Vegan Sauce Hollandaise

Asparagus season is just around the corner – and that means hollandaise season is too. Of course, you can eat asparagus without hollandaise and serve hollandaise with all kinds of other ingredients and dishes. Buuuut to be honest: for us, this combination is straight from heaven, and from Christmas onwards, there's pretty much nothing else we look forward to. Asparagus and hollandaise, ketchup and mayo, salt and pepper, Zucker&Jagdwurst – it's a match made in culinary heaven, right?

But it doesn't always have to be plain, boiled asparagus. How about, for example, a vegan tarte flambée with asparagus, a potato and asparagus salad, a vegan omelet with asparagus, asparagus tacos, or vegan Eggs Benedict? All wonderful ways to whip up a little vegan hollandaise. You can even pair it as a BFF alongside a béchamel in a vegan asparagus lasagna. The possibilities are tru-ly end-less.

But wait – what exactly is sauce hollandaise?

The creamy, pale sauce is a classic base sauce from French cuisine, even though it translates to "Dutch sauce." Huh? According to the German dictionary Duden, the origin of the name is "unexplained." However, there are theories that French butter became scarce during World War I, so the Dutch variety was used to prepare the sauce. Somehow, in the course of this, the name probably came about. Sauce hollandaise doesn't actually come from the Netherlands and has nothing to do with Holland. It originated in France and remains a staple of French cuisine to this day, where it's often served with seafood, fish, or – you guessed it – asparagus. But however that may be: classic hollandaise is not vegan at all and contains butter and egg yolks. With our vegan recipe, though, we're more than happy and just keep dipping one asparagus spear after another. We make ours from a roux with vegan butter, vegetable stock, vegan cream, vegan white wine, lemon juice, and mustard.

And can vegan sauce hollandaise be varied?

A different version with herbs can be found here. And we also have to briefly mention our lemon-hazelnut sauce with asparagus for anyone who, after all this hollandaise talk, still isn't 100% convinced (??).

What else can I serve sauce hollandaise with?

Sauce hollandaise isn't just great with asparagus – it pairs beautifully with any kind of cooked vegetable. If you've ever had your fill of potatoes with quark, why not try potatoes with sauce hollandaise for a change? The buttery sauce also works perfectly with casseroles and is particularly delicious in our cauliflower-broccoli casserole or alongside our vegan Eggs Benedict.

Help! My sauce hollandaise is splitting. What do I do?
The fat separating from the sauce is actually a classic problem with sauce hollandaise. But don't worry, there are solutions! Your sauce has simply "broken." Why does this happen in the first place? Sauce hollandaise is a very delicate creature that needs to be handled with care. Too much heat, vegan butter and vegetable stock added too quickly, or too much acid can all cause the fat to separate from the sauce. Here are four fixes for a broken sauce hollandaise:

1. Turn down the heat / remove from the stove
Too much heat is often the main reason for the sauce splitting. So take it off the heat immediately!

2. Add a splash of liquid
Add 1–2 tablespoons of cold vegetable stock or vegan cream and stir vigorously with a whisk. This will help it come back together.

3. Rebuild the emulsion
If that's not enough: add 1–2 tablespoons of warm liquid to a new pot, then slowly whisk in the "broken" sauce (just like you would with mayo).

4. Emergency fix (works almost every time)
Simply stir in an extra 0.5 teaspoons of mustard – it acts as an emulsifier and brings the sauce back together.

5. And if nothing works: cornstarch
Take 1 teaspoon of cornstarch and mix it with a little cold liquid. Add to the sauce and warm briefly (but don't let it get too hot).