how to make mayonnaise

the main ingredients & 2 easy alternative traditional recipes

+

My own journey
healthy & vegan alternatives
top 10 ways to use it,  & even make it into something better!

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.  Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them and make a qualifying purchase I may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.

traditional Mayonnaise

By traditional, we mean egg and oil based. More recently though, I´ve gotten into the habit of making a healthy no oil alternative with yoghurt, but at a recent bbq dinner I had special guests  – so I wanted my coleslaw to be silky and creamy, mustard, and luxurious, so I had to make the real thing again. It had been a while and the first batch didn´t work out… the second was a beauty! I was using the first method below. But it didn’t work out because I was sure I made mayo before, with my Bamix hand blender,  without having to drip the oil so I didn’t do the drip method. I found the Bamix recipe and it’s foolproof so I use it all the time now – see it in recipe no. 2

And I decided to record everything here so that I had a go-to recipe sheet for both

1. Best yellow creamy mayonnaise

2. A fast and foolproof method

plus some favourite recipes, methods, and tips you need to remember along the way.

the main ingredients 

1. the EGGS

You need a good egg yolk to emulsify the mayonnaise. I love making the real stuff, but isn´t it annoying when it doesn´t work out – even when the eggs are not off!  Why does that happen?

Eggs can be elusive. I remember even the best chef in our hotel in Morocco would get caught off guard every now and again by an egg! So I´ll give you all the tips we´ve found to make this as fool-proof as possible. First, it’s best to use room-temperature eggs. I tend to keep my eggs out of the fridge, but if they have been refrigerated I like to make sure they have been at room temperature for at least 10mins before I use them. 

how can you tell a good egg from a bad one?

2. the oil

Generally, mayo uses a bland/neutral oil, like sunflower oil. But you can make it with a mild groundnut or avocado oil too.
I’ve also heard that canola or grapeseed also works. Sometimes I see half and half of different oils.
I made the mistake of making it completely with olive oil once and it tasted too bitter. I have seen people make it with half olive oil and half avocado or sunflower oil (check out the vegan recipe using that at the bottom of the page.)

Many say that the French mayo came from the Spanish ailioli in the first place. It was invented by a French chef on the Spanish island of Menorca during the French occupation hundreds of years ago. The more traditional Spanish ailioli sauce is just a garlic and salt mix emulsified with olive oil.

The French Aioli is essentially garlic mayonnaise, so olive oil is needed to balance the garlic. So now we know that Spanish mayo and French aioli use olive oil! Now that I’m in Spain though, I notice cafés often serve something more like a garlic mayonnaise than the traditional Alioli.

When making it with olive oil, use a good one, but not unrefined extra virgin olive oil as the taste is too strong and doesn’t bind together as well.

3. the flavour

Mayonnaise is essentially made from eggs, oil, and a little acidic ingredient like lemon or vinegar. Seasoning is the usual salt and pepper. 

Mustard is one other ingredient though, that is often added whilst making it. It’s optional but it gives the mayo depth and we love it!

MORE FLAVOURS…

Adding more yolk should make it creamier. Play with adding more herbs and spices. Cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne. Add herbs, cheeses, I’ve even seen a mix with thai curry spice! The choices are endless for a creamy dip, sauce, dressing or spread. If you’re adding other foods though try to use it up straight away and certainly don’t keep it more than 2 days.

A lot of variations are then made by adding something to the mayonnaise once it has been made – see my list of 10 ways to use mayo below.

4. Longevity

Did you know it will only last up to 7 days in the fridge in a tightly sealed jar.  Apparently, if you add a tablespoon of yoghurt whey to the mix before you let it sit for 6 hrs at room temperature will allow it to start to ferment and will help it last longer. – apparently up to 2 months! I have yet to try this.

You need to be aware that if you are adding anything else to it, like garlic, then it will only 2-3 days.

the 2 best traditional mayonnaise Recipe

general METHOD

For those that don’t make their own already, or who don’t own a food processor, it probably seems tricky, and for those that do, it’s just like whipping up a simple salad dressing. In fact, you only need a whisk to make mayonnaise along with a lot of elbow power!
I could give you lots of ways to make it but it essentially has 4 ingredients plus optional mustard. The number of eggs or yolks can vary and some put the lemon and seasoning in at the beginning, some at the end.

Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature.
Put everything into the beaker or processor- except the oil.
Then add the oil last, using one of the following two methods.

power handblender whisk method

With the hand blender method, let everything sit for a minute then gently add the oil. Use the whisk blade and blend on high – start at the bottom and as it begins to thicken / emulsify, then pull the blender up and down. 10 seconds should do it.

THE JOURNEY

My journey started the first time I saw it being made in the kitchens in France, offering me a real alternative to the old salad cream I hated as a child, to never being able to finish a jar of Hellmans before it went off, to now finding the easiest recipes, the history and science behind it and substitutions to make it healthier.

My journey with mayonnaise actually started the traditional way, in France,  as a teenager – offering me a welcome alternative to the salad cream I hated, but my mother loved! Then it continued to the English way – a jar of Hellmans – the best you can get in a jar because you´re too busy, and my introduction to a mustardy mayo! Then to the healthy way, when you trying to break free from the mixed up, bad for the planet,  commercial world that we´re all living in! Back to the French way ( recipe 1)… and now the foolproof American way ( recipe 2) .  And so the journey now continues on to good egg bad egg tips, fermenting it, easy pasteurizing with sous vide, variations on the theme of mayonnaise, and non-dairy, and healthy alternatives and so on…

It all started in France

I was working for one month at a children’s holiday camp in France ( ¨colonie de vacance¨), with the sole purpose of learning French because I was the only foreigner, and no english was spoken – at all!  So, at 17yrs, as well as coming home fluent in French ( I knew I nailed when my dorm-mates told me I was talking in my sleep… in French yay! ) , three other learning memories stick in my mind.

