How to Make Roux? 10 variants!

You make a roux to make soups, a béchamél sauce or dark sauce, a cheese sauce or ragout. A roux consists of 2 ingredients, namely flour or flour with butter or milk and cornflour. In this blog, we discuss what you can do with roux and of course how to make a roux.

Melt 40 grams of vegetable butter in the pan. Add 40 grams of flour and keep stirring until butter is incorporated into the flour. Now it’s a roux.  For light roux, let butter not brown and bake for 3 minutes.  For blond roux: Bake for 3 to 5 minutes. For a brown roux: Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

To get a detailed explanation, you can read below how exactly you make a roux and what you should pay attention to when making a roux.

Roux Making Proportions

When making a roux, proportions are important. Too much or too little butter but the roux too wet or too dry. So:

The ratio of a roux is 1:1 or so to speak the same amount of flour as butter. I usually use for making a roux for sauces and ragout for 4 people:

• 40 grams of vegetable butter (can also be liquid vegetable butter).
• 40 grams of flour

Of course you can double it as often as you want. It depends on what you use it for or when you want to make several pans of soup or sauces, for example.

Roux Making

To make a roux you will need:

• A pan with a thick bottom
• Wooden spatula
• A thick bottom is necessary, because otherwise the roux you are going to make will burn.
• 40 grams of butter
• 40 grams of flour

If you want a thicker roux, for example, add 50 grams of flour.

You don’t use a plastic spatula because you have to stir for a long time and plastic melts when you have to stir the bottom. You don’t want plastic in your beautiful roux!

Preparation method:

1. Prepare all ingredients weighed.
2. Place the pan on the heat source, low, and put the butter in the pan.
3. Let the butter melt.
4. Immediately after melting, add flour to the butter, stir well.
5. Keep stirring this roux and baking for 3 minutes. The flour is now just cooking and the taste of flour disappears. This will turn into a white roux.

If you don’t want a white roux but a bit darker, you have to bake the roux for 3 to 5 minutes, on a low setting. Keep stirring until the end!

If you want a dark roux, you can bake on a low setting for 5 to 8 minutes, sometimes longer. Keep stirring otherwise it will burn!

Making Roux with Almond Flour

Making a roux with almond flour is not possible. There is no binding agent in almond flour, so the roux does not become thick and neither does the sauce to be made.

If you want to make a sauce with almond flavor, you can take flour, butter (1:1) and almond milk, in the same proportion as described above, with 100 ml of almond milk.

Making Roux for White Sauce (Béchamél Sauce)

This white sauce is called a bechamel sauce. It’s a classic! To make this bechamél sauce you have to let the roux bake for 3 minutes, then this will become a light roux and therefore a light sauce. The taste is very neutral because the roux is just cooked. If you want more bechamel sauce, double the amount.

For a white sauce you need for 4 people:

• 40 grams of butter
• 40 grams of flour
• 500 ml soy milk
• Pinch Pepper and salt
• 1 tsp nutmeg

Method of preparation see above: ‘Making Roux’

1. Gradually add the warm milk to the prepared warm roux. Stir well so that the roux dissolves. If you want the sauce a little thinner, you can add milk and stir through to the desired thickness.
2. When all the milk has been added, a little salt and pepper can be added. Taste to see if it’s enough and then add the nutmeg. Stir this well into the sauce and taste again to see if it is to your liking.

Do you want to know more about bechamel sauce? Then read our blog ‘ How to Make Bechamel Sauce?‘ everything is described there.

Tip: Always add warm milk to your roux. You will then get lumps less quickly.

Making Roux For Soup

Why are you making a roux for soup?

You make a roux for soup when you want the soup to be thick, so a bit thicker. You can add all kinds of spices and herbs whenever you want.

But what do you need to make a thick soup:

• A white roux as described above under ‘Making a roux’
• 1 liter vegetable or garden herb stock.

If you want more than a liter of soup, you can dilute the soup or make more roux and use more stock of course.

In this case I use garden herb broth. I love it, but a vegetable broth would also work.

