Sauce forestière, or wild mushroom sauce, is one of my favourite sauces, because it seems to go with absolutely anything!
This traditional French sauce is delicious with all meats and game, and even pairs well with white fish, making it a dinner party staple.
It's delicious over vegetables too!
Made with cream, a mix of mushrooms, shallots and wine or stock, this is an easy sauce to make, that is rich and decadent.
Of course, this sauce will still be perfect if you use white mushrooms too.
Bon appétit!
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There are so many French sauces and this one is easily my favourite.
While many of the mother sauces, such as hollandaise and mayonnaise, take a little time and skill, this easy wild mushroom sauce is really simple to make.
This version of Forestière sauce is my basic one, that I use the most for serving as a chicken forestière. Serve the sauce with some pan fried chicken breasts or roast chicken pieces. It's really easy to do.
However, it's really easy to tailor the ingredients to the dish you are serving it with, with a tweak of alcohol, (or not), herbs and other flavours.
❤️ Why you will love this dish
- Simple to make with no special techniques.
- Easily customise the dish by varying the ingredients.
- Perfect for entertaining.
- Creamy and delicious!
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🥘 Ingredients
- Mushrooms - I've used a mixed pack of mushrooms which include oyster, king oyster and beech mushrooms (Buna shimeji). They have a rich flavour and nutty taste.
- Cream - double or heavy cream for a rich flavour.
- Shallots - shallots have a sweeter taste than standard onions, so they don't overpower the mushroom flavour. I prefer to use the long banana shallots as they are easier to peel than the smaller round ones.
- Tarragon - fresh tarragon, with its slightly aniseed flavour, goes brilliantly with chicken and other poultry dishes.
- Butter - salted or unsalted for flavour.
- Oil - vegetable oil or olive oil.
- Salt - cooking salt or kosher salt.
- Pepper - freshly ground black pepper.
- Stock - chicken stock.
The recipe card with ingredient quantities and detailed instructions can be found at the bottom of the post.
🍽 Equipment
- medium frying pan or skillet
- wooden spoon
- sharp knife
- chopping board
🔪 Instructions
Peel and finely chop the shallots.
Roughly chop the mushrooms to your liking. Keep in mind that they will reduce in size after cooking.
I prefer to keep the pieces around 1 to 2 centimetres.
💭 Top Tip
- If there is soil on the mushrooms don't be tempted to wash them as they will soak up the water. Then, when they are cooking, the water will be released making the sauce much thinner.
Strip the tarragon leaves from the stems and chop them.
⏲️ Cooking Time
Put the oil and butter in a pan over a medium heat.
Add the shallots and cook for 2 minutes until soft, but not coloured.
Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.
Add the mushrooms to the pan.
Cook and stir occasionally for 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are soft.
Pour in the stock and cook for a further 5 minutes until the liquid has reduced.
Add the cream and half of the tarragon and simmer gently until the sauce has thickened.
💭 Top tip
- If you would like the sauce to be thicker, mix a teaspoon of cornflour with water and stir in. Repeat if necessary.
Add the salt and pepper and check the seasoning.
Stir in most of the chopped tarragon and scatter the rest on top to serve.
🥗 Serve with
Sauce forestière is perfect with poultry dishes and many others too.
If you are not keen on mushrooms, try onion sauce soubise, which is equally good with many dishes too.
Try these ideas.
- Chicken en Croûte
- Philadelphia Chicken
- Turkey Ballotine
- Turkey Pithivier
- Spatchcock chicken
- Roast Chicken
- Pork Confit
- Slow Roast Lamb Shoulder
- Bavette Steak
- Simple Roast Gammon
- Roast Venison Haunch
Substitutions
- Mushrooms - use any mushrooms you like in this dish. If you can't get hold of any unusual varieties then chestnut mushrooms have great flavour or use the more common white button or closed cup mushrooms.
- Shallots - use any sweet onion or a small amount of white onion.
- Cream - use crème fraiche instead. The sauce will be less sweet.
