In days gone by, mayonnaise was a product always made at home.
The specific origins of mayonnaise are still unknown.
However, there are many speculations.
There are those culinary historians who believe that a mayonnaise-like cream — created from olive oil and egg — was consumed by the ancient Egyptians and Romans. Yet the most accepted source is that of a French Duke’s chef. It is said that in the year 1756 he produced an emulsion of olive oil, eggs, and a variety of seasonings as a substitute for a more traditional sauce.
Nevertheless, mayonnaise is a common condiment…one found in many homes today. There are many homemade mayo recipe variations found online, some delicious and others not so good.
But with 5 ingredients and 5 easy to follow steps…you can make a very nutritious homemade version of the commercially-prepared stuff you find at the grocery.
Mayonnaise Ingredients
*A key to success is having all of the ingredients room temperature prior to blending.
- 1 cup sunflower oil, you may substitute 1/2 cup sunflower oil and 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk, home-grown or pastured eggs are best
- 1/4 teaspoon real salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Mayonnaise Instructions
- Gather and measure ingredients.
- Add the egg. egg yolk, and salt to a blender and blend on low to medium speed for just a few seconds.
- Pour in the lemon juice and vinegar and blend 10 seconds more.
- With the blender still on, begin to slowly drizzle the oil into the mixture.
- Once well combined and creamy, pour mayonnaise into a clean, sterile glass Mason jar and refrigerate. Note: Fresh mayonnaise will keep in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. Click here to learn how to store mayonnaise for up to 2 months using whey. Diana at My Humble Kitchen gives an excellent tutorial on making mayo using the fermenting method.
Where Can I Get This Stuff?
–Mountain Rose Herbs…I purchase many of my organic culinary oils and spices — in bulk — from Mountain Rose Herbs. Click the link and head over to check out their selection.
What about you? Please share with us your experience with homemade mayonnaise! What’s your favorite recipe? Have you tried it before? Tell us in the comments.
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I’ve recently discovered that you can make mayonnaise using the same ingredients as you (though I use slightly less oil and only 1 egg) plus a tsp of mustard (I suspect this helps with emulsification- it doesn’t make the mayo taste mustardy) in 30 seconds by putting all the ingredients into a narrow jar or jug (pitcher), and using a stick blender. Put it right to the bottom of the container and switch on, pulling it up as it mixes. Mayonnaise! Occasionally it comes out a bit thin (it’s never split yet…), in which case I put an egg or egg yolk in another container, add the runny mayo and repeat- it always thickens up beautifully,
It’s changed my life!! I don’t buy mayonnaise at all now, and even the children can make it for their sandwiches or packed lunches, adding herbs and/or garlic for a change. I also vary the oils and vinegar I use- tarragon vinegar makes a nice change, especially with eggs or chicken.
Hazel, you don’t add the oil drop by drop? I was using a stick blender and trying to add the oil really slowly and it never works for me :/ You really just put all the ingredients in at once? or did I read this wrong? If so I’m trying that today :p
Erica, I do it almost exactly the same as Hazel.The only difference is I put all the ingredients in a wide mouth jar and cover with a coffee filter. Let it sit out on the counter for about an hour, until all the ingredients have a chance to “settle”. Then you put your stick blender in, turn it on, and start from the bottom going up. The ingredients will blend quickly and in under a minute! It’s super fast and easy! 🙂 Hope this helps!
Wow nice! Am doing this tonight! Will report back tomorrow :p
Thanks for the great recipe once again! I have seen lots of other mayo recipes bouncing around, some calling for just the egg yolks and some a whole egg and additional yolk. I was wondering if you’ve ever tried it with only yolks and if there is a difference in the consistency of the end product. I prefer no egg whites because I am allergic, but I have tried twice to make the lacto fermented mayo and they were both epic fails (both yolks only):/ Thanks again!
What if you left the egg out of it altogether?
If you leave the egg out all together you will just have oil and vinegar dressing. Not the same animal! I’m going to make some today! With mayo being almost $5 a jar I’d be thrilled to make my own.
I used coconut (Nutiva in the 1 plastic jar, it’s going to personal face/body products now that the best before date is up) and olive oil with two egg yolks. Kinda wishing I’d used whole eggs because I had to discard the whites, and those are expensive when bought from a farmer’s market. I’ve never made macaroons or meringue.
Anyway, it didn’t taste right at all because the coconut oil was not deodorized. I used Lakewood lemon juice rather than ACV and a bit of Simply Natural mustard. I also added some whey from greek yogurt to lacto ferment it, but I think maybe I’ll hold off on that for another time once I get down a recipe I like. I put it in a small mason jar. The stuff went off in less than a week.
A tip for making it last a bt longer is to use the mason jar attachment on the food saver. Not only does it keep it fresh longer but as it sucks the air out it will actually “fluff up” the mayo by adding air pockets. You can actually see it expanding in the jar as you do it.
