Find out if it's safe to eat Hollandaise sauce during pregnancy, plus precautions to take to keep you and your baby healthy.
The official advice on eating Hollandaise sauce in pregnancy
Yes, Hollandaise sauce is safe to eat during pregnancy – providing it has been made with pasteurised or British Lion eggs.
Hollandaise sauce is a delicious creamy blend of egg yolks, melted butter and lemon juice. Sometimes it's seasoned with cayenne pepper, and it often also includes white wine vinegar.
Shop-bought Hollandaise
Most shop-bought Hollandaise sauces, including supermarket-own brands, will be made using pasteurised eggs, meaning they are safe to eat during pregnancy. Pasteurisation is a heat-treatment process designed to kill off any harmful bacteria that could cause food poisoning.
Homemade Hollandaise
Hollandaise sauce is usually made with raw eggs. According to the NHS, raw eggs are not safe to eat during pregnancy unless they carry the British Lion stamp.
This is because raw eggs can contain harmful salmonellae bacteria. Although salmonella is unlikely to harm your growing baby, it can cause food poisoning and make you very unwell.
Eggs with the British Lion stamp come from hens that have been vaccinated against salmonella, so the risk of food poisoning is extremely low. These eggs are safe to eat raw in recipes like Hollandaise sauce.
If you're making Hollandaise sauce at home, always use British Lion eggs. You can ask about this if you have Hollandaise sauce at a restaurant too.
Delicious egg recipes
Love eggs? Why not try one of these great pregnancy-safe recipes? Just be sure to use British Lion eggs, to be on the safe side.
The Day-by-Day Pregnancy Book: Count Down Your Pregnancy Day by Day by Dr Maggie Blott is packed full of advice from a team of experts to help guide you through your pregnancy from conception to birth. See more details here at Amazon.
Take a look at : Foods to avoid in pregnancy: your definitive guide
Unsure what's safe to eat during pregnancy? These are the foods and drinks you should avoid or cut down on to protect your baby.
Looking for more pregnancy diet info? Check out our articles below, or swap tips with other mums-to-be in our forum.
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FAQs
Eggs Benedict
Is hollandaise sauce okay during pregnancy? ›
Raw eggs can be contaminated with harmful bacteria, which can be risky for anyone, but especially pregnant women. When you're pregnant, it's best to avoid food made with raw or partially cooked eggs, so you'll want to forgo foods like raw batter, homemade Hollandaise sauce, Caesar salad dressing, and eggnog.
Does all hollandaise sauce have raw egg? ›
Some people worry about raw eggs in their hollandaise sauce. In this sauce, the eggs are cooked, they are just cooked very slowly to avoid curdling! Cooking the hollandaise allows for a thicker, yummy sauce for your Eggs Benedict.
Is hollandaise sauce pasteurized? ›
The classic hollandaise sauce recipe, originating in France, called for raw eggs, straight from the farm. To prevent the risk of foodborne illness, many chefs and cooks nowadays use pasteurized eggs to make hollandaise. The pasteurization process uses very high heat, so any bacteria present will be killed off.
How do you not get salmonella from hollandaise sauce? ›
If you are concerned about salmonella, use pasteurized eggs or cook the eggs to at least 165F to kill any bacteria; however, this can potentially cause the eggs to scramble. Egg yolks start to coagulate around 149F (65C) and will start to curdle around 160-170F (yolks completely curdle at 185F (85C).
How safe is hollandaise sauce? ›
There are countless hollandaise sauce variations. Nonetheless, this is a basic version of this classic sauce. The procedure is accomplished by diluting and acidifying the egg yolks and heating the mixture to a pasteurizing temperature. This procedure ensures the destruction of salmonella and other pathogenic bacteria.
Does hollandaise get cooked? ›
Cook the Hollandaise – Place saucepan over medium-low heat, whisking the sauce constantly and vigorously until the melted butter turns the mixture frothy. Continue whisking until the sauce just starts to thicken and coats the back of a spoon.
How to know if hollandaise is cooked? ›
To ensure that the hollandaise sauce is safe to eat and not raw, the egg yolk must reach at least 149ºF (65ºC) to help destroy any harmful bacteria. This temperature is achieved when the yolk is warmed over the double boiler or bain marie (a pan with simmering water to place a bowl on top for warming).
What is the most common mistake in hollandaise sauce? ›
Hollandaise Sauce
One common hollandaise mistake is overcooking the egg yolks, and there's no coming back from that. But the most common problem is that the emulsion breaks, and you see streaks of liquid butter instead of a uniformly creamy sauce.
Why is hollandaise not a mother sauce? ›
Hollandaise sauce is unlike the mother sauces we've mentioned so far, due to a liquid and a thickening agent, plus flavorings. Hollandaise is a tangy, buttery sauce made by slowly whisking clarified butter into warm egg yolks. So the liquid here is the clarified butter and the thickening agent is the egg yolks.
Vegetable and cream-based sauces
Tomato and vegetable based sauces for pasta or curries can help you reach your 5 a day and don't have as much fat as cream-based sauces. For pasta, you can also try pesto sauces which are easy to make at home and you can adapt them to add herbs, vegetables and ingredients you enjoy.
Can I eat hollandaise sauce? ›
Is hollandaise sauce safe to eat? - Quora. Yes but it needs to be made within a maximum of two hours. Hollandaise is made from eggs yolks and butter held at a warm temperature so 2 hours is safe, longer than that increases the risk of FBI.
What is the maximum temperature for hollandaise sauce? ›
Aim for 72 degrees of your mixture while whipping. Hold the sauce at that temperature for longer for added security, but do not let it climb over 80 or thereabouts. Remember that prepared hollandaise has a certain thermal inertia because of the air beaten into it, so you cannot cool it quickly if you get it too hot.
Does hollandaise sauce have raw eggs in it? ›
It's so easy! The sauce gets its creamy texture from the eggs that are beaten with the butter to create an emulsion. The warm melted butter actually cooks the eggs as they are mixed, so don't worry about raw eggs!
What are the odds of getting Salmonella from raw eggs? ›
Eggs are washed and sanitized at the processing plant. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 1 in every 20,000 eggs are contaminated with Salmonella. Persons infected with Salmonella may experience diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, headache, nausea and vomiting.
What are the symptoms of food poisoning from hollandaise sauce? ›
Salmonella infection predominantly affects the intestine, and most symptoms are stomach-related, such as diarrhea, cramps or upset stomach, vomiting, nausea, blood in stool, fever, headache or cold, and chills. These symptoms usually surface within 8 to 72 hours after the infection.
What sauces can you not eat when pregnant? ›
Because hollandaise sauce, bearnaise sauce and aioli sauce are made with partially cooked eggs, they should be avoided. Avoid meringue desserts and homemade ice cream because the egg could be undercooked (5).
Can a pregnant woman eat egg sauce? ›
Also avoid foods made with raw or runny eggs including: Homemade or fresh-made dressings and sauces such as mayonnaise, hollandaise sauce, aioli sauce, béarnaise sauce, and Caesar salad dressing.
Is it safe to eat mayonnaise while pregnant? ›
You can safely eat mayonnaise during pregnancy as long as the label says it's made with pasteurized eggs. You can also whip up your own fresh mayonnaise as home without eggs. There are a lot of do's and don'ts you'll come across in the pregnancy books. Do drink extra water to keep yourself and your baby hydrated.
