Make It Monday: An Experiment–Quick & Easy DIY Mayonnaise

For years, I’ve wanted to make my own mayo. We use a lot of it, and I am tired of waiting for sales on Hellmann’s! Plus, I wanted to know what was actually IN my mayo.

I must have looked at two dozen homemade mayo recipes and they are all different with comments that didn’t look very encouraging. (“Too watery. No taste. Horrible. Never using recipe again.”) Some say to use a food processor, others say don’t use a food processor, use an immersion blender or whip by hand. Hmm. But I decided to make three versions and see which one turned out best. By the way, if you’re interested in a way to use up bits of leftover mayo, read my post here. And with any mayo, keep it in an air tight container in the fridge for a week or so.

#1. Yolk-Only Mayo:

I whipped out my decades-old Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, a classic that’s held together by duct tape. In it I found a recipe that only uses yolks. (I used the whites for an omelet.) It turned out better than okay, but not perfect. We used it as a dip for vegetables and it was delicious! It did spread on sandwich bread, but felt a bit too thin. It only makes just about a cup.

Ingredients

• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 and 1/2 cups salad oil
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

• In bowl, mix egg yolks, salt, sugar and mustard for 2 minutes.
• Continue beating and slowly add half the oil one teaspoon at a time until mixture is smooth and thick.
• Still beating, add cider vinegar and lemon juice.
• Beat in remaining salad oil, slowly, until all oil is mixed in and mayo is smooth and creamy.

#2. Immersion Mayo (use immersion blender only, see addendum)

This recipe adapted from The Healthy Foodie says to use a stick/immersion blender, which I did not have, so I opted for one beater of a handheld mixer so I’m unsure if this was the problem. Makes about 2 cups. (See addendum below…how it turned out with an immersion blender!)

Ingredients

• 1 whole egg at room temp.
• 1 cup oil (canola, vegetable or extra light olive is fine)
• 2-3 teaspoons of lemon or lime juice or the equivalent quantity of vinegar (white or Apple Cider Vinegar)
• Salt to taste

Directions

• Put egg in jar.
• Pour in oil.
• Put in stick blender or in my case beater, turn on and don’t move blender around for 20 seconds. (Addendum…use stick blender only! See below.)
• Add in rest of ingredients and keep blending till thickened to your desire.
• Refrigerate.

(The Healthy Foodie’s mayo looked great, but mine flunked. Again, probably due to the my lack of an immersion blender and trying to improvise with a single beater. I must get a stick blender! I will probably turn this mayo into a sauce for chicken or fish.)

***

ADDENDUM!!! Well, it turns out it was the immersion blender issue! I received a stick blender as a gift and decided to quickly try this mayo recipe. It worked BEAUTIFULLY! I’d say THIS is the winning mayo now! I’ll just need to tweak salting for best taste.

The trick is this: put in egg and oil, then put in the stick blender, sit it at the bottom of the container and turn it on for about 20-30 seconds and don’t move it. Any speed will do, but in a few seconds, the mayo starts to form like magic! Great recipe, Healthy Foodie!

 

#3. A Winning Mayo (Easy to Make!)

A winner! This mayo recipe, adapted from Chowhound, is not only great on sandwiches, it’s great for potato salads (I can just tell). It’s thick and it’s made in a food processor using the plastic dough blade, not the metal blade.) In fact I just had some for lunch 🙂 Makes about three cups. (Easiest recipe, best taste, best consistency, makes the most.)

Ingredients

• 1 egg at room temp.
• 1 and 1/3 cups of oil (I used canola, but vegetable or extra light olive oil is good, too)
• 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
• 4 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions (super simple)

• Place egg and mustard in food processor and mix well (couple of minutes).
• With processor on, drip in oil, then add in apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, continue mixing. It will thicken as you do all of this.
• Refrigerate.

~Marilyn, TFF