Bread sauce is a traditional British sauce made by infusing milk with a clove-studded onion and bay, then thickening it with fresh white breadcrumbs and finishing with butter and nutmeg. The whole thing takes about 55 minutes, most of it hands-off: infuse the milk, strain it, stir in the crumbs, and simmer for ten minutes until it falls somewhere between a custard and a thick porridge.
It is the quietest thing on the Christmas table and, for a great many people, the one they would miss most. Served warm beside roast turkey or chicken, it is mild, savoury and faintly spiced, the foil to everything else that is sweet or rich. It is also, conveniently, the cheapest dish of the day and the one most willing to be made in advance. What follows is the proper method, the quantities that serve eight, and the small number of things that go wrong, with how to put each of them right.
Key takeaways
- What it is: milk infused with onion, cloves and bay, thickened with white breadcrumbs, finished with butter and nutmeg.
- Time: 15 minutes prep, 30 minutes infusing, 10 minutes on the hob — about 55 minutes, and almost all of it unattended.
- The one rule: infuse, do not boil. Bringing the milk to a simmer and then leaving it to sit is what gives the sauce its flavour.
- Make ahead: keeps three days in the fridge, freezes for a month. Loosen with a splash of milk when you reheat.
- If it goes wrong: too thick, add warm milk; too thin, add a few more crumbs and simmer on.
The basics
What is bread sauce?
Bread sauce is a warm British sauce of milk thickened with breadcrumbs, seasoned with onion, clove, bay and nutmeg, and served chiefly with roast poultry. It is one of the oldest sauces in the English kitchen, a survival from the medieval habit of thickening with bread rather than flour, and it has clung on largely because roast turkey is, for most British households, a once-a-year event. Where there is turkey at Christmas, there is usually bread sauce beside it.
It should be pale, loose enough to spoon but not to pour, and gently fragrant rather than sharply spiced. Done well it is creamy and comforting; done from a packet it is wallpaper paste, which is why it has an undeserved reputation. The real thing takes store-cupboard ingredients and very little effort.
The quietest thing on the table, and the one most people would miss the most.
The recipe
Bread sauce recipe: ingredients and quantities
This serves eight as a generous accompaniment to Christmas dinner, which is roughly the right amount for a turkey crown or a small bird with all the trimmings. The quantities scale neatly: halve them for four, and you will have a little over.
Proper Bread Sauce
Serves 8 · 15 min prep · 40 min cooking · 55 min total
Ingredients
- 600ml whole milk
- 1 small onion, peeled and halved
- 8 whole cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 8 black peppercorns
- 125g fresh white breadcrumbs (about 5 medium slices, crusts removed)
- 40g butter
- 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp fine salt, or to taste
- 2 tbsp double cream (optional, for a richer sauce)
Method
- Stud each onion half with the cloves, pushing them into the cut face so they do not float free. Put the onion, bay leaves, peppercorns and milk into a small heavy pan.
- Bring slowly to a bare simmer, then take the pan off the heat, cover it, and leave the milk to infuse for 30 minutes (longer, up to 2 hours, gives a deeper flavour).
- Strain the milk into a jug, discarding the onion, cloves, bay and peppercorns. Return the milk to the rinsed pan.
- Set over a low heat and stir in the breadcrumbs a handful at a time, letting each addition swell before adding the next, until the sauce is the texture of thick porridge. You may not need every crumb.
- Simmer gently for about 10 minutes, stirring now and then so it does not catch. Beat in the butter, the nutmeg and a good pinch of salt. Stir in the cream, if using, and check the seasoning.
- Serve warm. It thickens as it stands, so loosen with a little warm milk if it tightens up before the table is ready.
Why you infuse the milk instead of boiling it
This is the step that separates a good bread sauce from a bland one, and the step most often skipped. You bring the milk only to a bare simmer with the aromatics, then take it off the heat and let it sit. The slow, gentle steeping draws clove, bay and onion into the milk without driving them off as a hard boil would, and without catching the milk on the base of the pan. Thirty minutes is the sensible minimum; an hour or two, if you have the time and the hob space, is better still. Delia infuses for two hours or more, and she is not wrong.
The corollary is that you never need to rush it. The milk can sit, covered and warm, while you get on with everything else, and the breadcrumbs go in only at the very end. That is also why bread sauce is such an obliging dish to make ahead, which we will come to.
Fresh, stale or dried breadcrumbs?
The crumbs decide the texture, so they are worth getting right. In order of preference:
| Crumb | How it behaves | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Day-old white bread | Holds its shape, gives body and a little texture, does not dissolve to glue | Best. A tin or farmhouse loaf, crusts off, a day or two past fresh |
| Very fresh white bread | Works, but softer and more inclined to turn pasty if over-stirred | Fine in a pinch; tear rather than blitz, and go gently |
| Shop-bought dried crumbs | Even, but fine and sandy, and can thicken claggily | Last resort; use a little less and loosen with extra milk |
Whichever you use, white is the rule. Wholemeal and seeded loaves muddy the colour and the flavour. To make crumbs, tear or grate the bread, or pulse it briefly in a processor — you want coarse crumbs, not powder, and certainly not a paste. If your bread is too fresh to crumb cleanly, dry it in a low oven (120C) for 15 to 20 minutes until it firms up, then crumb it.
