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Illustration of Brandy Sauce: a white jug of creamy brandy sauce poured over a slice of Christmas pudding
Illustration (AI-generated)

Sauces

Brandy Sauce

A smooth, creamy, pouring brandy sauce for Christmas pudding: a sweet white sauce of butter, flour and whole milk, cooked gently so it loses any floury taste, then finished off the heat with brandy and a spoonful of cream. With a cornflour version, rum sauce and an alcohol-free version.

  • Serves 6
  • Makes about 650 ml
  • Ready in 20 minutes
  • Rum and alcohol-free versions
  • Make ahead up to 2 days
  • British

Method

  1. Melt the butter (40 g) in a medium, heavy-based pan over a low to medium heat. Stir in the flour (40 g) and cook, stirring, for 1–2 minutes until the paste bubbles and smells biscuity; it should stay pale, not brown.

  2. Take the pan off the heat and add the milk (600 ml) a ladle at a time, whisking hard after each addition so the sauce stays smooth. (Or put the butter, flour and cold milk in the pan together and whisk constantly as it heats; both ways work.)

  3. Return to a medium heat and keep whisking, getting right into the corners of the pan, until the sauce comes to the boil and thickens.

  4. Turn the heat to its lowest, stir in the sugar (50 g) and let the sauce barely simmer for 8–10 minutes, stirring often. This cooks out the raw taste of the flour and gives a silky finish.

  5. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the brandy (4 tbsp), the cream (4 tbsp) if using, and a little nutmeg (pinch). Taste, and add a splash more brandy if you like it stronger. Do not boil the sauce again once the brandy is in, or the flavour fades.

  6. Pour into a warmed jug and serve hot with Christmas pudding. To keep it warm for up to 30 minutes, press a sheet of baking parchment onto the surface to stop a skin forming and stand the jug in a pan of hot water.

Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.

Variations and make-ahead

  • Cornflour brandy sauce (no roux). Mix 3 level tablespoons (about 25 g) of cornflour to a smooth paste with 4 tablespoons of the cold milk. Heat the rest of the milk with the sugar, whisk in the paste and keep whisking until the sauce boils and thickens, then simmer for 1–2 minutes. Take off the heat and finish with the brandy, cream and a knob of butter for gloss. It is quicker and naturally wheat-free, though slightly less creamy than the roux version.
  • Rum sauce. Use dark rum instead of brandy, in the same amount. A strip of orange zest warmed in the milk (and lifted out before serving) suits rum well.
  • Alcohol-free sauce. Leave out the brandy. Warm the milk with the seeds of half a vanilla pod (or stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract at the end) and a strip of orange zest, add the cream, and sharpen with a few drops of lemon juice. Children and drivers can then share the same jug.
  • Make ahead. Make the sauce up to 2 days ahead without the brandy, press parchment onto the surface, cool quickly and keep it covered in the fridge. Reheat gently, whisking in a splash of milk until smooth and hot, then add the brandy just before serving so it tastes fresh.

See also

Chef’s notes

  • Thickness: the sauce should coat the back of a spoon and pour easily. If it is too thick, whisk in a little more hot milk; too thin, simmer it a few minutes longer before adding the brandy.
  • Lumps? Whisk hard off the heat, or pass the sauce through a sieve before adding the brandy.
  • Use the same spirit that is in your pudding: brandy for this site’s Christmas Pudding, rum if your pudding is made with rum.
  • Brandy butter (hard sauce) is the other classic: butter beaten with icing sugar and brandy, served cold so it melts over the hot pudding.

How this recipe was developed

We compared brandy sauces from Delia Smith (her classic pudding with brandy sauce and her Christmas rum sauce) with the best-rated versions on BBC Food, Good Housekeeping and From The Larder, and looked at what our preferred chefs serve with Christmas pudding instead.

  • A cooked roux, simmered for 10 minutes. Delia Smith whisks butter, flour and milk together and then lets the sauce cook on the lowest heat for 10 minutes; BBC Food’s brandy (or rum) sauce by Deborah Reddihough (4.3/5, 14 ratings) also simmers the roux sauce for 10 minutes. That long, gentle cook is what removes the floury taste.
  • Brandy and cream off the heat. Delia adds the brandy and double cream only at the end; From The Larder and Good Housekeeping also stir the brandy and cream in once the pan is off the heat, so the spirit keeps its warmth.
  • Whole milk, moderate sugar. Whole milk gives body without needing much cream; 50 g of sugar for 600 ml sits between BBC Food (55 g for 570 ml) and Delia (40 g for 300 ml plus cream), because the pudding itself is sweet.
  • A cornflour version. Good Housekeeping and From The Larder thicken with cornflour slaked in cold milk; BBC Food notes that cornflour is quicker but less creamy than a roux, so we give it as a variation.
  • Rum, vanilla and other spirits. Delia’s Christmas rum sauce uses dark rum; Good Housekeeping adds vanilla seeds, which we use for the alcohol-free version. Gordon Ramsay serves his light Christmas pudding with whisky cream and Jamie Oliver his with golden syrup and Bourbon, a reminder that the spirit can follow the pudding.
  • Brandy butter as the cold alternative. Christopher Kimball’s America’s Test Kitchen serves plum pudding with an orange-mace hard sauce (butter, sugar, brandy and cream sherry); we mention brandy butter in the notes rather than mixing the two styles.

Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 31 October 2026):

Also checked: Anne Willan (no published brandy sauce found online); Marcella Hazan (italian repertoire; no brandy sauce); Rick Stein (no published brandy sauce found online); Heston Blumenthal (only commercial Waitrose puddings found; no sauce recipe); Jack Croft and Will Murray (Fallow) (no Christmas pudding or brandy sauce recipe published).

This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.

Shopping list for 6 portions

Dairy & eggs

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