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This bread sauce recipe is not only delicious, but it’s also a great way to minimise waste. With its aromatic tones, creamy mouthfeel and comforting texture, it’s an essential side for any roast dinner. Ready in just twenty minutes, it’s quick and easy to make. There’s no need to discard the onion and definitely keep the crusts on.

Bowl of easy homemade bread sauce with spices.

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No Christmas dinner is complete without a jug of warm bread sauce in my book. It’s one of my favourite side dishes. If you’ve not made it before, you’re in for a treat.

What Is Bread Sauce?

We Brits like our carbs and bread sauce is a delicious carby accompaniment to a classic roast dinner. It looks a bit like porridge, but tastes quite different. Serve it warm for the main event and eat any leftovers cold the next day. It goes particularly well with chicken, turkey and goose and is an absolute must-have on the Christmas table.

If I’m cooking, I usually make a nut roast of some kind. Luckily bread sauce works well with this too.

The recipe is quite simple. It’s made with stale bread, milk, onion and various aromatics. It’s usually, though not always, enriched with butter, cream or both.

Why Make Bread Sauce?

This classic British sauce is a great dish for using up stale bread.

Classic Comfort – A traditional, creamy side dish which adds a nostalgic touch to festive meals. It’s an absolute must-have for a Christmas roast dinner.
Homemade Goodness – Freshly made bread sauce has a flavour and texture that shop-bought simply can’t match. Homemade also means you know exactly what goes in to it and you can flavour it as you like.
Quick and Easy – Instead of the usual hour or two, this bread sauce recipe is ready in just twenty minutes. It’s really easy to make too. Perfect for busy holiday prep or last minute panics.
Versatile – Works well with both meat and vegetarian dishes. And you can easily repurpose any leftovers.
Zero Waste – As well as using stale bread, this recipe incorporates the bread crusts and the whole onion. Unlike most bread sauce recipes, nothing is left unused.

Easy Bread Sauce

Traditionally, you stud a peeled onion with cloves, dunk it in warm milk and leave it to steep for an hour or so. This, along with the bay leaves imparts flavour to the milk. You then throw the onion away. Nooooooo! How wasteful is that?

As regular readers know, I can’t bear waste, so I make my sauce another way. I keep the onion. This not only prevents waste, but also increases both bulk and nutrition. In addition it gives a lovely subtly sweet oniony flavour to the sauce.

I also use whatever plain bread I have to hand and always include the crusts. Why throw those away? This time I happened to have some leftover baguette, so the sauce is whiter than mine usually is.

Another benefit of doing it my way means you can make the sauce quickly and easily. And time is of the essence when it comes to Christmas dinner. Or any other roast dinner come to that.

I cook the onion in the milk along with cloves and a bay leaf, then remove the aromatics and blend the onion into the milk with a stick blender. Easy peasy. The rest is pretty much the same as other recipes.

Ingredients, Additions and Substitutions

You only need a few simple ingredients to make this bread sauce and it’s quite likely you’ll have all of them to hand.

Aromatics

Christmas spices of bay, cloves and nutmeg are the classic aromatics used to flavour bread sauce. Use a bay leaf and whole cloves, but grate in the nutmeg. Fresh nutmeg is so much nicer than ready ground.

I also like to add some freshly milled black pepper.

By way of a change, you could use a sprig of rosemary or thyme instead of the bay leaf.

Bread

Use whatever stale plain bread you have to hand. Seeded bread is not a good fit as the finished sauce should be soft. White bread usually looks better, but brown bread tends to taste better. Likewise, sourdough gives its own flavour.

If you need the sauce to be gluten-free, it’s fine to use gluten-free bread.

Dairy

Along with bread, milk is the base of this dish, so make sure you use whole milk. This gives body and flavour.

You may feel that the milk alone gives you the flavour and consistency you’re after. However, butter gives added richness, which is sort of what you want for Christmas. Use unsalted butter, which tends to be richer. It also means you can control the amount of salt going into the sauce.

Most bread sauce recipes include butter, but some also add cream. I’m of this camp. Cream just makes the whole thing, well, creamier. And I use double cream. It’s an entirely optional ingredient though.

Onion

Use a medium sized brown onion for this recipe. It has the best flavour. Don’t be tempted to use a red one as it will give a rather odd colour to the sauce.

Vegan Bread Sauce

To make a vegan bread sauce, follow the recipe as is, but use your favourite plant-based milk, a good quality vegan butter and vegan cream, if liked. I have a recipe for homemade vegan butter if you’d like to give it a try.

How To Make Bread Sauce

This is a quicker and easier way of making bread sauce than the traditional one and because you use the whole onion, it tastes even better.

Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions, timings and quantities of ingredients used.

Step 1. Simmer Milk

Peel the onion, cut it into quarters, then cut each quarter in half to make eighths.

Pour the milk into a small lidded saucepan. Add the onion eighths, cloves and bay leaf. Place the pan over a gently heat and bring the milk up to a simmer with the lid on. Simmer for ten minutes, by which time the onions should be soft.

Be careful not to let the milk boil over. It can create a horrid mess.

Remove from the heat and let the pan sit for a further five minutes so the aromatics can do a bit more work. Keep the lid on the pan.

Step 2. Blitz Bread And Onion

Whilst the milk is steeping, blitz the bread into crumbs using a food processor or similar. Keep those crusts on.

