Bursting with fresh flavor, this is an incredibly easy white wine sauce recipe that is perfect for pasta, seafood and chicken dishes. It’s light and refreshing for spring, summer and fall! Make it tonight – start to finish in less than 15 minutes!
I can’t resist lightening up our meals once it warms up outside. While pasta is a staple in our house throughout the year, my simple sauce recipes tend to change seasonally.
This simple white wine sauce recipe is delicate and mild, making it a favorite base for shrimp, scallops, classic baked chicken, mussels, mushrooms, my favorite roasted Italian veggies and other summertime favorites.
This sauce recipe is also what I based my chicken in white wine sauce recipe on, and that’s an equally delicious way to enjoy a light and tasty meal!
Best of all, this easy pasta dish is also super speedy to prepare, which means it’s a great weeknight dinner.
For the girls, this is an upgrade from their coveted favorite, buttered noodles. (Psst… if you’ve never had my version of this classic kid favorite, you’ve got to try this Mizithra Cheese and Browned Butter.)
You’ll also love my lemon basil pasta, another light and easy dish that’s just as pretty as it is delicious. It’s so easy, you’ll want to add this one into your dinner rotation for sure!
This has been a staple in our home for 10+ years. One bite and you’ll know why! 
You can watch the video in this post to see how just how quick and easy my white wine sauce is!
As much as I enjoy cooking, I prefer to spend my time soaking up a little sunshine and fresh air while watching the girls play, vs slaving over the stove while making dinner.
Wine adds acidity to foods. You can get acidity from other sources, like citrus juices but those are more astringent than wine and not good choices for deglazing and reducing when making sauces. There are all sorts of pasta dishes that pair well with white wine.
What’s the Best White Wine to Cook With?
There are a few types of white wines that will be perfect in this pasta dish.
The goal is to choose a crisp, dry white wine that won’t overpower the delicate flavors of whatever you’re pairing the sauce with… be it chicken, seafood, or veggies. Don’t choose a sweet wine like Riesling or something similar!
If you don’t drink white wine (or cook with wine at all) or simply don’t want to purchase a bottle to make this dish, I have found that white cooking wine (found in the salad dressing/vinegar area of your grocery store) works equally as well.
However, I like to give myself an excuse to have a glass or two, so I almost always use a Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay.
Refrigerate – This White Wine Sauce keeps incredibly well in a jar, refrigerated for up to a week. Simply warm and toss with your favorite pasta, chicken or seafood.
This post was originally published in April of 2013 and updated with fresh details in February 2020.
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Mussels in White Wine Sauce
This classic French inspired version of a white wine sauce is a perfect flavor match.
You’ll add the mussels after beginning the sauce process. Refer to Ina’s delicious version of this recipe for a more detailed step by step, including the cleaning process for mussel shells, how long to cook, etc.
What an incredibly fragrant seafood pasta dish!
Why I Put White Wine In Basically Everything
FAQ
What does white wine do to a sauce?
What does adding wine to sauce do?
What does adding white wine to cooking do?
Why do you put white wine in pasta?
How to make white wine sauce?
The ingredients for white wine sauce are: How to make a white wine sauce: tips! Saute the garlic and shallot: only 1 minute! Here’s a way to make your entire kitchen smell divine! Melt the butter and saute the aromatics. Watch it carefully: you don’t want them to brown! Just enough to be fragrant and transparent. Add flour: like a quick roux!
What can be used as a substitute for white wine vinegar?
Champagne vinegar is another mild wine-based vinegar. Fermented rice and has a sweet and mild flavor. It is mainly used in Asian cuisine. Apple cider vinegar made from fermented apples, apple cider vinegar. All being a great option.
Can you add wine to a sauce?
Adding wine to a sauce makes it taste like it’s from a fancy restaurant…but it’s easy to make at home! The flavor tangy from the wine and savory from the Parmesan cheese. Our favorite way to serve this is with pasta: it’s a simple light sauce that takes only 15 minutes to put together. But it would work well with chicken or fish too.
What is white wine sauce?
White wine forms the base of many sauces that go well with seafood, chicken, and pasta, and the simplicity of the sauce makes it easy to tweak to your preferences. There are generally two types of white wine sauce: a light, thinner sauce made with butter and chicken stock and a richer, dense sauce that uses cream and flour.