White Wine Sauce

This white wine sauce is easy to make and full of tangy, savory flavor from dry wine and Parmesan. Serve as a sauce for pasta, chicken or fish.

Want to cook with wine? Let’s go! Here’s a white wine sauce for pasta, chicken or fish that’s easy to make and makes the most beautiful flavor. Adding wine to a sauce makes it taste like it’s from a fancy restaurant…but it’s easy to make at home! The flavor tangy from the wine and savory from the Parmesan cheese. Our favorite way to serve this is with pasta: it’s a simple light sauce that takes only 15 minutes to put together. But it would work well with chicken or fish too. Here’s what to know about making a wine sauce!

Want to skip the wine? Head this Simple Cream Sauce.

What wine to use for cooking

First off: why cook with wine? Italian and French style recipes often call for white wine in the ingredient list. It’s used to de-glaze the pan or add a complex, acidic flavor to dishes. It adds incredible complexity to risotto or pan sauces like this white wine sauce!

What wine to use for cooking? Use any dry white wine here. You’ll want a crisp white wine that doesn’t have any hint of sweetness. A few types of white wine that are great for cooking are:

• Sauvignon Blanc
• Chardonnay
• Pinot Grigio
• Pinot Gris
• Dry Vermouth

You might have dry vermouth on hand for using in cocktails (like the Classic Martini). But it doubles as a cooking wine! Its crisp, cry flavor is very versatile.

Ingredients for white wine sauce

Making a white wine sauce is easier than you think! It might sound fancy and French. But it takes just 15 minutes to whip up with a short list of ingredients. The ingredients for white wine sauce are:

• Dry white wine
• Garlic
• Shallot
• Butter
• Flour (or substitute gluten-free flour)
• Cream (or substitute milk)
• Parmesan cheese

How to make a white wine sauce: tips!

• Saute the garlic and shallot: only 1 minute! Here’s a way to make your entire kitchen smell divine! Melt the butter and saute the aromatics. Watch it carefully: you don’t want them to brown! Just enough to be fragrant and transparent.
• Add flour: like a quick roux! The flour acts as a thickener. It’s like a quick version of a roux, a way to thicken creamy sauces like in our Easy Cream Sauce.
• Simmer with the wine and cream for 3 minutes.
• Add the Parmesan cheese and whisk the sauce until it melts.

Is white wine sauce alcoholic?

Does white wine sauce contain alcohol? Yes. But only trace amounts per serving (about 0.8 ounces). We felt comfortable serving this pasta to our 3 year old. But you should do only what you’re comfortable with! If you’re sensitive to alcohol, pregnant or serving this kids, here’s what to know:

• You may have heard that when cooking food with alcohol, all the alcohol burns off. This is false: typically after cooking a food with wine for 15 minutes, about 50% of the original alcohol remains.
• This sauce is simmered for 5 minutes, so about 85% of the alcohol remains.
• The recipe uses ½ cup or 4 ounces of white wine for 4 servings. So this would be 0.80 ounces of alcohol per serving.

Serving a white wine pasta sauce

Want to serve it with pasta? Here are a few things to know about making white wine pasta sauce:

• It makes enough for 8 ounces of pasta. This works as 4 modest servings. Depending on what you’re serving with, you may want to increase the pasta amount to 12 or 16 ounces.
• It works with any type of noodle! Long noodles, short noodles, spaghetti, penne or rigatoni, any pasta shape work. 
• Add chopped herbs for garnish if desired. We topped with a little finely minced Italian parsley for color. You could use basil, thyme or oregano instead.
• Make it a meal with plant-based protein & a salad. Add these 5-minute Easy Cannellini Beans or Easy White Beans and Arugula Salad.

More ways to serve white wine sauce

There are other ways to serve this white wine sauce other than pasta! Here are some ideas:

• Drizzle it over baked salmon or chicken
• Add sauteed shrimp (or make Creamy Shrimp Pasta!)
• Drizzle it over vegetables like roasted broccoli or asparagus

This recipe is…

Vegetarian. For gluten-free, use gluten-free flour.

Print

More pasta sauce recipes

Want more pasta sauces? Here are some more homemade pasta sauce recipes to try:

• Tomato Cream Sauce or Tomato Basil Sauce Two deliciously classic spins on tomato sauce.
• Vegan Alfredo Sauce Easy to make, starring nutrient-rich cauliflower and protein-packed cashews.
• Best Basil Pesto The best way to use up a boatload of fresh basil. Here’s our best basil pesto recipe, made the classic Italian way.
• Marinara Sauce Full of tangy tomato flavor and takes just over 15 minutes to make: no chopping required!