I chose to make this an article, rather than a recipe, because talking about mayonnaise (“mayo” going forward), is a lot like talking about nut butter or guacamole. Mayo is enormously customize-able — you can vary a small number of ingredients to come up with an almost infinite combination of tastes. While I provide a couple recipes below that I think taste great as-is, I want you to be able your own recipe — one that’s suited to your palate.
Mayo is an emulsion — the dispersion of one liquid in another. In the case of mayo, one of those liquids is an oil and the other is an acid. If you’ve ever made a vinaigrette, you know that oil and vinegar don’t stay in an emulsion very long — not matter how long or vigorously you mix it. What keeps mayo in an emulsified state is lecithin, which is found in egg yolks.
So why would you want to make your own mayo? For one, store bought mayo is frequently made from soybean oil or canola oil. These are not keto-friendly oils and can cause inflammation for a lot of people. Sure, there are commercial mayos made from olive oil or avocado oil, but you will pay a steep premium for them versus a soybean based mayo.
Making your own mayo is remarkably quick and easy, but best of all, making your own allows you to customize the recipe the way you want it. Consider the recipes below as “starting points”. Try different oils, try different vinegars, adjust the quantities of your acids (vinegar or lemon juice) to increase or decrease the “brightness” of your mayo, use more or less mustard to get the “tang” to your liking, or play around with the amounts of sugar and salt.
Mayo can be made by hand with a whisk, though this requires more time and patience than I have. It can be made with a hand mixer, but I find that a little “spattery”. It can be made by slowly drizzling the oil into your other ingredients in a blender or food processor. But I find the easiest, fastest, and quickest to clean up method is with an immersion blender (as seen the video).
Lastly, I use a method in the video that I lifted from America’s Test Kitchen where I use a microwave to Pasteurize my eggs. This extends the shelf life of the mayo from roughly a week to roughly a month in the fridge.
Below are the ingredient lists, watch the video to see the process for both an immersion blender and a food processor.
Olive Oil Mayo
- 3 TB water
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 TB lemon juice
- 1 cup extra light olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp sweetener
Avocado Oil Mayo
- 3 TB water
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 TB distilled white vinegar
- 1 cup avocado oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp sweetener
Oh my goodness Steve! Best mayonnaise ever! I used the vinegar one as my lemons were too sweet. I used mct oil for one batch it came out like runniness lol I put it in the fridge and will check it tomorrow. I hope it works as that would be even healthier. Thanks again! Terry
Terrible recipe. Waste of ingredients and time. You have to add oil slowly even when using an immersion blender. I trusted your steps and it literally came out as just a pure liquid weirdly cooked eggs and oil
Hmmm… You’ve seen the video. There was not trickery there. I’ve made several batches and they’ve come out uniformly great. If you read the comments on the YouTube video, you’ll see people had similar success. I’m not sure what went wrong when you tried it…
bet she nuked her eggs all at once & cooked them. anyway, i love your recipes & your voice reminds me of the announcer that says “lets get ready to rumble” lol.
I think she sis because I did it 10sec at TIME BUT DID NOT PAY ATTENTION TO HOW MANY TIME I NUKE THE EGGS TEMP WAS THE TEMP WAS 166 i TRIED IT BUT IT DID NO WORK SO I DID IT AGAIN AND IT WORKED
You did something wrong, it worked perfectly for me. Delicious too, I licked it off the spatula, never buying commercial mayo again.
You couldn’t have followed the directions…this is foolproof…GREAT RECIPE!!!
Mayo is really easy to make and so many variations are possible! Try garlic or cut a boiled egg and pickles and add cilantro!
But are you sure about the succes of the pasteurizing in the microwave?
I’ve had mayo stay good in the fridge for up to a month using the microwave pasteurization method.
When you say “staying good … for up to a month” what method do you use to determine that it’s still “good?” I think the microwave method of pasteurizing is genius, but I still want to be able to make sure!
