This recipe for five minute mayo is so easy and delicious, you’ll be wondering why you ever bought mayo at the store in the past. Also, it’s fast. I called it 5 minute mayo, but that’s only if you’re moving really slowly. You can have it made in 2 minutes if you move with a purpose!
Once you taste this mayo, you’ll find it hard to believe that it only has six ingredients!
One of my favorite things about cooking is changing people’s minds about foods they once disliked. I’ve converted many brussel sprout haters into brussel sprout lovers with both my Roasted Balsamic Brussel Sprouts and my Chili Roasted Brussel Sprouts.
Now I’m coming after the mayonnaise haters. Even if you’re not a hater of mayonnaise, but you don’t really feel strongly about it one way or the other – this five minute mayo recipe is going to change that.
You’re going to want to put it on ALL THE THINGS. Don’t believe me? Try it.
You know how in France, the French dip their french fries in mayo? I always thought that was weird, until I ate this mayo. Then I understood. They do this because they are dipping them in the most delicious thing ever, not store bought mayo with a million ingredients you can’t pronounce, none of them good for you.
Have you ever looked at the ingredient label for mayonnaise that you buy in the store? It’s truly gross. They try to make you think with labeling (“olive oil mayo” and “avocado oil mayo”) that they’re making it healthy. False. They’re putting a dash of their claimed ingredient in, but keeping it full of soybean and other partially hydrogenated oils as well as a bunch of other chemicals you can’t pronounce.
I promise, if you make this mayo, you’ll toss whatever you’ve got in your fridge in and never look back. It’s that delicious! The recipe is a variation of a few recipes I’ve tried over time. They’re all going to have the same basic ingredients (egg, oil, spices) but this is my favorite combo so far.
Secrets to Success with Five Minute Mayo
- Be aware of the science involved. Mayonnaise is an emulsion, so all the ingredients have to be the same temperature before making. This is ESSENTIAL – if you skip this step, you’re going to have failed mayo, which is basically white oil. Not delicious.
- Use an immersion blender. This is what makes this recipe so easy.
- Start with the immersion blender in the bottom of the jar until the mayo starts to thicken, then slowly pull up and down.
- If you only have a regular blender or food processor, then you’ll need to keep the blender running and pour the oil in, in the smallest possible stream you can muster, until it’s all gone. (I can tell you from experience, this takes more time out of your life than necessary – just get an immersion blender and whip it up in 2 minutes!)
Ways to Use Your Five Minute Mayo
Once you’ve made your mayo, don’t think of it just as mayonnaise.
You can use it for so many different things, including:
- homemade ranch dressing
- buffalo chicken casserole
- buffalo chicken stuffed sweet potatoes
- deviled eggs
- mediterranean tuna salad
I also use it as salad dressing by itself, especially on a “BLT” salad – mixed greens, bacon, and tomatoes with mayo for dressing. It’s really just the sandwich without the bread!
Troubleshooting Your Five Minute (Failed) Mayo
Sometimes I hear from readers who tried to make this recipe, but their mayo didn’t come together, and they were left with a jar of oil. So what went wrong?
Typically this is one of two things:
1. All your ingredients were not the same temperature. I have had this recipe fail on me when I left the egg on the counter and the oil in the pantry, because the temperature in the pantry turned out to be different than the kitchen. Best bet? Put them all on the counter together in one spot for a couple of hours, then come back and whip up some mayo!
2. You tried to use a blender or food processor, but didn’t drizzle. Drizzle fo shizzle! If you don’t have an immersion blender, you have to have a steady hand and about 20 minutes. You start with everything but the egg in the blender or food processor, and pour the oil while it is running, in a teeeeeeeennnny tiiiiiiiiiny stream. Eventually you will hear the sound the machine is making change and the consistency will look different. KEEP DRIZZLING until all the oil is gone, then stop.
How to Fix Failed Mayo
Ugh. You just put like $10 worth of avocado oil into a jar to make mayo, and it failed. Wait! Don’t throw it out! We can salvage it.
- Pull out another egg, and separate yolk from white. Save the egg white for another use.
- Set the yolk out to come to room temperature, or the same temperature as the failed mayo.
- Once both are the same temperature, try again, using the failed mayo instead of a new batch of oil.
- As long as you follow the instructions above for how to properly drizzle and combine, you should see this new batch become mayo for you.
A quick and delicious recipe for homemade mayonnaise. One taste and you'll never buy mayo at the store again!
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vinegar (I prefer apple cider or white wine)
- 1 1/4 cup avocado oil
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In a wide-mouth mason jar, combine the egg, salt, mustard powder, lemon juice, and vinegar.
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Measure oil out into a separate measuring cup.
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Set both side by side on the counter and bring to room temperature (at least an hour, preferably two. Or, do what I do, and leave it all day and come back to it right before bed.)
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Place your immersion blender all the way at the bottom of the jar and pulse once or twice. Add 1/4 cup of the oil and pulse once or twice more.
