How To Make Mayonnaise At Home In Under 5 Minutes

Once you learn to make mayonnaise at home, you’ll never buy it in a grocery store again. This homemade mayonnaise recipe is so creamy and delicious, you won’t be able to go back to a commercially produced product.

homemade mayonnaise in a dish on a counter with ingredients used to make it

It’s healthier than the big box brands as well. And it’s made with simple ingredients that are likely in your kitchen right now.

And just in case your thinking that you don’t really have time to make this condiment by hand in your kitchen, it comes together in less than 5 minutes. That’s right … less than 5 minutes to put together a homemade mayonnaise that’s gonna blow your mind with it’s superior flavor.

Why You Should Make Mayonnaise At Home

If you’re a mayonnaise lover like me, you consume quite a bit of this tasty condiment. And you probably do it on the regular.

That alone is reason enough to learn to make mayonnaise at home, if you consider the contents that you find in the commercially produced versions on the grocery store shelves.

The main offender in mayonnaise is soybean oil. Soybeans are among the top 3 genetically modified crops in the world. And when you’re eating big box mayonnaise you’re pretty much drinking soybean oil with a straw.

Please don’t be fooled by the labels that say things like, ‘made with olive oil’. There’s hardly any olive oil in them. Just enough to allow them to put that label on the jar.

Just make your own mayonnaise. It’s better than store bought, and you can’t put a price tag on the peace of mind that comes with it.

AND it will take all of your favorite mayonnaise based recipes to a new level. Sandwiches, dips, salad dressings, picnic salads, and tartar sauce will all get an upgrade in your house.

Equipment Needed To Make Mayonnaise At Home

I’m not sure how many ways there are to make mayonnaise at home, but I have tried three different methods.

woman showing an immersion blender to be used to make homemade mayonnaise

The very first time I ever made it, I used a bowl, a whisk, and a great deal of elbow grease. It can definitely be done this way, but the truth is it really stinks.

And, it’s pretty hard to drizzle the oil in with one hand (a step we’ll talk about soon) while whisking the mayonnaise with the other. The bowl moves all over the place. It’s a pain in the a**.

The second way is to use a food processor. This works pretty well. However, depending on the size of your food processor you may have to make a large batch of mayonnaise so that there is enough in the processor to properly blend it.

And unless you have quite a few people in the house to help you eat it all before it goes bad, a large batch is not ideal.

My favored method of making mayonnaise is with an immersion blender. It works for any size batch. And the oil can be added all at once.

I feel like it cuts the time to make this recipe down quite a bit. And I’ve never had my mayonnaise ‘break’ when using this tool. Meaning that the oil stays well blended with the other ingredients, as opposed to separating over time.

Ingredients Needed For This Recipe

It’s important to use room temperature ingredeints for this recipe. So, be sure to plan ahead and let them all sit out for a few hours to come to temp.

ingredients to make mayonnaise at home set out on a counter

You only need a few ingredients to make mayonnaise at home. And while the quality of all of them matters, there are two ingredients that you want to give a little more consideration than the others.

They are the oil and the egg.

Any oil will work in this mayonnaise, as far as the emulsion process (the blending of ingredients) is concerned. But it’s important to pick an oil that is going to provide you with the flavor profile you’re looking for.

The only way to really know for sure what oil you prefer to use is to experiment with different ones to see what you like best.

I prefer to use an oil that has a lighter flavor, like; sunflower, olive oil (not virgin or extra virgin), or grapeseed.

I personally use farm fresh eggs to make this recipe. You will have to decide how you feel about consuming raw farm fresh eggs for yourself. I suggest you do your research, if this is a subject that you’ve never looked into before.

I can tell you that the FDA and the USDA guidelines state that eggs must be fully cooked to prevent foodborne illness due to Salmonella bacteria.

If you are concerned about Salmonella bacteria, you can buy pastuerized eggs and use those. A pasteurized egg is heated just enough, while still in it’s shell, to kill the bacteria without cooking the egg.

I have never used pasteurized eggs for this recipe. But it is my understanding that they work just fine.

homemade mayonnaise in a dish on a counter

Here’s A List Of The Remaining Ingredients You’ll Need To Make This Recipe …

  • WHITE VINEGAR – Any vinegar will work for this recipe. The consideration that needs to be made when choosing a vinegar for your mayonnaise is how the flavor of it will effect your final product. I choose to use white vinegar because I feel it has a very neutral flavor, compared to other vinegars.
  • LEMON JUICE – Fresh squeezed lemon juice will lend the best flavor to your mayonnaise. Bottled lemon juice contains other ingredients that may give your mayonnaise a bit of an ‘off’ taste.
  • MUSTARD – Any mustard will work for this recipe. But, as with the vinegar, it is important to consider the flavor that the mustard you choose will give to your final product. However, there is considerably less mustard in the recipe than there is vinegar. So, it will not impart as strong a flavor. I choose to use dijon mustard. I like the flavor, and I almost always have it in the house.
  • SALT – You can use the salt of your choice in your mayonnaise. I use whatever I have in the house. When making this post, I used pink Himalayan salt.

