This vanilla sauce is delicious and so easy and quick to make. It takes 5 minutes to prepare and then 10 minutes to cool down. You just need a handful of ingredients to make it. Serve it with this croissant bread pudding, brioche bread pudding, or just fresh fruit (or eat it by the spoonful!).
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to prepare this delicious vanilla sauce:
- Egg yolks – thicken the sauce, add flavor and richness.
- Milk
- Heavy cream
- Sugar
- Vanilla extract – you can also use vanilla beans scraped from a whole vanilla pod.
- Corn starch – thickens the sauce.
- A small pinch of salt – balances the sweetness of the sauce.
How to make vanilla sauce step by step
STEP 1: Heat the milk and heavy cream in a medium pot until very hot but not boiling.
STEP 2: While the milk and cream are heating up, whisk the egg yolks with vanilla extract, corn starch, sugar, and salt until well combined.
STEP 3: Slowly add about half of the hot liquid to the egg yolk mixture. Whisk constantly while you’re adding the liquid.
This step is called tempering the eggs so they won’t curdle.
STEP 4: Add the egg yolk liquid back to the pot.
STEP 5: Bring to a boil over medium heat then lower the heat to low and cook for 2-3 minutes or until thickened. At this point the sauce will be thickened but still too runny, it will thicken more while cooling, and then it will achieve the right consistency. Please bear in mind this is a sauce and not pudding so it will be pourable.
Leave it to cool down (this will take about 10-15 minutes) then enjoy! I like it best slightly warm.
If your sauce is curdled (the liquid added to egg yolks was too hot or the sauce was cooked over too high heat and not stirred often enough) you can just blend it until smooth using a hand or stand mixer and it will be just fine.
If you don’t have a blender you can run it through a fine-mesh strainer.
Storage
You need to cover the surface of the sauce with a plastic foil to prevent forming a ‘skin’.
I’m actually not a fan of putting plastic on a hot sauce so I usually let it cool down and then I puree the sauce with the skin using a hand blender until smooth, then I place a plastic foil on top. The foil must be touching the surface of the sauce.
You can keep the sauce in the fridge for 3-4 days. It reheats very well.
You can freeze the sauce for up to 12 months. It is like freshly prepared. First thaw then reheat in a pot until warm and runny (I tested this, it was delicious).
What to serve it with
- Brioche Bread Pudding
- Croissant Bread Pudding
- Apple tart with meringue topping
- Buttermilk Pancakes
- Apple walnut cake with honey
- pour it over any cake
- serve it with fresh fruit as a dipping sauce
Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!
Vanilla Sauce for Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- small pinch of salt
Instructions
- Heat the milk and heavy cream in a medium pot until very hot but not boiling.
- While the milk and cream are heating up, whisk the egg yolks with vanilla extract, corn starch, sugar, and salt until well combined.
- Slowly add about half of the hot liquid to the egg yolk mixture. Whisk constantly while you’re adding the liquid.
- Add the egg yolk liquid back to the pot.
- Bring to a boil over medium heat then lower the heat to low and cook for 2-3 minutes or until thickened. At this point the sauce will be thickened but still too runny, it will thicken more while cooling, and then it will achieve the right consistency. Please bear in mind this is a sauce and not pudding so it will be pourable.
- Leave it to cool down (this will take about 10-15 minutes) then enjoy! I like it best slightly warm.
Notes
- If your sauce is curdled (the liquid added to egg yolks was too hot or the sauce was cooked over too high heat and not stirred often enough) you can just blend it until smooth using a hand or stand mixer and it will be just fine. If you don’t have a blender you can run it through a fine-mesh strainer.
- Calories = whole recipe (about 2 1/4 cups). This is only an estimate!
No Comments