The Best Steak Cream Sauce
Quick Look: Creamy Steak Sauce
- 🕐 Prep time: 10 minutes
- 🍳 Cook time: 15 minutes
- ⏱ Total time: 25 minutes
- 🍽 Servings: 4
- 🔥 Calories: 312kcal
- 🥘 Cook Method: Stovetop
- 😋 Flavor Profile: Rich, tangy, garlicky
- 📊 Difficulty: Easy
SUMMARIZE & SAVE THIS CONTENT ON
What Makes This Creamy Steak Sauce The Best
This is the steak sauce my husband still asks for by name. I built it years ago after he raved about a steak sauce we had at a local restaurant. After a few rounds of testing in my own kitchen, this version beat the original. It comes together in one pan while your steak rests, and it turns an ordinary dinner into something that tastes like it came from a steakhouse.
- Built in one pan in under 15 minutes, no straining or special tools.
- Blue cheese and Parmesan give it a tangy, savory depth that plain cream sauce doesn’t have.
- Works on filet mignon, any steaks cooked in the oven, any pan seated steaks too, chicken, pork, shrimp or salmon.
Table of Contents
Key Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Heavy whipping cream – this is the backbone of the sauce. Don’t substitute half-and-half or milk, the lower fat content will cause the sauce to break instead of thicken.
- Blue cheese crumbles or Gorgonzola – use whichever you prefer. Gorgonzola is a type of blue cheese, milder and creamier, so it melts in a little smoother. Sharper blue cheese gives you more bite. Either one works in this recipe.
- Dijon mustard – this adds tang and helps the sauce hold together. Don’t substitute with yellow mustard, the flavor and acidity are too different.
- Shallots – if you can’t find shallots, sub in 1/4 to 1/3 of a Vidalia onion instead, depending on size.
- Parmesan – grate it fresh off the block. Pre-shredded Parmesan has anti-caking additives that keep it from melting smoothly into the sauce.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
How To Make Cream Steak Sauce
- PRO TIP: Prepare and measure all your ingredients before cooking because this is a fast recipe.
- I always start by melting the butter over medium heat, then adding the shallots and garlic. Give them time to turn truly golden, not just translucent, because that color is where the flavor base of the whole sauce comes from. Rushing this step is the easiest way to end up with a flat-tasting sauce later.
- Make sure to turn down the heat before adding the cream. I drop it to medium-low right away. Cream sauces don’t fail because of bad ingredients, they fail because the heat was too high for too long. If you ever see little droplets of fat pooling at the edges of the pan, that’s your warning sign the sauce is about to break, so pull it back before that happens.
- Add the cheese in slowly. I add the blue cheese first and stir patiently until it melts completely into the cream with no lumps left, then I add the Parmesan. You’ll know it’s ready when the sauce coats the back of your spoon in a smooth, even layer and looks glossy rather than greasy.
- The moment it looks smooth, I take it off the heat. Don’t risk overcooking it.
What Wines to Serve with The Steak with Cream Sauce?
Steaks are generally paired with a red whine but because of the addition of cream sauce, you can try a full-bodied white wine pairing as well.
- First, think of the type of steak you chose, if you chose a fatty steak like ribeye, go with bolder red wines that are high in tannins.
- If you chose a lean cut, like sirloin, go with lighter or medium-bodied red wines. Wines what would go well with this steak in cream sauce are:
- Cabernet Sauvignon (fattier cuts like ribeye)
- Pinot Noir (lean cuts like filet mignon)
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Full-bodies Chardonnay
The Best Creamy Steak Sauce Recipe FAQs
Yes. It works beautifully over chicken, pork chops, salmon, shrimp, or tossed with pasta.
High heat is almost always the cause. Cream sauces need low, gentle heat once the dairy goes in. If yours separates, take it off the heat and whisk in a small splash of warm cream until it smooths back out.
Gorgonzola is a type of blue cheese, just softer and milder. Any blue cheese will melt into this sauce, so use whichever one you like best.
You can make it up to a day ahead and reheat it gently on the stove. The texture is best the day it’s made, since reheated cream sauces can thin out slightly.
Storing and Reheating The Cream Sauce
I keep leftover sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I don’t recommend freezing it, the dairy tends to separate once thawed and never quite comes back together the same way.