Hubby’s been eating the Primal Kitchen mayo for years now, and I think it’s going to send us to the poorhouse, so it’s worthwhile to me to go to some effort and make sure I get it right at home. (I’ve made homemade mayo for years but never really trusted the eggs, so this makes me feel a lot better.)
I base my comment on what was said on America’s Test Kitchen. I’m inclined to believe that they would err on the side of caution, so it is likely longer than a month.
That said, we’ve never had a pint last that long (because it gets eaten). I find that I need to make every week or two.
I’ve never been in love with mayo. I mean, it has its uses, but I’d never eat it off a spoon – yuck. But this stuff, oh yeah, I licked the spoon clean! I used white wine vinegar, 3 egg yolks because I had them leftover from another recipe, lots of black pepper, and 1 1/2 tsp Dijon. I never understood people who dipped their French fries in mayo instead of catsup, but now I’m making Heavenly Fan’s keto fries to dip in this mayo! I totally forgot to pasteurize in the microwave, but I don’t think that will be a problem. This stuff will make an amazing salad dressing just like it is. And a dip for crudites. It’ll be gone in a week or less. Thanks, Steve!
I made this last night (avocado oil version). I was lazy and used both yolks and whites and it turned out great. Very tasty…..sounds like you need to try again….
Hi Steve. These are my “go to” homemade mayos. Thx!
Have made this recipe three times now, and have never used an immersion blender, or really cooked before. No issues what so ever. It came out, well perfect each time. Not sure what is doing on. I did find another video showing to do the egg and oil first, and get the thickening started, then add the dry and other ingredients last. Start at the bottom, low speed then as it emulsifies, slowly raise the blender allowing more oil.Then as stated. But to attack, nah. Stop projecting. and try again. Good luck.
Funny how it works for everyone but you.
Did you consider that you made a mistake before
that rant? Idiot!
Well you are the only person who got the recipe wrong.
Either your eggs are old by a week or longer or you put eggs in microwave way to long.
Or your microwave wattage is too much like 900 or 1000 or 1100 or 1250.
Consider putting eggs on less time.
And using a instant read thermometer (Digital thermometer) to check temperature of egg is 160 degrees.
Or maybe you did the eggs alone and not with the other liquid ingredients?
I always use fresh eggs that are organic and free ranged. (Never use your ggs passed their date)
A digital thermometer (also called instant read thermometer)
Then follow this video precisely.
I’ve been making mayo with an immersion blender for more years than I care to remember. It never fails. Just make sure everything is at room temperature. Literally takes about half a minute.
One thing I’ve learned with making homemade mayo with an immersion blender….you have to have it on high right from the beginning. I made a mess once when I didn’t realize it was on low and nothing I could do could fix it. I strongly recommend trying it again!
Finally!! I made mayonaise I actually like. Finding extra light olive oil was a challenge. A well worth it challenge.
I think that was the key ingredient.There is not weird taste at all. Thank you so much.
This had to be user error. I just made this, following the recipe exactly, and it’s the best mayo I ever made. The recipe works beautifully!
Hello, technique, and how you layer the ingredients are important. I’ve been making my mayo this way for well over a decade with great success. Maybe try again and make sure that you keep your immersion blender at the bottom of your jar, which should only be the width of your immersion blender and keep it at the bottom until you see it clearly emusifying and then slowly lift the blender up and continue blending until completely emulsified. I add extra yolk in mine to make it extra thick.
Good luck!
Using the immersion blender always works well for us. We use the ‘dump’ method, with two egg yolks. If it doesn’t work out for you, check to see how old the eggs are, and use large eggs. Thank you, Steve.
Recipe worked perfectly…thanks!
Love the immersion blender method. So easy! My husband was just required to be on an extremely low-sodium diet, so your timing is perfect, I can now make my own low sodium mayo. Thank you!
PS Mine did thicken after refrigeration, but a soft consistency compared to Best Foods, still works just fine.
