Crème Anglaise Recipe

Rich, silky vanilla custard sauce to pour over cakes and desserts.

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Total Time15

Servings: 6 servings

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until thick and pale (about 30 seconds).
Heat the milk and vanilla in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it is scalding hot - this means there will be steam rising from it and tiny bubbles appearing on the surface. Do not let the milk boil.
Slowly drizzle a small amount of the warm milk into the egg yolk mixture and whisk it in, continue adding the milk a little at a time to bring the temperature of the eggs up slowly and avoid scrambling them. (This is called tempering).
Once all the milk has been added, pour the custard back into the saucepan and return to the heat. Stir constantly until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Remove from the heat and pass it through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl, just in case there are any lumps.
Cover with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic touches the surface of the custard. Let cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until ready to use it.

Ingredient Notes

Egg Yolks - It's best to use fresh eggs and separate them, rather than using box eggs. You can keep the egg whites to make some meringue cookies!

Vanilla - It is traditional to use vanilla bean pods to make crème anglaise, but a high-quality vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste is also good.