I also always use more stock cubes than is stated on the package. When you only eat vegetables or mushrooms, it is a bit bland without properly seasoning. I use 1.5 to 2 garden herbs bouillon tablet for a liter of stock. Then you don’t have to season the soup further, but you can.

If you think it’s getting too strong, just use what’s on the package. Later seasoning is always possible.

You will now read how to proceed with the soup

1. Make the roux in a stockpot as described above.
2. Gradually add the hot stock to the roux, stirring well with a whisk each time you add stock. The roux will now slowly dissolve.
3. When you have added all the stock, the bound stock is ready.
4. Now add the vegetables and let it cook until al dente. If you want mushroom soup, fry the mushrooms briefly with an onion, for example, and some thyme and then add it to the stock pot with the stock. Heat the soup well.

Enjoy your meal!

Roux Making Asparagus Soup

If you want to make an asparagus soup, make a roux as described above. Of course, it depends on the size of the pan of soup you are going to make. You can double the amounts for the roux or use less:

For 1.2 liters of soup we use:

• A roux of 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of butter
• 2 liters of homemade asparagus stock
• 1 garden herb stock cube
• 1 onion chopped

You can read how to make the roux under the heading ‘Making Roux’ above. If you want onions in the roux, first fry the onions in the butter and then add the flour to make a roux.

How does the roux go with the asparagus broth?

1. When you have made the roux, you can sieve the warm asparagus broth you have drawn yourself (from the peels and ends of the asparagus), and add it to the roux. Do this little by little and stir with a whisk until smooth. You dilute this mass every time you add stock until it has been added completely and the roux has completely dissolved in stock.
2. Add a garden herb stock cube to the drawn asparagus stock.
3. Then add the asparagus pieces without the cups. Boil this for 5 minutes. You can now puree this soup whenever you like.
4. Now add cups of the asparagus. Cook it for another 2 or 3 minutes. Taste to see if they are cooked.
5. For fun, you can sprinkle some chives in the soup or soup bowl.

Enjoy your meal!

Do you have any asparagus left? Read our blog ‘ How to Store Asparagus? ‘ then the asparagus stays nice and fresh.

Making Roux For Cheese Sauce

We think you can make a tasty cheese sauce with nutritional yeast flakes, a roux and stock. Great tasty. Tastes nutty and like cheese without using it.

What do you need for roux to make cheese sauce?

• A roux based on 40 grams of butter and 40 grams of flour
• Nutritional yeast flakes, 2 or 3 tablespoons with head.
• 4 tbsp Violife grated cheese, optional
• Garden herb stock, 400 ml (1 cube in 400 ml water)

The preparation is as follows:

1. You make the roux according to the above recipe under ‘Making a roux’.
2. I always make the broth a bit stronger than recommended on the package. So 400 ml water with 1 stock cube. If you find this too strong, you can of course use less stock cube.
3. Stir the strong hot stock into the roux, little by little. The roux dissolves by stirring.
4. When you have added all the stock to the roux, it has become a lumpy sauce. If you think the sauce is too thick, add some stock because the nutritional yeast flakes will make the sauce a bit thicker.
5. Add the Violife, vegetable cheese and stir well while heating gently.
6. Now add the nutritional yeast flakes, spoon after spoon and stir in the nutritional yeast well.
7. You now have a vegetable cheese sauce that, we think, tastes great with a pasta, over the cauliflower and other vegetables.

Enjoy your meal!

Roux Making Ragout

You can also make this roux as much as you want. Double or reduce the amount. I usually use the same amount for 4 people:

• 40 grams of butter
• 40 grams flour for the roux
• 350-400 ml garden herbs or vegetable stock to make the ragout.

Now you have a herbal ragout, this is the absolute basis.

For mushroom ragout you will need:

• 250 grams fried mushrooms, sliced
• 1 chopped onion, fried
• 1 tsp thyme
• Pepper and salt.

For 4 persons:

1. Prepare all ingredients in bowls.
2. Make the roux as described under ‘Making a roux’, at the top of this blog.
3. When you have the roux ready, gradually add the warm stock. Stir continuously with a whisk to allow the roux to dissolve in the stock.
4. Leave the last 50 ml in the pitcher. Adding the mushrooms also adds moisture. Sometimes 400 ml is just too much and the ragout is too thin. You can always thin the ragout with the remaining stock if it is too thick.
5. Add salt and pepper if you wish.
6. Add the fried mushrooms with thyme and an onion and stir this through the ragout.