This mayo is delicious & easy to make. Do you have any estimates on macros?
I’d estimate 11g fat, essentially zero or one grams of carbs or protein per tablespoon.
Thank you for the macro estimate. I greatly enjoy and learn from your videos & website.
I cannot thank you enough, Steve. I had tried to make Mayo four times in the past with incredibly abysmal results. I’ve been making yours now for almost 6 months, haven’t bought Mayo in the store, and I’m not looking back. I make mine half MCT oil and half avocado, and use the lemon juice. So good!
I need to try MCT oil in my next batch.
hi, did you try the mct oil instead of the light olive oil? did you like it better or worse? Thanks
I think if I were to use MCT oil, I’d use at most 1/4 cup. I find that it has a bit of a bowel loosening effect on me if I use too much.
to make it thicker, keep adding more oil to the blender while running. you will hear the blender slow as the mayo thickens. learned this from years of making my own Caesar salad dressing
Sometime in the 70’s, I saw a Julia Child episode where she made mayonnaise. I was shocked at how easy it was. I’ve never purchased store bought since. Her recipe was so simple. 1 whole egg and 1 cup of oil. A splash of vinegar or lemon juice. Put the acid in the blender then the whole egg. Turn the blender on and drizzle the oil in. You have mayo.
I’m trying to calculate the macros for this recipe. I’ve already entered all the ingredients into my tracking app. The problem I having is I don’t know the serving size nor the number of servings. Can anyone please help? TYIA!!
I would just enter the ingredients from the recipe and say that 1 tablespoon is a serving. Or you could just use a commercially listed mayo that uses olive oil or avocado oil as your base. I’m sure the macros will be essentially the same.
Hi Steve,
I’m an Aussie who loves your videos, both recipe and personal journey ones.
But I’m perplexed as to why for just this recipe, as far as my experience of your recipes goes, you haven’t included the WRITTEN Steps / Directions?
It isn’t reasonable, Steve, to expect someone to watch your video again just to know what to do after copying your ‘recipe’. It is part of a recipe to show the HOW as well as the what.
Regards,
Peter
Start with 2 egg yolks. Add 3 tbsp water and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Whisk together, until you don’t see any orange streaks from yolks.
Put into the microwave and nuke on high in 10 second increments, stirring and reading after. Aim for temp of 160-165 degrees. This will make it refrigerator stable for 1 month.
Pour through a strainer into a pint mason jar. Add in ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp dijon mustard and ¼ tsp sweetener. Try Boca Sweet.
Add in 1 cup extra light olive oil, all at once, if using an immersion blender. No need to gradually add. Insert the immersion blender and get to work. Tilt blender to suck in air to get a good blend. Blend until thickened, about 1 minute.
Ask for your money back, Peter.
I just made this with avocado oil and lemon juice. Tastes like Hollandaise. Yum.
Delicious!! I used the immersion blender and 3/4 avocado oil & 1/4 light olive oil (I ran out of avocado oil), apple cider vinegar, and doubled the mustard and sweetener. It was pretty thick so I added another tablespoon of water & YUM! Thank you, Steve!
I so so appreciate your informative and wonderful recipes and information! Thank you for all the hard work you put in to help others succeed on their journeys! You’re grandson is Beautiful! I have 2 grandsons and 2 granddaughters from my Son and daughter. Maybe with the help of your education, I can be around to hurt less and have much longer time to be with them! Blessings to you and your family!
Hi Steve, Love your show. I have been making your Olive Oil Mayo for over a year with only one failure. Today I made it three times – all failures. I was using a different regular olive oil – could that have made the differences. Throwing out 3 batches was very depressing – still no mayonnaise!!
Tried eggs at room temperature – heated to the correct temp 155 – 160. Even tried added another egg and heating – nothing worked.
Would love your comments.
