Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce

This luxurious lemon garlic butter sauce is the perfect accompaniment to fish, seafood, chicken and pasta. It’s simple, yet decadent—a little bit of this sauce goes a long way. 

This sauce is:

• Creamy 
• Fatty 
• Zesty
• Fresh 
• Versatile 

Based off of the classic French beurre blanc sauce, this lemony version is ideal for fish and seafood. With a few more ingredients than a beurre blanc, my lemon garlic butter sauce still has the dreamy qualities of a beurre blanc; silky, decadent, rich. 

The acidic lemon zest and juice cut through the rich butter while fresh chives add both something fresh and savory. 

This lemon garlic butter sauce is great for: 

Get creative with how you serve this sauce! Though simple, it is decadent and flavorful. Toss it with some angel hair pasta, spoon it over roasted cod, or serve it as a dipping sauce with shrimp and crab. The options really are endless, but this sauce does pair incredibly well with seafood. 

If you’re going for a buttery seafood pasta, try swapping out the broth in favor of clam juice. If you haven’t cooked with clam juice before, don’t knock it ‘till you try it. It adds A TON of flavor to sauces and can be found in small glass bottles next to the canned tuna and salmon. 

• Pasta
• Fish – pan seared salmon, cod, halibut, salmon cakes 
• Chicken
• Seafood – crab, scallops, shrimp
• Vegetables – broccoli, green beans  
• Eggs Benedict 

Be sure to serve this sauce warm. As it cools it will begin to set up. You can reheat the sauce in a saucepan over low. Whisk until smooth; adding additional warm milk as needed. 

How to make lemon garlic butter sauce 

1. Add BIG flavor to the broth, wine and milk and reduce them down
2. Make a roux with butter and flour 
3. Slowly whisk reduced liquid into roux
4. “Mount” butter into sauce—aka incrementally whisk butter into sauce until a thick, emulsified sauce is created. 

Ingredient substitutions: 

If you can, use what the recipe calls for—at least the first time you make it. The ingredient modifications below are intended to show the versatility of ingredients AND help you think creatively about this recipe!

• low-sodium chicken broth or clam juice 
• dry white wine or broth or clam juice 
• Whole milk or cream thinned with some water 
• Dried bay leaf or sprig of rosemary or thyme 
• Chives or fresh dill or tarragon 

You may also like…

• Roasted Green Beans with Garlic & Lemon
• Browned Butter Garlic Noodles
• Lentil Stuffed Mushrooms
• Easy Salmon Cakes
• Roast Halibut

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Make sure to tag me @ZESTFULKITCHEN ON INSTAGRAM or tag #zestfulkitchen on social media if you make a recipe! 

If you make this butter sauce, leave a comment and rating below! To pin this recipe and save it for later, you can click the button on any of the photos, or the red button on the bar below the recipe. Happy cooking!

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