Fish out the bay leaf and cloves and discard. Use a stick blender to blitz the onion into the milk. Don’t worry if it’s not completely smooth though, this sauce is meant to be slightly chunky.

Step 3. Simmer Sauce

Add the breadcrumbs to the milk along with the salt and put the pan back onto a gentle heat again.

Simmer for two to three minutes or until the bread has absorbed all of the milk and the mixture is fairly thick.

Top Tip

If you want to keep things simple, you can add the spices at this point and omit the butter and cream. Taste it and see what you think.

Step 4. Add Dairy And Spices

Add the butter and cream, if using and stir to mix. The sauce should have a similar consistency to porridge and be just about pourable when warm.

Remove from the heat and grate in some fresh nutmeg along with some freshly milled black pepper to taste. Give a good stir.

Taste test, add more seasoning if needed. Keep the sauce warm until you’re ready to serve it.

Step 5. Serve

Transfer to a warmed jug or bowl, depending on how thick it is and serve straight away. Add an extra grating of nutmeg over the top, if liked.

Much like porridge, the sauce will thicken as it cools.

Top Tips

The cream is entirely optional, but it does make for a richer and creamier sauce.

Make ahead, if you like and store in a sealed container in the fridge for a couple of days. Reheat gently in a lidded saucepan until just about bubbling. You may need to thin it with a little milk.

You can freeze bread sauce in a sealed container for up to three months. To thaw, place in the fridge overnight, then heat gently in a lidded saucepan until just about bubbling. You may need to thin it with a little milk.

How To Use Bread Sauce

As well as its traditional use as a side dish for a roast dinner, bread sauce is delicious as part of a Boxing Day sandwich or alongside cold cuts or even a cheeseboard. Any leftovers make a useful and aromatic soup thickener.

It also works well as an accompaniment to veggie sausages, roasted or steamed veg or whole roasted cauliflower.

Use it spread on bread, crackers or toast instead of butter or mayonnaise. One of my favourite ways to eat it is to spread it on toast and top with fried mushrooms.

For a traditional Christmas dinner, serve bread sauce alongside the following:

the main roast – usually a nut roast of some kind if you’re eating plant-based
roast potatoes
roast parsnips, or why not try parsnip chips?
honey butter glazed carrots or roasted squash with sage, brown butter and hazelnuts
braised red cabbage
boiled Brussels sprouts or air-fryer Brussels sprouts
chestnut stuffing balls
pigs in blankets
apple sauce or cranberry sauce
gravy

Keep in Touch

Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make my bread sauce recipe, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or tips for making it?

Please rate the recipe. If you post pictures of your creations on social media, tag me @choclette8 so I can see them.

For more delicious and nutritious recipes follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard or Pinterest. And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my weekly newsletter. Or why not join the conversation in our Healthy Vegetarian Whole Food Recipes Facebook Group?

If you’d like more Christmas recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.

Choclette x

Easy Bread Sauce. PIN IT.

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Bread Sauce Recipe: Quick And Easy Version

This bread sauce recipe is not only delicious, but it's also a great way to minimise waste. With its aromatic tones, creamy mouthfeel and comforting texture, it's an essential side for any roast dinner. Ready in just twenty minutes, it’s quick and easy to make. There's no need to discard the onion and definitely keep the crusts on.

Prep Time5

Cook Time15

Total Time20

Course: Dips, Spreads & Sauces, Side Dish

Cuisine: British

Keyword: bread, Christmas, sauce

Servings: people

Calories: 98kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Equipment

stick blender (affiliate link)

Ingredients

350 ml whole milk
1 onion peeled and cut into eighths
4 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
60 g breadcrumbs white, brown, sourdough or gluten-free
¼ tsp sea or rock salt
25 g unsalted butter
2 tbsp double cream (heavy cream) (optional)
good grinding of black pepper
good grating of nutmeg

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

In a small lidded pan, gently simmer the onions eighths, cloves and bay leaf in the milk for ten minutes.
350 ml whole milk, 1 onion, 4 whole cloves, 1 bay leaf
Remove from the heat and let sit for a further five minutes. Keep the lid on the pan.
Meanwhile, blitz the bread into crumbs using a food processor or similar.
60 g breadcrumbs
Discard the bay leaf and cloves, then use a stick blender to blitz the onion into the milk. Don't worry if it's not completely smooth though, this sauce is meant to be slightly chunky.
Add the breadcrumbs to the milk along with the salt and put the pan back onto a gentle heat again. Simmer for 2-3 minutes or until the bread has absorbed all of the milk and the mixture is fairly thick.
¼ tsp sea or rock salt
Add the butter and cream (if using) and stir to mix. Remove from the heat and add the fresh nutmeg and pepper to taste. It should be just about pourable when warm.
25 g unsalted butter, 2 tbsp double cream (heavy cream), good grinding of black pepper, good grating of nutmeg
Taste test, add more seasoning if needed, then transfer the sauce to a warmed jug or bowl, depending on how thick it is and serve.

Notes

Can serve any leftovers cold the next day. The sauce will thicken as it cools.

Make ahead, if you like and store in a sealed container in the fridge for a couple of days. Reheat gently in a lidded saucepan until just about bubbling. You may need to thin with a little milk.

You’ll find additional tips and info about this recipe in the main body of the post.

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on serving size and exact ingredients used. Please refer to my nutrition disclaimer for further information.

Nutrition Estimate

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below letting us know how you got on and do share a photo on Instagram. Tag @choclette8 or use hashtag #tinandthyme.

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