Get ahead
Make ahead, freezing and reheating
Bread sauce is one of the great make-ahead dishes, which is exactly what you want of something on Christmas morning.
The get-ahead plan
Up to three days ahead: make the sauce in full, cool it quickly, and keep it covered in the fridge. It will thicken as it sits, which is normal.
Up to a month ahead: freeze it. Cool completely, pack into an airtight tub, and freeze. Defrost overnight in the fridge.
The half-and-half option: if you would rather not commit, infuse the milk and make the crumbs the day before, keep them separately, and finish the sauce in ten minutes on the day.
To reheat: warm gently in a pan over a low heat, or in the microwave in short bursts, stirring. It will have set firm, so add a splash of warm milk and beat it smooth. Reheat until piping hot before serving.
Too thick or too thin? The rescue
Both faults are easily mended, and neither is a disaster.
Too thick is the common one, and it happens to everyone, because the sauce keeps thickening as it stands and again as it cools. Beat in warm milk a splash at a time until it loosens to a spoonable, thick-porridge consistency. Do this right before serving, not an hour before.
Too thin means it needs either more crumbs or more time. Stir in a small handful of breadcrumbs and let them swell over a low heat for a few minutes, or hold it at a bare simmer to drive off a little liquid. Add crumbs cautiously — they go on thickening after you stop.
Lumpy is almost always the result of tipping all the crumbs in at once. Add them gradually next time. To rescue a lumpy batch, a brief whisk or a quick go with a stick blender will smooth it, though you lose a little of the texture that makes it good.
Two for the table
Dairy-free bread sauce
Bread sauce is easy to make dairy-free, and it is worth doing properly rather than apologising for it. Swap the whole milk for unsweetened soya or oat milk — both hold up to the gentle heat without splitting, where some nut and rice milks can curdle or stay thin. Use a block-style dairy-free spread in place of the butter, and skip the cream or use an oat-based alternative. The method is otherwise identical, and the result is genuinely good, not a compromise. Choose a dairy-free loaf if you need the whole dish to be, and it will also be suitable for the lactose-intolerant guest who usually has to sit bread sauce out.
The cheapest dish on the table
For all its standing, bread sauce costs almost nothing. The heel of a white loaf you might otherwise have thrown away, a little over a pint of milk, an onion, a few cloves and a knob of butter will feed eight, which makes it both the thriftiest thing you will cook all day and a quietly satisfying way to use up bread. Set against a chilled tub from the supermarket or a packet mix, the homemade version is cheaper, better and free of the thickeners and flavourings the shop-bought ones lean on. If you are doing Christmas carefully, this is the dish that gives the most for the least, and no one will know it cost you pennies.
What to serve bread sauce with
Roast turkey is the classic partner, which is why it belongs beside a properly cooked turkey crown on Christmas Day. It is equally good with roast chicken, goose or guinea fowl, and a spoonful is no bad thing next to a glazed Christmas ham on Boxing Day. Cold, it makes an excellent turkey sandwich the day after. For the full running order of when to make what, our December Christmas to-do list puts the sauce in its place among everything else.
Questions
Bread sauce FAQ
Can you make bread sauce ahead of time?
Yes. Make it in full up to three days ahead and keep it covered in the fridge, or freeze it for up to a month. Reheat gently with a splash of milk to loosen it, as it sets firm as it cools.
Can you freeze bread sauce?
Yes. Cool it completely, pack it into an airtight container, and freeze for up to a month. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat gently, thinning with a little milk as needed.
Why has my bread sauce gone lumpy?
Almost always because the breadcrumbs went in all at once. Add them a handful at a time, letting each swell before the next. To rescue a lumpy batch, whisk it or give it a brief blitz with a stick blender.
Should I use fresh or dried breadcrumbs?
Day-old white bread is best — it gives body without turning to glue. Fresh white bread works if you tear it and stir gently. Shop-bought dried crumbs are a last resort, as they can thicken claggily.
Why do you stud the onion with cloves?
The clove-studded onion, or onion cloute, scents the milk evenly as it infuses and lifts out whole when you strain it, so you get the flavour without stray cloves in the finished sauce.
Is bread sauce gluten-free?
Not as standard, because it is thickened with wheat bread. Made with gluten-free white bread it works perfectly well, though it may need a touch more milk to loosen.
How long does bread sauce keep in the fridge?
Three days, covered. Make sure you cool it quickly after cooking and reheat it until piping hot before serving.
What is the best bread for bread sauce?
A plain white tin or farmhouse loaf, a day or two old, with the crusts removed. Avoid wholemeal and seeded breads, which muddy the colour and flavour.
Can I make bread sauce without cream?
Yes. The cream is optional and only adds richness. The butter and the milk carry the sauce perfectly well on their own.
How do I stop bread sauce being bland?
Infuse the milk properly rather than boiling it quickly, give it the full 30 minutes or longer, and season at the end with nutmeg, salt and a grinding of pepper to taste.
Updated 14 June 2026 · By Linda Garrould · A traditional, foolproof bread sauce for Christmas dinner. We recommend products and methods on merit; this page carries no affiliate links.
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