Creamy Garlic Butter Sauce for Seafood
This creamy lemon garlic butter sauce is decadent, rich, and incredibly easy to make. It holds so much flavor with fresh garlic, lemon zest, and plenty of good quality butter, it's a great dipping sauce for seafood and shellfish.
Usually people dip their seafood into melted butter with some seasoning that has sunken to the bottom, but I wanted to take it to the next level, do something a little different. And with its rich, creamy texture, I knew what sauce was the perfect dipping sauce for my low country boil and crab feasts.
When I was in culinary school we learned how to make many, many sauces and almost all of them included plenty of butter. But my favorite was the one that could go with just about anything but I found was especially delicious as a dipping sauce for my snow crab legs and lobster tails: the elegant beurre blanc sauce.
It's that delicious sauce at your favorite upscale seafood restaurant, drizzled over seared scallops and served on the side of a perfectly cooked rib eye steak. A rich and creamy butter sauce that takes on the flavors of whatever you put into it.
With simple ingredients, a little professional culinary technique, and a whole stick of butter, honey, you will have the perfect garlicky butter sauce that your fresh seafood is just begging to dive into.
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What is Beurre Blanc Sauce?
Beurre blanc (literally meaning white butter in French) is a rich sauce made almost entirely of butter, which lends an ability to take on the flavors of whatever you put into it.
It was created by accident in the 1890s when Chef Clémence Lefeuvre was making bearnaise sauce, but forgot to add egg yolks. And instead of clarified butter, she whisked in cold whole butter.
Classically, it's made with white wine, shallots, and a ton of butter to make a flavorful sauce that coats the back of a spoon. And it can be used for anything, chicken, steak, vegetables...but it also makes for the perfect seafood sauce.
The best thing about it is that it's a versatile recipe, basically a compound butter in sauce form, and while the classic technique can be a little finicky, my 'home cook' method makes for a decadent, thick, creamy lemon butter sauce.
Instead of using only butter, we are adding heavy cream. Not only because it makes a lot more sauce, but because the fat and casein proteins in heavy cream will help the sauce emulsify and stay together even if you reheat it.
Next, in lieu of the dry white wine or vinegar, I use fresh lemon juice. It just cuts through all that richness with much-needed bright acidic flavor, which also compliments the alliums (garlic and onion).
So think of this beurre blanc as an easy, rich and decadent sauce to add any flavor to, and it can go along with anything!
Ingredients
Unsalted butter. We want to control the salt levels in our garlic butter sauce, and we want actual butter. Put the margarine away! It won't give you the results we want.
Heavy cream. Again, this makes the sauce thicker, richer, creamier, and gives us a lot more of it for dipping king crab legs into.
Fresh lemon juice and lemon zest. The actual 'lemon' flavor is in the zest, while that bright acid is in the juice.
Garlic cloves and shallots. We're using a microplane, which is a fine grater, to grate the garlic and shallots into a paste so instead of biting into chunks of garlic and onion, they are more incorporated into the sauce itself.
Fresh herbs. These are optional, but I love adding a couple sprigs of fresh thyme into the sauce because I like the flavor.
Kosher salt and black pepper. Taste and season your food, people!
Instructions
In a small saucepan, melt a tablespoon of butter and add the garlic and shallots, lemon zest, and fresh thyme. Sauté for a couple of minutes over medium heat.
Add the lemon juice and let cook until there is very little liquid left in the pot, for about 2-3 minutes, then add the heavy cream.
Bring the cream to a lively simmer, and then add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, whisking until each addition is fully incorporated before adding another.
Turn down to low heat, and taste the buttery sauce. Season with salt and pepper, and serve warm.
The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.
Variations
My favorite way to add more flavor to this is to add chicken broth when I add the lemon juice, then reduce it down to concentrate that flavor before adding the cream and butter.
Add old bay seasoning, cajun seasoning, lemon pepper, or hot sauce! Like I said, it's like a blank canvas that takes on whatever flavors you add to it. A spicy sauce goes great with a classic cajun seafood boil.
What to Serve with Homemade Garlic Butter Sauce
Any type of seafood. This is the ideal thick and creamy butter dipping sauce for a shrimp boil, crawfish boil, or crab boil. Don't forget the red potatoes and andouille sausage, they like dipping, too!
Spread onto fresh corn. Sweet corn on the cob loves being brushed with butter sauces!
Snow crab clusters. Usually it's a little dish of melted butter on the side, but let's elevate that, shall we?
Seafood isn't the only thing that loves a nice beurre blanc-style garlic butter sauce! Try it with prime rib during the holidays or over roasted chicken breasts or thighs.
Storage and Reheating Instructions
Keep the garlic butter sauce in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
The best part of this recipe is that it reheats perfectly. Over low heat in a small saucepan, rewarm the garlic butter sauce until it's completely warmed through. It'll thicken up again as it cools.
More recipes to pair with garlic butter sauce
- Salmon en Papillote
- Easy Sautéed Lemon Garlic Asparagus
- The Best Garlic Butter Seafood Boil
- Smoked Tri Tip
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📖 Recipe
Garlic Butter Sauce for Seafood
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoon 1 stick unsalted butter, diced and cold
- 3 cloves garlic grated
- ½ small shallot grated
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme optional
- Zest of 1 lemon
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, melt a tablespoon of butter and add the garlic and shallots, lemon zest, and fresh thyme. Sauté for a couple of minutes over medium heat.
- Add the lemon juice and let cook until there is very little liquid left in the pot, for about 2-3 minutes, then add the heavy cream.
- Bring the cream to a lively simmer, turn down to low heat, and then whisk in the butter, one tablespoon at a time, whisking until each addition is fully incorporated before adding another.
- Season the sauce to taste with kosher salt and pepper.
- The garlic butter sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.
