How to Make Mornay Sauce: Velvety Mornay Sauce Recipe

Mornay sauce is a cheesy variation on béchamel sauce, one of the five foundational French mother sauces. Mornay sauce features a base of flour, milk, egg, and butter, kept warm enough to melt a mix of freshly grated parmesan and gruyère, producing a thick, velvety white cheese sauce.

Mornay sauce works best in dishes with rich ingredients.

• As a base: Use Mornay as the base sauce for macaroni and cheese—or as a minimalist sauce for other pasta dishes like ravioli.
• As a substitute for heavy cream: Instead of just heavy cream, use Mornay to make steakhouse-style creamed greens like kale or spinach.
• As a finish: Mornay sauce adds the finishing touch on a Croque madame or Croque monsieur and makes a rich sauce for roasted cauliflower steaks.
• In casseroles: Use Mornay sauce to add a cheesy component to casseroles with vegetables, meat, pasta or rice.

As the reigning rich, velvety white sauces in the French canon, there’s one crucial difference between béchamel and Mornay: Cheese. The addition of cheese to Mornay takes the sauce one step further into gooey, melty territory while still maintaining a certain elegance and a depth of flavor.

• Sauce béchamel, as it’s known in French, is a versatile white sauce and the base of a variety of comfort food dishes. As one of five mother sauces in French cuisine, it’s easy to master, with only a few ingredients—butter, whole milk, flour, eggs, and salt. Béchamel starts with a classic French white roux: a few tablespoons flour and a few tablespoons butter—cooked together in a heavy saucepan to form a thick paste before the addition of milk. Milk is slowly whisked into the mixture and cooked until it takes on a creamy consistency.
• Mornay sauce is a cheese sauce made in the same manner as a classic béchamel, but with the addition of grated cheese. With the béchamel sauce over low heat, stir in gruyère cheese, Emmental (also known as Swiss cheese), or white cheddar cheese—any melting cheese works, but those three are the classics. Parmesan cheese, mozzarella, or a combination of different cheeses are also popular choices.