Beurre Manié Recipe
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- 52 comments
This easy-to-make classic beurre manié recipe comes together in minutes and is the perfect thickening agent for any sauces or soups. You will love how easy this is to prepare and how well it thickens up liquids.
Perfect consistency and viscosity in certain foods are very important, especially in the restaurant industry. If you’re interested in learning more about this, try my other two common thickening agents, slurry or roux.
What is Beurre Manié?
Beurre manié is a paste made from equal parts volume of softened butter and flour that is then used to thicken soups, stews, or sauces. The word is French for “kneaded butter.” It is very simple to make come together in minutes.
This is a great alternative to using roux and is incorporated similarly. I find that beurre manié is a better alternative if you usually use roux but find small dough balls in whatever it is you are trying to thicken. This can be used before or after the cream is added to your soup or sauce recipe.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Butter – You will room temperature unsalted butter.
- Flour – All-purpose flour works perfectly.
How to Make Beurre Manié
Add softened butter and flour to a medium-sized bowl.
Mash the ingredients together using a fork, pasty knife, or spoon.
Switch to using your hands to knead the ingredients until the flour is incorporated.
Store or use.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can make this several days ahead of time.
How to Store: this will last covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
Chef Notes + Tips
- Salted butter can be used in this recipe.
Recipes to Use It In
Beurre Manié Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter
- 8 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Add softened butter and flour to a medium-sized bowl.
- Mash the ingredients together using a fork, pasty knife, or spoon.
- Switch to using your hands to knead the ingredients until the flour is incorporated.
- Store or use.
yes how much of this do you use when thickening up something.
Start with a smaller amount and continue to add it until you get to the right consistency.
Chef, does this leave a flour taste if simply adding it to the stock? When making roux, the flour has to be cooked in the butter for a few minutes before adding liquid to avoid a flour taste. Why is this step not needed when making Beurre Manie? I love your recipies and the way you present them!! Thank you.
No not at all!
Lovely. I never knew there was a recipe for this. I have just done it by “feel” the past 65 years. Thanks as my “feel” is slipping slightly as I am getting a little bit older. Thickened gravy was the first thing my grandmother taught me to cook when I was in 2nd grade.
We used this to make a turkey soup after Thanksgiving. This was so easy and so effective! The little ball of flour and butter just melted away in the hot soup leaving no lumps at all.
Perfect! Thank you!
This works every time! It is perfect for Thanksgiving, as it is ready to go! Thanks a bunch for another perfect recipe!
My pleasure!
If you store in the refrigerator, do you need to bring it to room temp prior to use as a soup thickener or can it be tossed in straight from the refrigerator?
You can toss it in straight from the fridge
When you say use one half of the b e u r r e… Do you really mean use one half of the recipe you just made? If that’s true why don’t we just make what we need? I don’t understand
yes half, or make what you need.
Can I use gluten free flour?
no, sorry.
Carl, you can 100% use GF flour. While regular flour obviously makes for a better Beurre Manié, those of us who are Celiac (or gluten intolerant) have to make sacrifices. It works just fine. A tip to avoid the tiny “dough balls” that form from adding to a sauce, you can heat the GF flour and butter in a small pot first and slowly incorporate some of the sauce in the pan with a whisk to remove clumps. Once you have added a cup or two of sauce, stir the whole thing back into your pot with the rest of the dish.
Thank you so much for this GF advice
Thank you so much for this advice!
I absolutely echo LJ’s comment. Those of us with Celiac Disease have no other choice than gluten free flours. I frequently use gluten free all purpose blends such as those made by Namaste, Cup 4 Cup, and Better Batter. Follow LJ’s suggested procedure of stirring small amounts of hot stock into the beurre manie and whisking till smooth before incorporating back into the main body of soup, gravy, etc.