What these diet assessments mean
Vegan · Typically incompatible
Recorded common ingredients: Cow Milk. The ingredient profile identifies an animal-derived food or derivative. Recipes and products can differ.
Vegetarian · May be compatible
The recorded ingredients may fit this pattern. This is not a complete recipe or manufacturing specification; check additions and preparation.
Pescatarian · May be compatible
The recorded ingredients may fit this pattern. This is not a complete recipe or manufacturing specification; check additions and preparation.
Keto · Not established
A defined serving and sourced carbohydrate data are needed before assessing this dietary pattern.
Paleo · Typically incompatible
Recorded common ingredients: Cow Milk; Wheat flour. This profile falls outside the conventional paleo pattern used here (grains and pseudograins, legumes, dairy or refined sugar). Recipes and products can differ.
Low-carb · Not established
A defined serving and sourced carbohydrate data are needed before assessing this dietary pattern.
Halal · Not established
Sourcing, processing and any applicable certification have not been verified. A food name alone does not establish halal status.
Kosher · Not established
Sourcing, processing and any applicable certification have not been verified. A food name alone does not establish kosher status.

For the plain ingredient · Awaiting review. Diet compatibility is not allergy suitability or halal/kosher certification. Keto and low-carb depend on the portion.

Reviewed ingredient entryIngredient reference · Preparations vary

AI-generated illustration for visual context. It does not identify a particular product or establish allergen content.

Sources & review

Nutrition reference: ANSES Ciqual 2025 — Sauce béchamel au beurre, faite maison ↗. Values are scaled from 100 g of the recorded edible form. Individual portions have no assumed fixed weight.

Expanded overview, name examples and nutrition notes are database drafts awaiting editorial review. Numeric nutrition values, where shown, have their own source and food-form reference.

The ingredient description and dish connections come from the draft catalogue and may change after review.

Last recorded verification: .