How to fix a broken sauce

Every chef has had the headache of a broken sauce at least once or twice in the kitchen. It can quickly turn an enjoyable afternoon of cooking into a stressful experience, but there are often ways to salvage the sauce before starting from scratch again. Below we’ll cover how to fix a broken sauce, why it might have broken and how to prevent it happening in future situations, including some handy tips and tricks.

What does broken sauce mean?

Firstly, what exactly do we mean when we talk about a broken sauce? It happens when the sauce separates into liquid and fat, creating an oily film. It only applies to emulsified sauces, like Hollandaise, when there aren’t enough emulsifiers to bind the ingredients together. We’ll go on to discuss why this happens, but at its simplest, it’s down to the creation of sauces from ingredients that feature both oil and water. These two elements don’t naturally want to combine, and when they do separate or ‘break’ you’ll start to see fat droplets forming around the edges. If it’s fully broken, you’ll easily be able to see the distinction in a loose or grainy sauce. When the sauce is successfully made, this is due to the oils and water creating an emulsion which disperses the fat and water particles evenly.

Why does a sauce break?

There are many answers to the painful question of ‘Why did my sauce break?’ Common reasons include adding the fat too quickly, which means the fat and the liquid in the sauce you’re making struggle to combine. If the sauce is on too high a heat, sometimes the ingredients will lose their ability to emulsify. For example, if eggs in Hollandaise are heated too high, they’ll start to scramble and fail to combine the sauce properly. Keeping a consistent, low heat will help to avoid this. Sauces should also be whipped up to be served straight away. If you keep them warm for too long, or refrigerate until needed, you’ll often see separation and create a broken sauce.

How to fix a broken sauce

Even if you do experience breakage, there are still many ways to fix a broken sauce which will vary depending on the base ingredients and type of sauce you’re making. If you spot droplets of fat forming, start to add a couple more teaspoons of your liquid e.g. water or vinegar, and continue to stir or whisk constantly until the droplets disappear. Alternatively, if your sauce is looking thin, you can whisk in your fat source e.g. butter or egg yolk, to bring the consistency back to as desired. This works well with sauces like white sauce, with the fats from the egg yolk helping to stabilize the emulsion. Occasionally you can fix a broken sauce by whisking it very hard over a low heat to encourage the ingredients to emulsify. This is a tried and tested method for how to fix broken caramel sauce. If you do end up starting from scratch, you don’t necessarily need to throw out the existing sauce. Once you’ve successfully created a new base, you can combine it with the older broken sauce so as not to waste ingredients.

How to prevent sauces from breaking

It can be very stressful when you’re trying to fix a broken sauce whilst getting ready to serve dinner to your guests. Here we have some useful tips on how to prevent sauces from breaking, so you don’t have to deal with the rescue mission next time. Our top tip is to always make sure you’re cooking the sauce you’re making at the right temperature. Heat can easily cause a sauce to break, and most sauces don’t need to be cooked over a high temperature. Aim for more of a simmer to retain control over the consistency and the speed of cooking. This is especially key if you’re creating a dairy-based sauce, to avoid curdling.

When making sauces, it's imperative that you follow the recipe, adding the ingredients in the correct order. It’s usually best to add the water first, then the emulsifiers like egg yolks or mayonnaise, and then any oil-based ingredients last to help the sauce fully combine. Our final top tip is to continue to whisk and blend your sauce as you go. This helps to encourage the ingredients to emulsify and reduce the risk of breaking. For more advice and help on how to make the best sauces, read on for our secrets of saucemaking or for inspiration on which sauces to make in your kitchen, we have a round-up of 12 classic sauces to master, armed with all the top tips above!