1. I learned about how bats panic and go round in circles and grab at girls’ hair when they´re trapped in a room – especially if silly boys are also in the room.
2. I learned to be more aware of strange men as you go through customs ( as I arrived in England, a bit distracted as I tried to remember how to speak English again to my excited parents waving on the other side of customer, I was sure I found a man suddenly by my side stating he was with me as we walked through customs… wow that was weird.
3. I was meant to be monitoring the children playing but often found myself curious in the kitchen so I got the useful job of adding the oil slooowwwwly into the big processor making mayonnaise. So that´s all I knew about mayonnaise making. Add the oil slowly ( but now I have found a way to just put all the ingredients in on go… and it works!) After that, I was never made it myself for at least a few decades.

Hellman’s mustard mayonnaise

I was thrilled when Hellmans started producing a mayonnaise. I was brought up with salad cream on the table and hated it – t was too tarte for me.

Ask anyone English, and they´ll say Hellmans is probably the nearest mustardy shop-bought jar you can buy. I liked it because it tasted a little mustardy. So now I always add mustard into my home-made mayo.

I started buying it because I neither had the courage nor the tools to make real mayonnaise, then as I started on the career ladder I didn’t give time to cooking.

But I stopped buying it! Why?  Because I couldn’t use enough of it so it sat there in the fridge, looking at me, making me feel guilty that I should be using it up. But I would tell myself it´s probably too fattening to use, and then I ask myself how long has it been there?

Was still safe to use? People do say that opened commercial mayo  jars can last for months and months so then I start to think if that’s the case then it must be full of preservatives and wonder if it’s full of processed E numbers that aren´t good for me either !

So we went without mayo for many years… until I discovered chips with mayonnaise, which Paul adored.

So now we both love it and in our new life we make our own mayo all the time. The basic mayo recipe  generally lasts anything from 3 to 7 days in the fridge, and I’ve built a little list of ways to use it all up so none ever goes to waste!

More than mayonnaise

Read on to find how mayonnaise is now the base of so many new sauces and dressings for me. Check out my 10 great ways to use it below.

More healthy than mayonnaise?

I  do love a more tarte yoghurt based mayo style sauce but sometimes you need the sweeter, creamier version. So I still want to make the aquafaba vegan version of mayonnaise but haven’t gotten round to it. So I’ve gathered some recipes below for you. In fact, in my research I found a lot of recipes used soy milk rather than the aquafaba. I think it sounds like it will be a little thinner than an egg based mayo. Is it healthier? Well it still uses all that oil, and these recipes all add a little sugary something to taste It’s just eggs that are not included.

10 great ways to use Mayonnaise

Put a dollop of mayo on your boiled eggs, fish or alongside crab cakes. Serve with roasted veggies, chips or roast potatoes. Or simply replace butter on a sandwich with a spread of mayonnaise ( I like to do one half butter and one half mayo ).

Or, use the mayonnaise as a base to make any of the next 10 dips, dressings or cooking aids.

Perfectly crispy seared steak

Easy tartare sauce

For a simple, wholesome sauce, just add to your mayo 3 tablespoons each of chopped capers, gherkins and parsley, plus a finely chopped shallot to 200ml mayo. Mix it up. Season to taste with pepper and lemon to taste. Job done. i made this one to go with a fishfinger sandwich 🥰 

Healthy mayonnaise alternative

UsE Yoghurt

Apart from using a healthier oil, you could lighten up your mayonnaise load by mixing half mayonnaise and half yoghurt when serving.

Or,  I make a simply healthy alternative mayonnaise with just yoghurt and salt, lemon, minced garlic. you can add 1,2 or all 3 ingredients to suit your taste… makes a fresher, more tart coleslaw.

Bonus 11th variation!

I like to add add some freshly grated garlic and ginger and citrus peel (lemon) and optional citrus juice to a yoghurt or half yoghurt mayo when serving with smoked salmon.  Yummmmm! Add chopped pistachios for even more yummmmmm.

Dairy-free, Vegan mayonnaise

I know you’re expecting me to say cashew cream or nutritional yeast here but no. Why not just try the old fashioned alioli ( ok and maybe add some vegan cashew cream or aquafaba into it to make it looser).

Most vegan recipes however,  simply replace the eggs with aquafaba – the gloopy liquid that comes with a jar or tin of beans like chickpea/garbanzo beans or butter beans etc. Or you can also use a good ( fatty) unsweetened soy milk as an egg replacement.

Here’s a few recipes I found for you. I have yet to try them out, so feel free to comment and let me know what you think! 

Interesting that they all add a sweetener, I wonder what my home made stevia liquid would work here.

I also want to try adding ground powdered mustard here to see how it works too. That way I can carry the powder with me and make it more easily whilst travelling. 

Apparently, it thickens up in the fridge, and should also last up to 5 days in the fridge.

Stay in Touch

Thank-you to Tengyart from Russia for this sad to mad eggs image.

Eggs can be the most difficult things to cook well, and I feel this image represents all the emotions from cook to chef.

Makes us giggle.