Kitchen rescueEggs and dairyUsually saveable

How to fix a cream sauce that has split

Take the pan off the heat and whisk in a splash of cold double cream until the sauce comes back together. A stick blender helps if it's still grainy.

How you can tell

  • The sauce looks grainy or curdled
  • Oil or fat pools on the surface
  • It has turned thin with small white flecks

Why it happens

Cream is an emulsion of milk fat in water, held together by milk proteins. If the sauce boils hard, the proteins clump together and the fat separates out. Acids such as wine, lemon juice or tomatoes make this happen more easily. Lower-fat creams such as single cream, and yoghurt and crème fraîche with less fat, have less fat to protect the proteins and split much more readily than double cream.

How to fix it

Option 1Whisk in cold cream

  1. Take the pan off the heat
  2. Add a splash of cold double cream
  3. Whisk hard until the sauce looks smooth again

Option 2Blend it

  1. Blend the sauce with a stick blender until smooth
  2. Warm it gently, without letting it boil

Option 3Strain it

  1. If it's still grainy, push it through a fine sieve and adjust the seasoning

Next time

  • Use double cream for sauces that will simmer, as it's less likely to split
  • Keep the heat gentle when cream is in the sauce and don't let it boil hard
  • Add acidic ingredients early and let them reduce before adding the cream
  • Stir a spoonful of the hot sauce into yoghurt or low-fat cream before adding it to the pan

Terms on this page

General kitchen guidance, not food-safety advice. If food may be unsafe, for example undercooked meat or anything left out too long, follow the Food Standards Agency and throw it away if in doubt.