This lemon butter dill sauce, made with dry white wine and fresh dill, is the upgrade your next fish or chicken dish craves! Switch up your go-to weeknight dinner recipes with this 10-minute sauce or add it to your favorite veggies for a quick, healthy snack.
The most versatile sauce recipe.
If you ask me, homemade sauce recipes are tragically underrated and overlooked. They’re incredibly easy to make and usually taste much better than the store-bought brands. I already use my Homemade BBQ Sauce and Easy Honey Mustard throughout my weekly meal routine, and I’m adding this light butter sauce to the mix.
Delicious, fresh and light, this lemon butter sauce recipe is great to make ahead and keep in the fridge for all of your favorite meals. It goes perfectly with so many different dishes!
I love it on this Instant Pot Salmon, Grilled Shrimp Skewers, Instant Pot Chicken Breasts or Sous Vide Asparagus.
Ingredients needed
This sauce is super easy to make with only a handful of ingredients:
- Butter
- Dry White Wine
- Fresh Dill
- Lemon Juice
- Shallot
How to make it
This sauce comes together in less than ten minutes. Simply stir your ingredients together in a saucepan and keep an eye on the flavors. Don’t be afraid to taste your sauce while you cook to ensure your flavors are well balanced!
Create sauce base
First, boil wine, the shallot and lemon juice in a small saucepan over high heat until the mixture is reduced to 1/4 cup. This should take about 6 minutes.
Add butter
Next, reduce the heat to low and add in butter, one piece at a time, whisking until melted before adding more.
Final seasonings
Finally, remove pan from heat and stir in the dill. Then, season to taste with salt and pepper, and enjoy!
Recipe tips
- If you don’t have dill, you can still use this delicious recipe, just swap the dill ingredient out for parsley, basil or tarragon.
- If your sauce is too thin, you can continue cooking it over low-medium heat and whisk in a few tablespoons of cornstarch and cold water to thicken it up a bit. Always start with a little and add as needed.
- If your sauce is too sour, then you probably just have a bit too much lemon juice in comparison to your other ingredients. Even that out by adding in a bit more melted butter.
What to serve with it
This lemon butter sauce really can go on almost anything, from steamed vegetables, to protein bowls, to your favorite chicken dish. I always like to make this lemon butter sauce in advance then drizzle it over my Instant Pot salmon, air fryer shrimp or sous vide chicken. It provides just the right amount of flavor without overwhelming the proteins.
More homemade sauce recipes
- Magic Artichoke Dipping Sauce
- Buffalo Wing Sauce (Mild, Medium or Hot)
- Romesco Sauce
- Mojo Sauce
- Shrimp Boil Sauce
- Chimichurri Sauce
Did you try this lemon dill butter sauce?
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Lemon Dill Sauce
Ingredients
- ¾ cup dry white wine (or dry vermouth)
- 3 Tablespoons shallot (minced)
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
- ½ cup unsalted butter (cut into 6 pieces)
- 1 ½ Tablespoons fresh dill (chopped)
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Boil wine, shallot and lemon juice in a small saucepan over high heat until reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low and add butter, one piece at a time, whisking until melted before adding more.
- Remove pan from heat. Stir in dill.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Notes
- If you don’t have dill, you can still use this delicious recipe, just swap the dill ingredient out for parsley, basil or tarragon.
- If your sauce is too thin, you can continue cooking it over low-medium heat and whisk in a few tablespoons of cornstarch and cold water to thicken it up a bit. Always start with a little and add as needed.
- If your sauce is too sour, then you probably just have a bit too much lemon juice in comparison to your other ingredients. Even that out by adding in a little more garlic, shallots, and white wine, then whisk together. Don’t be afraid to taste your sauce while you cook to ensure you’re getting the perfect flavors.
Nutrition
Check out the web story here.
This looks great. Can the sauce be made in advance?
Thank you! This sauce is best made right before serving unfortunately.
Best sauce I have ever made for fish….also seared prawns were the bomb!!!!
Thank you!
Erin, I really enjoy your content. I love how straight forward the ingredients and instructions are and how that makes for truly delicious restaurant quilty dishes. I also appreciate the extra tips you give in the way of ingredient substitutions and what to do if something isnt coming together how you want it to. Your pages have much more quality content in proportion to ads than most. With the economy being what is, its huge for folks to get the know how to feed themselves great food at home. Restaurants have become so expensive and the quality has suffered.
Thanks so much Kiki!
Can this sauce be frozen
Hi Dale – Unfortunately, this sauce doesn’t freeze well. It’s best eaten straight away.
I have not made this yet. Wondering if I can make it today and not add in the dill until I want to use it tmrw. I would reheat the sauce and then add in dill before serving
Hi Nini – Unfortunately, it’s best to make this sauce right before you plan on serving it. It doesn’t reheat well.