Ahh. You know, I’d seen the Food Saver advertised years ago on TV infomercials and had forgotten about it until you mentioned that. Good idea. 🙂
I LOVE my Food Saver. I use it for everything. Putting cheese (especially expensive cheese) in the bags is a real money saver. I have not tried the jars yet. That’s next for me.
Another idea for chunk cheese is to dip it in wax. I was really hesitant to do this at first but it really works! I buy a big chunk from a big box store and cut it into portions and dip it in melted “cheese wax”. It lasts for months if you have a basement or other cool storage area. When I need cheese I just go to my basement.
BTW… the cheese wax can be cleaned, remelted and used again so it can be a real money saver too!
Wow, the comments have revolutionized my thought process on home made mayo. My mom gave me a stick blender a while back, I’ve never used it. I have also NEVER been successful making mayo, ugh. But, I’m definitely going to give it a good old fashioned try with this handy stickblender. Thanks for the recipe and the advice, especially the tip about all ingredients needing to be at room temperature, that could be my problem ;o). I’ll let you know how it turns out for me.
Can I use all olive oil or does it have to be a combination of olive oil + other oil? Thanks.
I have my own chickens but didn’t know eggs could be eaten raw. Do you have any more info on raw eggs? I wash the shells just before eating will that make it safe?
I always thought eggs shouldn’t be eaten raw also?
My mum used to whisk one raw egg with sugar which we had to drink every morning before break fast. We did this for years and loved it and we are as healthy as. Drinking raw eggs has never made us sick, not then and not now. Yes you CAN get what ever but then – you CAN twist your ankle and if you then fall unlucky COULD break your neck die and/or become a paraplegic.
By adding the lemon juice and/or vinegar it changes the acidity of the whole equation making it alot safer than most people realize.
I’ve made our mayonnaise for about 9 years now….never with whey, I always use the freshest farm eggs and rice bran oil, everything kept clean and sealed well, it will keep for a month in the fridge….The original recipe I used was British and it said to keep in a cool larder for up to a month! I’ve since adapted Julia Child’s and Jacques Pepin’s recipes….I add a dash of white pepper and ground mustard. I make about 1 1/2 quarts at a time and put it in pint and half pint jars….so it doesn’t get contaminated! If it goes bad you’ll see mold on top…depending on how much I might just scrape it off and use it anyway….we’ve never had a problem with it. I keep a clean kitchen and am more scrupulous than most with food prep and safety.
Mason jar. Stick blender. 2 pasteurized eggs (protein in egg whites helps the bonding)
2 tsp sugar 1 tsp mustard 1 tsp salt
1 TBL and 1 tsp Lemon juice
1 TBL and 1 tsp Apple cider vinegar
2 cups Safflower oil (has most neutral flavor of any oil I’ve tried, unlike olive oil which is too strong)
Pour it all in the jar. Keep the stick blender at the bottom of jar while blending until about 2 inches are emulsified and looks like mayo. Now SLOWLY bring the stick up to get the rest. It will thicken in fridge.
Pasteurization and presence of vinegar and lemon juice protects against salmonella
Oh thanks for the info Bryan. I love this blog I’m off to make my own mayonnaise.
My husband likes Miracle Whip. Do you know what I can add to the mayo to make it more like Miracle Whip? Thank you, Sue
Sugar
Do you know how much sugar I would add?
add sweet pickle juice
Have you added the sweet pickle juice? How much should I add?
FYI In Australia and New Zealand (maybe other places as well) They do not refrigerate their eggs. From the chicken to the table they are not refrigerated. And I understand from one of Joel Salatin’s books that selling washed eggs in France is illegal. Maybe it is something to do with how we raise, feed, house and take care of our chickens in this country??? Get farm fresh eggs, from outdoor, free range, healthy chickens and we probably don’t have to worry about eating raw eggs.
Just love all the info everyone is sharing. I love making mayonaise, but have had much frustration as it comes out great one or two times and then failure upon failure and I’m used diff methods to fix them, but have to keep adding egg upon egg for it to work. Since I’m using organic oils, the price of a failed recipe is very costly and my frugal self just can’t handle it! My last search for info led me to the secret being the immersion blender, so I just bought one. So good to hear of all your sucess with them and the idea of a stress free mayo adventure has me very excited! Can’t thank you all enough!
For those who are questioning the raw egg, I also grew up eating raw egg. However, the lemon juice and vinegar both in this recipe will react with the eggs and “cook” it in a sense, so they are safe.
I didn’t add this in my comment, but I also use whey. My recipe is like this:
In a large mouth quart jar put:
2 farm fresh eggs
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp dry mustard
4 pinches sugar
4 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 Tbsp whey
2 c. light tasting olive oil
Cover with coffee filter and leave on counter for about an hour to let ingredients settle. Put stick blender on the bottom of jar and blend from the bottom up. Blends easily in under a minute! Cover with clean coffee filter and leave on counter for 7 hours (or overnight) to lacto-ferment. Refrigerate. Good for at least a month or more.
