Mustard Cream Sauce

Easy to make in 20 minutes or less, this mustard cream sauce goes perfectly with chicken, pork, fish, or beef. Add your favorite side dishes, and you have a simple dinner that feels special because of this luxurious sauce.

Mustard cream sauce in a white cast iron skillet with a wood spoon in it and thyme sprigs on top. - 2

The inspiration for this mustard cream sauce recipe comes from an Italian restaurant I worked at a number of years ago. The chef had a steak on the menu, served with your choice of sauce.

Watch How To Make Mustard Cream Sauce

He had a mushroom, mustard, and Gorgonzola sauce options, and they were all delicious! My mom and I recreated his Mushroom Cream Sauce , and my family has been making that recipe ever since.

So this year I’ve decided to re-create the others because they are just that good, and I wanted to share them with you. This mustard cream sauce goes really well on steak, of course, but it’s also delicious on chicken, fish, and pork.

Mustard cream sauce in a white cast iron skillet with a wood spoon scooping some up. - 3

Ingredients & Substitutions

Heavy cream, white wine, Dijon mustard, thyme, garlic, shallots, and turmeric in bowls on a wood cutting board. - 4

Heavy cream – heavy whipping cream with 36%-40% milkfat is what you’re looking for. Half-and-half and milk will not work in this sauce because they won’t thicken on their own. If you choose to substitute, you’ll need to thicken the sauce to your liking with a cornstarch slurry or make a butter/flour roux to begin the sauce.
Butter – adds richness of flavor and is what I like to use to cook the shallot/garlic mixture.
Shallot & garlic – I like to use shallot because it’s subtle, but sweet onion or red onion works as well. Freshly minced garlic will give you the best flavor. Try a garlic press to speed things up.
White wine – dry white wine like Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, or Pinot Gris works best for this recipe, but I have a chicken stock/lemon juice substitute in the recipe that works great too. Do not use a sweet wine in this sauce, the sugar content won’t work!
Dijon mustard – Dijon mustard gives this sauce the best subtle flavor. You can add other types of mustard, like whole grain mustard, for a different but still delicious flavor. You want to avoid yellow mustard, which doesn’t have the right flavor for this sauce.
Thyme – fresh herbs like thyme and rosemary both work in this sauce. I use thyme because I like it best with mustard, but rosemary does make a great change of pace.
Turmeric – is optional, I add a touch just to give this sauce a lovely golden yellow color.

How to make this recipe step by step

Mincing a shallot on a wood cutting board. - 5

Step 1: Start by finely mincing the shallot and the garlic.

Four photos in a collage showing cooking shallots in a large skillet, adding white wine and reducing before adding the heavy cream. - 6

Step 2: Next, sauté the shallot and garlic in butter until softened. Add the herbs and white wine, then reduce by half.

Next, pour in the heavy cream and reduce again until the sauce has a lightly thickened consistency.

Four photos in a collage showing reducing the cream sauce in a large white skillet, adding the turmeric, then adding the Dijon mustard, then stirring them into the sauce. - 7

Step 3 : When the sauce has lightly thickened, sprinkle the optional turmeric powder (added for color), then season to taste with Dijon mustard, sea salt, and black pepper.

Stirring the salt and pepper into the finished mustard cream sauce with a spatula in a skillet on the stove top. - 8

Step 4: Stir to combine and adjust the seasonings to your taste. The recipe is formulated for a medium amount of mustard flavor, but feel free to adjust accordingly. I like to add more when serving this with beef because beef has a stronger flavor than chicken, pork, or fish.

Finished mustard cream sauce in a white cast iron skillet with a wood spoon scooping up some sauce. - 9

Ways to serve this

This sauce is perfect served with chicken breasts or thighs, salmon, pork tenderloin , pork loin , or pork chops, or beef steaks .
It’s also great with roasted vegetables like Perfect Roasted Asparagus , Roasted Broccoli , or Garlic Roasted Carrots .

Yes, mustard cream sauce freezes well for at least 1 month.

Yes, mustard can be heated, but it does change its flavor at different temperatures (like a roast, for instance). I add mustard to this cream sauce near the end of the cooking time to preserve the most flavor.

Storing leftovers

To store – Store any leftover sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Make ahead – This sauce can easily be made ahead and then gently reheated when you are ready to serve dinner.
Reheating – Gently reheat any leftover sauce over low heat until hot before serving.
To freeze – Freeze any leftover sauce in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Defrost in the fridge overnight before reheating on the stove top.

A wood spoon scooping up mustard sauce. - 10

Tips & Tricks

Cream sauces are very simple to make once you get the hang of what they look like when they’re lightly thickened. They will not be as thick as a white sauce, also known as béchamel, because that has flour in it. What you were looking for is that the sauce will coat the back of a spoon and have some body to it, it will not be watery.
If you reduce a cream sauce too far, it will break, and the oil will separate from the sauce. A broken cream sauce happens when there isn’t enough liquid left to keep the fat emulsified, and it separates. Don’t panic, it can be fixed! The easiest way to fix it is to add a bit more heavy cream and whisk the sauce back together over low heat. If you don’t have cream, try half-and-half, whole milk, or a touch of white wine or water. Take the sauce off the heat and whisk in just enough liquid to bring the sauce back together.

Mustard cream sauce poured over a ribeye steak with crispy pan fried potatoes and green beans on a potter plate. - 11

More Sauce Recipe Inspiration

Garlic Parmesan Sauce
Mushroom Cream Sauce
Lemon Cream Sauce
Garlic Cream Sauce
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

INGREDIENTS1x2x3x

2 tbsp salted butter
1 clove garlic - minced
1 large shallot - minced, 1/2 cup, sweet or red onion
1 cup dry white wine - not sweet, or low-sodium chicken stock, see notes
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves - chopped, or 1 tsp dried
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/8 tsp ground turmeric - optional for color
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sea salt - more or less to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Start by finely mincing the shallot and garlic
Melt the butter in a large 10" skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic, and cook until softened but not browned, 4-5 minutes. Add the thyme and white wine, then reduce by half.
Then add the heavy cream and reduce again until the sauce has lightly thickened, about 10 minutes for the cream and wine to reduce.
When the sauce has lightly thickened, sprinkle the optional turmeric powder for color, then the Dijon mustard, sea salt, and black pepper.
Stir to combine and adjust the seasonings to your taste. The recipe is formulated for a medium amount of mustard flavor, but feel free to adjust accordingly.

NOTES

nutrition facts