Low-Fat Hollandaise Sauce Recipe

Hollandaise sauce is a wonderful sauce to serve on top of salmon, asparagus, and eggs. However, one may forego using Hollandaise sauce altogether once one realizes just how much fat is in it: one cup of Hollandaise sauce contains almost 117 grams of fat, with over half of this fat being saturated (1). The caloric content of Hollandaise sauce is no better: that same cup of sauce totals over 1097 calories.

Why is Hollandaise sauce so fatty? There are two main reasons: butter and egg yolks. The standard Hollandaise sauce recipe calls for at least half a cup of butter and three egg yolks. Butter consists almost entirely of saturated fat, and one cup of butter contains over 184 grams of fat. Egg yolks are slightly better, providing some protein as well as much needed vitamins. However, they still consist of over 75% fat, and one cup of raw egg yolk equals 75 grams of fat.

In order to make a healthier (and lower calorie) version of Hollandaise sauce, one can eliminate butter and eggs altogether in the following low-fat Hollandaise sauce recipe. This recipe substitutes plain yogurt for the butter, and egg substitute (such as Egg Beaters(r)) for the egg yolks.

Low-Fat Hollandaise Sauce Recipe
Makes: 1¼ cups

Ingredients:
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup egg substitute
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon dill
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
Pinch of black or cayenne pepper (to taste)

1. Beat the yogurt, egg substitute, lemon juice, and mustard together in a pot over medium heat.
2. Cook the mixture for 15 minutes until it thickens.
3. Remove the mixture from heat and add in the dill, salt, and pepper.
4. Let stand for 5 minutes, then serve warm over food.

Low-fat Hollandaise sauce has significantly less fat (and fewer calories) than regular Hollandaise sauce. The recipe described above contains no more than 4 grams of fat (and 140 calories) per cup of Hollandaise sauce. If the recipe is made with non-fat yogurt, the final product has under a gram of fat per cup!

Low-fat Hollandaise sauce does not have to be tasteless simply because it is less fatty. For variations on the recipe provided above, try adding the following additional ingredients:

• Béarnaise Sauce: Add ½ teaspoon tarragon, ½ teaspoon shallots, and 1 teaspoon white wine instead of lemon juice.
• Choron Sauce: Add in the Béarnaise ingredients, along with one teaspoon of tomato paste.
• Maltaise Sauce: Make the Hollandaise sauce recipe and substitute 1 teaspoon of lemon juice with orange juice (i.e., use 1 teaspoon each of orange and lemon juice).

Reference:

1. FitDay calorie counter. http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/calories/calories.html