Following
There are many choices if one is only seeking neutral flavor, but if nourishing the body with every choice is the goal then no vegetable oil will stand the test.
If you want a full treatise on fats you’ll want to read Know Your Fats, by Dr. Mary G. Enig, a nutritionist/ biochemist and considered the leading authority on fats. Here’s her bold indictment on research scientists: “The common scenario is that of a highly intelligent person . . . who finds a research task that will lead to funding from the food and/or pharmaceutical industry or from the industry-controlled government agencies. If that research shows an adverse effect of any of the new foods studied, this is frequently ignored. . . . Of course, the research that is done by the industry-supported scientists is good basic research, and it usually is of great interest so as long as it supports the food industry or avoids a clash with the industry it is promoting. What seems so ironic, is that the very foods (saturated fats and cholesterol) that people are avoiding are the very foods that are healthful. When it comes to fat, this really has become the age of the flat earth.”
From the Weston A Price Foundation’s website, the article “The Skinny on Fats” written by Dr. Enig and Sally Fallon “Oils naturally occurring in fruits, nuts and seeds must first be extracted. In the old days this extraction was achieved by slow-moving stone presses. But oils processed in large factories are obtained by crushing the oil-bearing seeds and heating them to 230 degrees. The oil is then squeezed out at pressures from 10 to 20 tons per inch, thereby generating more heat. During this process the oils are exposed to damaging light and oxygen. In order to extract the last 10% or so of the oil from crushed seeds, processors treat the pulp with one of a number of solvents—usually hexane. The solvent is then boiled off, although up to 100 parts per million may remain in the oil. Such solvents, themselves toxic, also retain the toxic pesticides adhering to seeds and grains before processing begins.
High-temperature processing causes the weak carbon bonds of unsaturated fatty acids, especially triple unsaturated linolenic acid, to break apart, thereby creating dangerous free radicals. In addition, antioxidants, such as fat-soluble vitamin E, which protect the body from the ravages of free radicals, are neutralized or destroyed by high temperatures and pressures. BHT and BHA, both suspected of causing cancer and brain damage, are often added to these oils to replace vitamin E and other natural preservatives destroyed by heat.”
It is entirely up to an individual to prioritize by nutrition or taste and the only reason I am posting this comment here is because most people have no idea what they are “choosing” to put in their mouths/bodies when it comes to fats. Especially if whatever info they have comes from Politically Correct Nutrition sources such as the American Dietetics Association, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the American Heart Association, and the food industry in general.
Dr Catharine Shanahan, a Cornell trained genetic researcher with two decades of Family Practice experience, authored Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food and the follow-up, Food Rules: A Doctor’s Guide to Healthy Eating. I highly recommend her work too.
Bottom line: we are destroying our genetic potential with each successive generation and our national health and longevity are on a steady decline. The good news is there is plenty we can do about it.
The Weston A. Price Foundation also advocates using free range/pasture/grass finished/fed meats, the more local the farm, the better, and in turn, drippings from the same. There’s a paleo baconnaise recipe from elsewhere online that I have saved, using bacon drippings! MMmmmmm.
As to coconut oil, yes, you kind of have to look for ones that say hexane free and cold expeller pressed, in addition to organic, I think the Weston A. Price Foundation web site has recommendations. Olive oils are really hard to find pure… many are mixed with other oils, it’s hard to know exactly what you’re getting and, when you do find out, the price of pure ones can be astronomical.
A stick blender, though. Awesome idea. I left one with a friend of mine to make smoothies for himself, but I don’t know if he still does. Might be time to invest in a new one. I made my jar of mayo with the blender attachment of my Magic Bullet. Forgot to secure the lid properly at one point. Only took one small push and some, thankfully not much, splattered onto my glasses…
I have tried making mayo before and failed. I am going to get a stick blender and try making it again.
And my recipe looks like this:
6 egg yolks
2 cups olive, grapeseed, or any oil – I use grapeseed
1 tsp of mustard
garlic – either fresh creamed, or roasted – amount varies to taste
I put the egg yolks and mustard into the food processor bowl and turn to high, and slowly add oil. Add as much oil as necessary for the mayonnaise to make soft peaks, then add lemon juice – anywhere between 1 tbsp. and a whole lemon, depends on your taste. Then add creamed garlic, process 2-3 more minutes, and you are done. It lasts fine for 2+ weeks in the fridge. Though honestly, I forgot a jar of mayo at the back of the fridge ones for a few months and my husband ate it, and is still around 😀
Note: if your mayo is runny, you don’t have enough oil. If it looks too oily and separates, add another egg yolk and blend, then slowly add more oil. Making mayo is not an exact science, you will develop a feel for it. Stick blender is not the best tool to use, I tried it, then handheld mixer, and ended up with a kitchen robot – that makes it by far the easiest and fastest way of making it.