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Add the remaining oil and continue to run/pulse the immersion blender until a thick mayo forms. This should take less than a minute!
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Store in the fridge in a closed container for up to two weeks.
One batch of mayo makes about 1 1/2 cups total.
If your mayo isn't coming together, you have 1 of 2 problems:
1. Your ingredients weren't all the exact same temperature. Make sure they are all on the same place on your counter together while they are coming to room temp!
2. You tried to do it in a blender or food processor without reading the post. For this method to work, you HAVE to have an immersion blender. If you're using a blender or food processor, read the post for separate instructions.
If you’ve tried this five minute mayo recipe or any other of my recipes on the blog, I want to see! Tag me on social media and follow along for more delicious recipes. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to see more delicious food and what I’m getting into.
Do you put the lid on the jar while the ingredients sit out all day? Does it matter?
I don’t, but I don’t think it matters. The idea is just to bring them to room temp, and have them all the same temp when you make the emulsion. Hope that helps!
I wasn’t able to get it beyond a saucy consistency and the only thing I subbed was actual mustard instead of the powder. I put it all in the fridge overnight, thinking I would have it as a salad dressing instead, but this morning it is separated and broken – is there any hope for either fixing or repurposing?? I hate to waste that much oil!
Hi Dana,
A liquid instead of a powder may affect it, but I don’t think it would cause it to not come together at all. The two most important things are making sure that all your ingredients are the same temperature, and getting the immersion blender all the way to the bottom of the jar. If you’re not using an immersion blender, you have to use the alternate method, otherwise it will not come together.
If you do it again, and its still separated, you can start from the beginning and use the separated mayo from the first round as the “oil” for the recipe, and make it again, and it should work. Hope that helps!
Jordan Rubin, author of The Maker’s Diet, states that any bacteria with regard to eggs would potentially be on the shell, so if concerned about salmonella, simply wipe the outside of the egg with vinegar or lemon juice prior to cracking them open and their natural acid will kill the bacteria.
I get a rash from Lemon juice, should I just double the vinegar or skip it?
Try subbing apple cider vinegar for the lemon juice! I haven’t tried that but I think it would work.
Love this simple recipe that only requires a few ingredients. Immersion blender works Great ! Thanks for sharing, did take more than a few minutes but lovely results.
Hi Chris! So glad you liked it! It’s a staple in our house.
Hello, I’m curious about the calorie count. It says 12 calories per serving, but the Avocado Oil alone is 2,400 calories. If I divide that by 24, I get 100 calories a serving. Am I missing something?
P.S. I made the ranch and am enjoying it. The hubs didn’t care for the strong dill taste.
Hi Miranda! Thanks for reaching out about this. The nutrition information is calculated by a recipe plugin based on their database. I always recommend that if you need exact numbers to make sure to confirm them on your own. That being said, the avocado oil is coming in at 240 calories total, not 2400, which might be where the disconnect is! Glad to hear you like the ranch. You could always try adjusting the dill to be a bit less and see if hubby likes it better that way?
Thank you for responding. Yes I can play with the deal and see if he likes it better but I really enjoyed it. So you’re saying they are calculator thanks a cup of oil only has 240 calories? Yes that would be a big difference .I wish I only had 240 calories! Ha
Hi Miranda! Wasn’t saying it was right, just saying that’s how it was being calculated. 🙂 Unfortunately technology sometimes hinders rather than helps us. I went back and switched it to ml and the API seems to be converting correctly now, showing the 100+ calories and 12g fat per serving. Hope that helps!
I’m am trying to exclude vinegar from my diet – any substitutions you recommend? Just more lemon juice?? Or exclude all together?
Thanks!
Hi Jennifer! You can just leave out the vinegar. It adds a little flavor, but I doubt you’ll miss it and the mayo will still come together without it.
Would a hand mixer work instead of an immersion blender?
Hi Megan, unfortunately not! The immersion blender I recommend is linked in the post. It’s totally worth the 20 bucks – you can use it for other stuff, too, like blending soups right in the pot. (My tomato soup and curried sweet potato soup are great candidates!) The other option for the mayo would be a regular blender or food processor. If you use one of these, you’ll need to follow the specific instructions in the post – keep it running the whole time, and drizzle the oil in slowly, in as small a stream as you can muster, until it comes together and makes mayo! This takes quite a bit longer and is easier to mess up, but it’s how I started making mayo and can definitely be done with a steady hand and some patience.
I am so glad I tried this recipe. It came out perfect!
I made mayo for the first time a few weeks ago and stupidly used evoo. It was very strong and took forever in my food processor. I tried it again with your method ( I added 2 yolks bc I had them leftover from breakfast, and used extra light oil) and it came out perfectly and tastes great.
Hi Sunni,
I’m so glad you liked it! Regular EVOO and a food processor are honest mayo mistakes – I’ve made both of them in the past! But now you know the easy way and can move forward with simple, delicious mayo. Next up, try turning it into my ranch dressing!
https://www.paleoscaleo.com/homemade-ranch-dressing/