Easy Peppercorn Sauce For Steak

Name: Easy Peppercorn Sauce For Steak (15 minutes)
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 30 g butter (salted or unsalted); 1/2 brown onion (or shallot (finely chopped)); 2 tsp dijon mustard; 1 tbsp red wine vinegar; 8 g cracked black pepper or ground black pepper (use pepper mill or mortar & pestle); 1 chicken stock cube (or vegetable or beef stock cube); 150 ml water; 150 ml double cream

August 28, 2024

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This easy Peppercorn Sauce recipe can be made in just 15 minutes! It’s creamy and rich with the perfect hint of heat from the peppercorns. I can guarantee you’ll be making it again and again due to its quickness, simplicity and absolute tastiness for minimal effort!

And if you use my hack below for the ultimate flavour boost, without compromising on time, you’ll have a winning sauce that will wow whoever you’re cooking for (even if it’s just yourself!)

If you need some help or direction in cooking beef, then why not check out my post on How To Cook The Perfect Steak?

Why I Love It

No huge chunks of peppercorns to munch through! The only scenario where this is acceptable is using fresh peppercorns, but they aren’t easy to source. And even when a restaurant uses whole fresh peppercorns, I still prefer this version.

It is a tried, tested and ‘couldn’t be simpler’ recipe that requires minimal ingredients and very limited skill.

With young kids, I tend to like making this sauce earlier in the day, or even the day before. Means I have one less thing to worry about when cooking and serving dinner. Check out my Steak Sauce Hack below for my cheat way of maximising flavour, whilst minimising time and pressure!

And if you like this sauce, why not try my Blue Cheese Sauce for steak next?

Steak Sauce Recipe Hack

The typical way of improving flavour recommended by everyone is to cook the peppercorn sauce in the pan juices whilst your steak is resting. This puts pressure on you to make the sauce in the timeframe that the steak rests. I’m all about minimising stress and pressure these days!

However, if you’re like me and prefer to make the sauce in advance, it’s one less element you need to worry about, then use my steak sauce recipe hack below!

Simply add your pre-made sauce to the pan after you’ve cooked the steaks and de-glaze the pan with the sauce itself. You get all the flavours from the steak, without the time restriction and pressure of making the sauce whilst the steaks are resting – win win!

Check my ‘Storage and Reheating’ section below for information on how to store and reheat my Easy Peppercorn Sauce recipe.

Ingredients + Substitutions

Salted Butter: I use salted butter, but we are using a stock cube (which has fairly high salt content) so unsalted would be fine.

Onion: I use brown onion simply because I tend to have it most often in the house, but shallot is also a great option, as it has a slightly more subtle flavour than onion.

Ensure to chop very finely to achieve the best consistency in the sauce.

Black Pepper: this is the element that sets this Easy Peppercorn Sauce recipe apart from the rest! Using freshly cracked black peppercorns (I simply use my pepper mill but you can use a Mortar and Pestle too) means you won’t be crunching on whole peppercorns in the sauce.

This is my husband’s favourite aspect of this sauce versus some of its restaurant counterparts.

Dijon mustard: English Mustard is slightly hotter than Dijon mustard, but it can be used. If using English mustard, reduce volume to 1/2 teaspoon.

Red Wine Vinegar: substitutions include white wine or cider vinegar. I haven’t trialled it with any other vinegars, so if you choose to use a malt vinegar for example, I wouldn’t be able to confirm taste suitability.

Chicken Stock: I like to use Chicken Stock for the flavour, but if you’re vegetarian you could switch it for Vegetable Stock. And I alternate between using a stock cube or bullion powder (which isn’t readily available in UK supermarkets so stock cube is the obvious choice).

Double cream: I use double cream as it has a higher fat content which means it’s less likely to separate in dishes. This is the equivalent (although it has approx 10% more fat) to heavy whipping cream in the US. You can opt for a lower fat cream if you want to reduce the calories. I would highly recommend Marks & Spencer extra thick single cream as it has the consistency of double cream, but half the calories – I love it!

How To Make Easy Peppercorn Sauce For Steak

Melt 30 g butter in a pan then add 1 brown onion (finely chopped)

With 8 g cracked black pepper, 1 tsp dijon mustard

And 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, then cook until softened (approx 5 mins)

Dissolve 1 chicken stock cube in 150 ml water, add to sauce and simmer for 5 mins. I use the ‘biplane test’ to determine if / when the sauce has reduced enough (see below).

chicken stock being added — chicken stock

Then pour in 150 ml double cream and simmer for another 5 minutes or so

Optional ‘hack’: add the finished peppercorn sauce to the pan you just cooked the steaks in and ‘de-glaze’ the pan with the sauce. This will pick up all of the steak juices and deepen the flavour

Bonus Extra: Mushroom Peppercorn Sauce

I occasionally like to add mushrooms into the sauce, for a tasty Mushroom Peppercorn Sauce:

Simply fry some sliced mushrooms in butter and then pour over the peppercorn sauce and enjoy!

Storage and Reheating

The sauce will store in the fridge for up to 4-5 days (if stored below 4C)

You can freeze this sauce for up to 3 months.

To reheat – add the sauce to a pan on the hob and heat gently until piping hot throughout. Add a little extra cream or stock to loosen if necessary as the sauce thickens as it cools.

And finally…

If you do choose to make it, I hope you enjoy it!

If you have any questions, or want to tell me what you think of my recipe, then please leave a comment below!