I’ve had two batches that didn’t emulsify. Each time, I put an egg yolk (straight from the fridge) into a new mason jar, along with a TB of water. I hit it with the immersion blender, and while the blender was running, I slowly drizzled in the “broken” mayo. It firmed right up for me. Good luck!
WOW! Thank you so much for all the work you put into your recipes and videos. You have truly been a blessing to my Keto life style. This recipe is the most delicious Mayo I have ever had and super simple to make. I used MCT oil vinegar and my food processor and it came out PERFECT!
Has anyone tried making mayo with bacon grease?
Yes. Just follow the same process as when using oil, however:
1) Your bacon grease should be melted, but not hot (you don’t want to bake the eggs)
and
2) I find that while bacon mayo winds up being thicker than regular mayo, it also melts pretty easily (like on a hamburger)
Steve,
I wonder if you have ever tried Sarah Moulton’s fabulous mayo trick: do it in the food processor, BUT instead of drizzling slowly into the eggs and acids, put the pusher in the feed tube, noticing the pencil point hole in the bottom. You simply pour the oil into the pusher all at once, and it goes through the hole at the perfect rate for mayo. Almost as quick as your immersion blender. Both are great. Thanks for the instructions.
Betsy.
I’ve been making mayo with an immersion blender for a long time and never had to add oil slowly…I put it all in a jar at the same time. I use the same ingredients and technique every time but there’s been a couple of times it didn’t emulsify and came out as liquid. Maybe that’s what happened to Amy. She should try again.
Hello SK Steve,
Made mayo today using the lemon juice and 1/3 MCT and 2/3 regular EVO. I used the immersion blender method and it emulsified beautifully. Mine is more “yellow” than your but assume that is because I used eggs fresh from my free range chickens. I’m so glad I saw your video because I’ve made mayo before in the blender and I guess my blender doesn’t lend itself well to small batch mayonnaise recipes. I look forward to experimenting with different vinegars/acids and added flavorings. I have purchased a few different varieties of healthy keto mayo, but I must say, not only are they expensive, but they don’t taste that great to me. I’m now the master of my own mayo thanks to you. Enjoy your vids and style. Blessings and thanks for what you do to inform and help others. Yours is an interesting story I can related to.
My egg was overcooked when I got to 164 degrees. Should I do half power in my microwave? Or could you do it on the induction burner?
You could go half power. I find that once I hit 150F, I check the temp and stir every 5 seconds. If you pull out the egg at any point over 155F, you should be fine. Carryover cooking will probably still take the temp up over 160F.
Hi Steve,
I’m new to your site and really appreciate your style of teaching. I don’t have a microwave. Any ideas on pasteurizing the eggs any other way?
Thanks!
I’ve been told they can be pasteurized using sous vide. Alternatively, you can buy pasteurized eggs.
To pasteurize your eggs: (on the cooktop) Place your eggs into the saucepan (you can use as many as you want as long as they are in one layer and not stacked up).
Add enough water to cover your eggs by 1″. REMOVE YOUR EGGS BEFORE HEATING THE WATER.
Place your thermometer into the water and begin heating the water to 140ºF. Adjust the heat as necessary to ensure the water does not get hotter than 142ºF.
Add your eggs back to the water and continue watching the temperature to make sure the heat is not rising or falling.
After three minutes, remove the eggs from the water with a spoon and transfer them to a bowl of cold water. Let them cool for 5 minutes.
Dry your eggs and use them right away or store them in the fridge like you would any other egg.
These times and temperatures are based on the recommendations of International Egg Pasteurization Manual.
This is used for making ice cream.
The trick is to get good at judging how big your yolks are and adjusting your oil. 1 yolk doesn’t always support 4 oz of oil. 2 yolks, start with 2/3 to 3/4 of oil, then once that comes together continue to add oil until you get your desired consistency. Remember there is a few seconds of lag between adding the oil and getting the effect. Just like cooking eggs.