📖 Variations
Add any of these to the forestière sauce for extra flavour.
- Wine - replace some of the stock with a dry white wine, adding the wine first and allowing to bubble for a few minutes before adding the stock. You can also use brandy, Madeira, sherry or marsala
- Porcini mushrooms - these dried mushrooms add great flavours to sauces. Soak a tablespoon of porcinis in a few tablespoons of boiling water for about 10 minutes. Chop and add to the sauce with the stock. Reserve the soaking liquid and add to the sauce, but discard any gritty residue.
- Garlic - add crushed or minced garlic for 1 minute before you add the stock
- Mustard - add a few teaspoons of whole grain mustard or Dijon mustard to serve with beef.
Change the stock and herbs to suit the dish too.
- Sage - perfect partner for pork
- Dill - great with fish.
- Parsley - use with pork, lamb or fish.
Storage
- Refrigerator - cool, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.
- Freezer - not suitable for freezing.
- To reheat - warm in a shallow pan or small saucepan over a low to medium heat.
Prepare in Advance
- Chop all of the vegetables in advance. Ideally make the sauce fresh, just before serving.
Let me know what you think in the comments or you can post a picture and tag me on Twitter @chezlereve, Instagram @chezlerevefrancais, or Facebook @chezlerevefrancais
More mushroom recipes
📋 Recipe
Sauce Forestière
Equipment
- medium frying pan or skillet
- wooden spoon
- sharp knife
- chopping board
Ingredients
- 125 g mushrooms mixed varieties
- 2 shallots
- 300 ml double cream
- 200 ml chicken stock
- 2 tablespoon fresh tarragon
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon oil
Instructions
- Peel and finely chop the shallots. Chop the mushrooms into slices or pieces of 1 or 2 centimetres.
- Strip the tarragon leaves from the stems and chop.
- Put the oil and butter in a pan over a medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for 2 minutes until soft, but not coloured, and stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.
- Add the mushrooms to the pan. Cook and stir occasionally for 5 minutes until the mushrooms are soft.
- Pour in the stock and cook for a further 5 minutes until the liquid has reduced.
- Add the cream and half of the tarragon and simmer gently until the sauce has thickened.
- Add the salt and pepper and check the seasoning. Stir in most of the chopped tarragon and scatter the rest on top to serve.
Disclaimer: The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
Detailed instructions for this recipe, including step by step photographs, hints and tips, can be found in the main article.
More French sauces
Food Safety
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat.
- Wash hands after touching raw meat.
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
- Never leave cooking food unattended.
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds.
- Always have good ventilation when using gas.
Do you have a question or did you make the recipe? Please leave a rating as it helps other readers to discover this dish. Your name and email are required to avoid spam comments; they are never used for any purpose or shared with third parties.
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Natalie
My friends loved your forestiere sauce at our bbq party. It just disappeared! Have to make more the next time, thanks!
Kate
This sauce is new to me, so thanks for introducing it! I'm a sucker for both mushrooms and tarragon so I can't wait to try it.
Mahy
I could use this sauce with so many of my favorite dishes. Fantastic recipe to keep handy!
Dannii
What a delicious sauce, and so many different uses too.
Ieva
Mushrooms and tarragon has always been one of my favourite combinations! This sauce is absolutely delicious! We made it numerous times now, and it really seems to go with just about anything: chicken, pork and steak. We have also served it with pasta and it's just great!
Tayler
Homemade sauces are my absolute favorite, so I can’t wait to try this one! It looks amazing!
Carrie Robinson
This sauce sounds amazing! We love pretty much anything with mushrooms in this house, so I will have to try this recipe soon. 🙂
Beth
This looks absolutely amazing! I'm planning to make steaks tomorrow, and this is going on it!
Joyce
I made this to go with my steak and it was absolutely amazing and so creamy and the mushrooms gave it so much umami! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Dana
This was so incredible! Had it with grilled salmon and it was a hit!