You can use the mushroom ragout for example in a puff pastry tray or in a puff pastry snack from the oven. A party!

Enjoy your meal!

Roux Without Butter

If you are going to make a roux without butter you will need the following:

• 30 grams of flour
• 300 ml soy milk

The preparation is as follows:

1. Place a pan on the heat source, on a low setting.
2. Add flour and milk to the pan and stir these ingredients together.
3. Stir continuously with a whisk through the roux until the mass has warmed up. The mass becomes thicker and thicker as the flour absorbs the milk. If it gets too thick for you, add some soy milk. Let it simmer for a few minutes, but keep stirring otherwise it will burn.
4. To add flavor you can of course add salt and pepper, then you have a really nice basic roux. For a true classic, add nutmeg. Or you can make a cheese sauce from this roux, for example.

Enjoy your meal!

Making Roux With Cornflour

To make a roux with cornflour, we proceed a little differently, because no butter is added:

The ingredients are for ¼ liter of  sauce :

• 1 ½ level tablespoon of Cornstarch Roux
• ¼ liter soy milk

The ingredients for 1 liter of  soup :

• 7 level tablespoons cornflour
• 1 liter of warm stock

Preparation method  sauce and soup:

1. Bring milk or stock to a boil.
2. Sprinkle in Maizena Roux while beating with a whisk until you get a roux.
3. Let the roux cook for 1 minute and then use it for your sauce or soup.

Making Roux For Croquettes

A delicious ragout for croquettes without egg or meat is easy to make. Below you can read how to make a roux and what you need to make the crispy crust.

Necessities:

• ½ liter of garden herbs or vegetable stock
• 60 grams of vegetable butter
• 60 grams of flour
• 1 onion chopped
• Pepper and salt
• pinch thyme
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 250 grams small piece of mushrooms

Preparation method for making the roux for croquettes:

1. Place butter in a heavy-bottomed pan and let it melt. Add the onion and fry for a while until it becomes translucent.
2. Now add the flour all at once and set the heat source to low.
3. Stir the flour into the butter with onion until it becomes a thick mass. Keep stirring for about 3 minutes, so the flour is cooked. If you don’t keep the 3 minutes, your ragout will have a floury taste. This is not the intention.
4. Now add the half liter of garden herb stock, little by little. Be careful because you can burn your hands on the vapor that comes off. Keep stirring constantly, don’t stop! The flour absorbs the broth and becomes a thick mass. Keep stirring! Add some more stock and continue until all the stock is in. Keep stirring until it becomes a ragout.
5. Add the mushroom pieces to the ragout and stir well until warm.
6. Add the herbs and spices and do this little by little. Taste what you think and season the ragout if necessary.
7. Let the ragout cool down well and then put it in the fridge to get cold (or in the freezer??)

This is how you can make the crispy crust

• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• 2 tablespoons of water
• breadcrumbs or crumbled rusk
• flower

We proceed as follows to make the crust of the croquette:

1. Place three plates next to each other.
2. Place a thin layer of flour on the first plate.
3. Make a paste of the cornflour and water.
4. Place the cornflour paste on the second plate.
5. Place the breadcrumbs on the third plate.
6. When the ragout is cold, take it out of the fridge and you can make croquette shapes with your hands, don’t hold it in your hands too long because then the ragout will get warm again.
7. Dip this ragout in the form of croquettes first in the flour, then in the cornflour, then in the breadcrumbs. Make sure that the ragout is well covered by the breadcrumbs, otherwise, the ragout will ‘run’ in the deep-fat fryer and your croquette will be gone.
8. Put your croquettes in the fridge for another hour (or longer) then they will stiffen up well and you have a better chance of a good croquette from the deep fryer.
9. Deep-fry the croquette at 180 degrees for 4 minutes until nicely brown and crispy.

As you can read, there are several ways to make a roux.

Have fun trying it out and be sure: Enjoy your meal!