How To Make Mayonnaise At Home

Before we talk about how to make mayonnaise at home, it’s important to understand exactly what mayonnaise is.

overview of a container of homemade mayonnaise

Exactly what is mayonnaise?

Mayonnaise is an emulsion. Which is the blending of two or more liquids that naturally separate when they’re mixed together.

When making homemade mayonnaise the oil does not naturally blend with the vinegar or the egg white. So, emulsifiers are added to encourage these liquids to blend together.

The emulsifiers in this recipe are the mustard, the lemon juice, and the egg yolk. Generally a proper emulsion, that includes oil, is made by adding the oil very, very slowly, as you aggressively blend the mixture.

But, because of the magic of the immersion blender, you are going to be able to add all of the oil at once. Provided you blend the mixture just right.

You’ll do this by placing all of the ingredients except the oil in the vessel you’ll be blending them in. You can use the container that came with your immersion blender to do this. Or you can use a pint size mason jar.

Once the ingredients are all in the container, you’ll blend them well with the immersion blender.

showing how to blend the ingredients to make mayonnaise at home with an immersion blender

And then, you’ll lift the blender out of the container just enough to pour the oil in, and immerse the blender back to the bottom of the container without moving it up and down.

adding the oil to an immersion blender to make mayonnaise at home

At this point, you’ll turn the blender back on and slowly start to raise it toward the top of the vessel, blending the oil as you go.

Again, do not move the immersion blender up and down, as you want to simulate the slow addition of the oil that is done with other methods. Just carefully, and slowly, raise the blender, mixing the ingredients together as you go.

using an immersion blend to make mayonnaise at home

When you get to the top of the container, you may find that a small amount of oil is not emulsified into the other ingredients. In that case, you can move the blender up and down to push the oil down into the mixture.

And then blend the entire container of ingredients completely, this time using an up and down motion.

blending ingredients with an immersion blender to make mayonnaise at home

Variations For This Recipe

You can substitute any variety of oil, vinegar, or mustard for the variety called for in this recipe. Doing so will alter the taste. And the best way to know what suits you is to experiment a little and see what you like best.

showing homemade mayonnaise dripping from a spoon

You can also switch out the lemon juice with lime juice if you want to give that a try.

But, the really fun part of knowing how to make mayonnaise at home, is the ability it gives you to create any flavor profile you like for your mayonnaise.

One of the best ways to do this is with herbs and spices. You can try adding some roasted garlic, dill weed, chives, cayenne pepper, curry powder, chili powder, rosemary, or oregano.

You can also use spice blends, like; fajita, ranch, Caribbean jerk, Cajun, bbq, or Tuscan seasoning.

And you can add sauces too. Sriracha, bbq sauce, teriyaki sauce, pesto, horseradish, and ketchup are all good choices.

How To Store This Recipe

When you make mayonnaise at home, you will want to make it in quantities that you are going to use in 10-14 days.

homemade mayonnaise lemons and eggs on a counter

It will last about this long in the refrigerator, if it is stored in an airtight container.

I find that I make it about twice a month during the warmer months. Probably because I’m making things like chicken salad, potato salad, and coleslaw.

In colder months, I make it once a month at best. But that is a reflection of my personal eating habits of course.

Unfortunately, homemade mayonnaise doesn’t freeze well. So, you do have to consider what you’re menu will be like for the upcoming week or two when you make a batch.

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homemade mayonnaise in a dish on a counter with ingredients used to make it
Yield: 1 1/2 CUPS

HOMEMADE MAYONNAISE

Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 4 minutes
Total Time: 6 minutes

This homemade mayonnaise is so creamy and delicious, once you make it, you'll never buy mayonnaise in the store again.

Ingredients

  • 1 egg, large, room temperature
  • 1 tbls white vinegar
  • 1 tbls lemon juice, fresh squeezed, room temperature
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard, room temperature
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 c olive oil, not virgin or extra virgin

Instructions

  1. Place all of the ingredients, except the oil, in the container that came with your immersion blender, or a pint size mason jar.
  2. Blend them well with the blender on the low setting.
  3. Lift the blender up enough to add the oil into the container and add the oil.
  4. Submerge the blender back to the bottom of the container in one motion, do not move it up and down.
  5. Using the low setting blend the oil into the other ingredients by raising the blender up through the container slowly. Again, do not use an up and down motion.
  6. When you reach the top of the mixture, begin using an up and down motion to thoroughly blend any small amount of oil that may not have gotten fully mixed in up to this point.
  7. Refrigerate to thicken.
  8. Enjoy.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

20

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 99Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 9mgSodium: 69mgCarbohydrates: 0gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 0g

This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix on 12/28/2022. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.

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