This is why sometimes your mayo doesn’t come together, not all yolks are the same. even if they have the same mass, the bird, the egg age, etc can all have an affect. This is why some say to drizzle it all — takes too long, but you get the same affect as starting with less than 4oz of oil/per yolk and adjusting after you get the emulsion. q.e.d.
Thanks Jeff, good advice!
For more of a “Miracle Whip” style, add 1/4 tsp each garlic granules and Hungarian paprika when you start your mayo. You may not need to add any more sweetener, and the little bit of spice does not colour the mayo.
If your batch does not come out as mayo you most likely forgot to add the acid to the mixture. To validate this possibility add the acid again 1 Tbs at a time. When I made my mayo today I could not figure out why it still looked like oil in a jar. As soon as I added the acid, lemon juice, I had my mayo.
Start with 2 egg yolks. Add 3 tbsp water and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Whisk together, until you don’t see any orange streaks from yolks.
Put into the microwave and nuke on high in 10 second increments, stirring and reading after. Aim for temp of 160-165 degrees. This will make it refrigerator stable for 1 month.
Pour through a strainer into a pint mason jar. Add in ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp dijon mustard and ¼ tsp sweetener. Try Boca Sweet.
Add in 1 cup extra light olive oil, all at once, if using an immersion blender. No need to gradually add. Insert the immersion blender and get to work. Tilt blender to suck in air to get a good blend. Blend until thickened, about 1 minute.
This is fabulous! I used a double boiler to pasteurize my egg mixture and thermometer- presto!! It turned out really tasty. Thanks!
I was thinking of doing the same thing. Glad it worked!
Is pasteurization a must? I haven’t tried to pasturize. I’m getting mixed results. Sometimes it thickens perfectly and other times I have a soup. Any ideas? It’s kind of a waste of a cup of olive oil when it doesn’t turn out.
If you don’t pasteurize or use already pasteurized eggs, the FDA recommends that you consume homemade mayo within a week. I’ve only had a couple of batches of mayo that didn’t thicken for me over the last two years. My hypothesis is that it was due to my yolks being too small.
This is my go to method for making Mayo. Thank you Steve! I make a double batch using half bacon grease and half mct oil. Turns out great every time.
just an FYI for those who have problems: Mine did not become an emulsion. I did research to find out why and discovered that when I did not need to pasteurize my eggs, I skipped two steps. The first one is mixing everything with a whisk before you put it in the microwave. I just put it in the container with the immersion blender. I found out this incorporates too much air preventing an emulsion. I had just purchased a new immersion blender, recommended by ATK. So I knew the problem with not the blender itself.
Not ready financially to purchase an immersion blender. Could I do it in a Vitamix that I have had for years with the same results if I pour the oil in slowly?
That should work
Your tip about Extra Light Olive oil is good. Using regular is no bueno…. I LOVE avocado oil mayo, it is the richest and best tasting. Like you, I never liked store bought mayo, but loved Miracle Whip (probably the sugar in it). Homemade mayo is much much better than MW… I think it is the high quality oil. The oils they use… like you would say… “no bueno.” Thanks for your work… I’ve been using your affiliate links to buy things to help you out. Love your site and the fact there are not annoying ads covering everything up.
Yeah, using a quality olive oil (the sort you’d dip bread in) yields not very good mayo.
Hi Steve, I’ve been using this recipe for several years and it’s the best. I’m quite addicted to black garlic mayo, especially on hard boiled eggs. Once you had a variation using a salami paste, and I can’t find that, could you tell me that brand? Thanks so much
Here’s an Amazon link: https://amzn.to/47QIW6P
I would say it’s more like a pepperoni paste. Definitely spicier than salami, but wonderful stuff.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I very much appreciate you explaining how to pasteurize the egg yolks. The avo mayo has turned out beautifully for me every time I have made it.
I love making and using the avocado oil recipe. Never successfully made mayo before this recipe. Thanks for all your hard work. Also love the Keto Sesame Flaxseed Crackers
Awesome! I’m so glad you’re getting some mileage out of my recipes.