What kind of sauce is béchamel classified as?

Béchamel is classified as a white sauce. It is one of the fundamental sauces in French cuisine and is made by thickening milk with a roux, which consists of equal parts flour and fat, usually butter. The resulting sauce is creamy and can serve as a base for many other sauces and dishes, such as macaroni and cheese or lasagna.

Identifying béchamel as a white sauce is accurate because it does not contain any added color or ingredients that would change its hue, distinguishing it from sauces such as tomato or fruit-based sauces, which have distinct colors and flavors coming from their respective primary ingredients. Additionally, while it may have a creamy texture, labeling it simply as a cream sauce could be misleading because cream sauces might use heavy cream as the base rather than milk, which is essential in the preparation of béchamel.