When I reheat it, I always go low and slow:
- Stovetop: transfer the sauce to a cold saucepan and reheat over low heat, whisking often, just until warmed through.
- Microwave: heat at half power in 30 second bursts, stirring between each one.
- If your sauce looks grainy or separated after reheating, whisk in a splash of warm cream or water off the heat. That usually brings it right back together.
More Beef Recipes To Try
- Prime rib recipe
- Beef brisket Recipe
- Red wine steak sauce recipe
- Roast beef recipe
- Creamy mushroom steak sauce
- Peppercorn sauce recipe
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? PLEASE leave a 🌟 star rating! Let me know how you liked it by leaving the 📝 comment below or share and tag me on social media @willcookforsmiles. DON’T FORGET to subscribe to my newsletter!
Steak Recipe with The Best Cream Sauce
Ingredients
Cream Sauce:
- 3 tbsp salted butter
- 1 shallot
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp (heaping teaspoon) Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles
- 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp sugar
Steaks:
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 2 1-inch ribeye steaks or any other steak of choice
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
Cream Sauce:
- Prepare all ingredients first: slice shallot thinly, smash and mince garlic, grate Parmesan cheese, and measure blue cheese crumbles, heavy whipping cream, butter, sugar, and Dijon mustard.
- Melt butter in a preheated cooking pan over medium heat and add shallots and garlic. Saute shallots and garlic until browned and whisk in heavy whipping cream.
- Whisk in Dijon mustard, sugar, and blue cheese crumbles.
- Lower heat to medium low and slowly stir until blue cheese is melted and incorporated into the sauce.
- Stir in freshly grated Parmesan cheese until well incorporated. Take off heat and serve over steaks when ready.
Steaks:
- About 30 minutes before cooking the steaks, take them out of the refrigerator and out of the package. Let the steaks rest and warm up on the cutting board.
- Preheat the oven to 450°.
- Right before cooking the steaks, preheat an oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Add a couple of tablespoons of oil to the pan. Pat the steaks with paper towel on all sides and season with salt and pepper on both sides as well.
- Sear steaks in the hot pan for about 45 seconds on each side, until there is a a brown sear and transfer the steaks to the preheated oven.
- Cook until desired temperature is reached. Depending on the thickness and size of the steaks and the desired level of doneness, it could take anywhere from 4 to 10 minutes so you need to keep an eye on the internal temperature and use a meat thermometer. (Having a bone in the steak also affects how long it will need to cook too.)
- When taking the temperature, insert meat thermometer through the side of the steak, towards the middle.
- Once steaks reach desired temperature, take them out of the skillet immediately and let the steaks rest for about 5 minutes before cutting. You can let steaks rest on the cutting board or on the plate. (Note: for medium and less cooked steaks, there will be bloody juice running off the steak as it rests, so you may want to let it rest on the cutting board and not on the plate.)
- Top each steak with cream sauce and serve with your favorite sides.
Steak Temperatures:
- 125°-130° = Rare135°-140° = Medium-rare145°-150° = Medium150°-155° = Medium-well160°-165° = Well(*First number is when to take it out of the oven.)
Video
Notes
- Nutritional NOTE: nutrition is calculated for 2 ribeye steaks that are about 10 oz each. Each cut and size of steak will have slightly different nutritional information.
- *When choosing steaks: try to get prime or choice grade and remember that you will get what you pay for. Also, try to get steaks that are about 1 to 1.5 inches in thickness. (Ask the butcher if none available on the shelf.)
- Remember to REST the steak for 5-10 minutes after cooking and slice your steaks against the grain.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in June, 2018.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
Categories:
30 Minute Meals, Beef Recipes, Dinner Recipes, Father's Day Recipe Ideas, Mother's Day Recipe Ideas, Steak Dinner Ideas, Valentine's Day,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
This sauce is so good!
Thank you, Kathy!
I made this for my husband’s birthday dinner and he loved it!
That is so lovely! Glad you found a good recipe 🙂
I didn’t have any blue cheese, just used parmesan, no sugar, but aded a splash of cognac and it was lovely. Thank you for the inspiration!
I am so glad it turned out well for you!