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Condiments & seasonings

Béchamel

Also called white sauce and bechamel sauce

Béchamel is a sauce made with butter, flour, and nutmeg, sometimes with egg. Cooks use it in baking.

  • Dairy
  • May contain egg
  • Allergen: milk

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Cooked most in
Europe, Asia
Top country
Italy
Béchamel, prepared

Photo: Jacek Halicki · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use béchamel

Typical ways to cook or use it

  • Bake

Made from

Around the world

Where béchamel is cooked

3 dishes in the catalogue use béchamel. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Countries whose dishes use it most

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list béchamel among their ingredients.

Origins

  1. 1733

    A named recipe appeared in Vincent La Chapelle's The Modern Cook.

  2. The 1930s · Greece

    Chef Nikolaos Tselementes introduced the sauce to Greek cooking.

On the table

Dishes made with béchamel

2 of the 3 catalogued dishes that use it, spread across the countries they come from.

  • Doria

    Japan

  • Lasagna

    Italy

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include béchamel.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: béchamel in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.
Allergens
Contains: milkSometimes eggs (only when the optional ingredient is used)
Animal origin
From: dairySometimes egg (only when the optional ingredient is used)

Around the world

What béchamel is called

Names in 53 languages, from Wikidata.

  • Spanish

    bechamel · Salsa béchamel · Salsa bechamel · Besciamella

  • French

    sauce béchamel · sauces béchamel · sauce bechamel · sauce béchamelle

  • Italian

    Besciamella · Louis de Bechamel · Balsamella (Artusi)

  • Portuguese

    molho béchamel · Béchamel

  • German

    Béchamelsauce · Milchsoße · Béchamelsoße · Milchsauce

  • Dutch

    bechamelsaus · béchamelsaus · witte saus

  • Greek

    Μπεσαμέλ

  • Turkish

    Beşamel sos

  • Russian

    бешамель

  • Polish

    beszamel · sos beszamelowy

  • Arabic

    صلصة البشاميل

  • Persian

    سس بشامل · بشامل

Show all 53 languages

  • Afrikaans

    Witsous

  • Albanian

    Salca beshamel

  • Armenian

    Բեշամել

  • Asturian

    bexamel · salsa bexamel

  • Azerbaijani

    Beşamel sousu

  • Basque

    bexamel

  • Belarusian

    бешамель · белы соус

  • Bulgarian

    Бешамел

  • Cantonese

    白汁

  • Catalan

    beixamel · Béchamel · salsa beixamel

  • Chinese

    白汁 · 白醬 · 貝夏媚醬

  • Czech

    bešamelová omáčka · bešamel · béchamel

  • Danish

    bechamelsovs · hvid grundsovs · sauce béchamel · bechamelsauce

  • Egyptian Arabic

    بشاميل

  • Esperanto

    beŝamelo

  • Estonian

    Valge kaste · Bešamellkaste

  • Filipino

    Sarsang béchamel

  • Finnish

    Valkokastike · Bechamel-kastike · Vaalea peruskastike · Béchamel-kastike

  • Galician

    Bechamel · Salsa bechamel · Mollo bechamel · Béchamel

  • Hebrew

    רוטב בשאמל · בשאמל · רוטב בשמל · בשמל

  • Hindi

    बेशामेल

  • Hungarian

    besamel

  • Ido

    beshamelo

  • Indonesian

    Saus Bechamel · Bechamel

  • Japanese

    ベシャメルソース · ソース・ブランシュ

  • Javanese

    Saos béchamel

  • Kazakh

    Бешамель

  • Kazakh (Arabic)

    بەشامەل

  • Kazakh (China)

    بەشامەل

  • Kazakh (Cyrillic)

    Бешамель

  • Kazakh (Kazakhstan)

    Бешамель

  • Kazakh (Latin)

    Beşamelʹ

  • Kazakh (Türkiye)

    Beşamelʹ

  • Korean

    베샤멜 소스

  • Latvian

    bešamela mērce · baltā mērce

  • Macedonian

    бешамел · бешамел-сос · бешамел сос

  • Malay

    Sos Béchamel

  • Norwegian Bokmål

    béchamelsaus · hvit saus · béchamel

  • Norwegian Nynorsk

    Bechamel

  • Romanian

    Beșamel · sos beșamel

  • Serbian

    Бешамел сос

  • Simplified Chinese

    白汁

  • Simplified Chinese (China)

    白汁

  • Simplified Chinese (Singapore)

    白汁

  • Slovak

    Bešamelova omáčka

  • Slovenian

    bešamel

  • Swedish

    béchamelsås · Béchamel · Vitsås · Vit sås

  • Thai

    ซอสเบชาแมล · เบชชาเมลลา · ซอสขาว

  • Traditional Chinese

    白汁 · 白醬

  • Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong SAR China)

    白汁

  • Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)

    白汁 · 白醬

  • Ukrainian

    Бешамель · соус бешамель · білий соус

  • Vietnamese

    Xốt béchamel

Sources and credits

Data

  • GlobeCooks editorial: descriptions, kitchen notes and classification, written by GlobeCooks from checked sources
  • Wikidata: names, classification and dishes (CC0 1.0)
  • Wikimedia Commons: photos
  • Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Wikidata item: Q209974

Photos

Photo: Jacek Halicki · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons