Making mayonnaise at home is super easy, and you may have everything needed to make it already. There are several ways to make homemade mayo, and I’ll mention each one below. Once you learn how easy it is to make mayo at home, you may never buy it again.
Homemade mayo tastes great because it’s fresh and doesn’t contain added sugars and stabilizers. Making mayonnaise at home is also really inexpensive and most of the ingredients are pantry staples that you probably already keep on hand.
Making mayo is also quick and simple. There’s no cooking or baking involved, so it’s mostly just tossing the ingredients together. The only thing you’ll need to learn is the technique involved depending on the equipment you use.

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🥘 Homemade Mayo Ingredients
As mentioned before, most of the ingredients are pantry staples, depending on what you make at home. I don’t typically keep lemons on-hand all the time, but it’s a cheap and optional ingredient to pick up as well.
Egg – I use a whole egg in this recipe, but feel free to use just the yolk instead. This will give the mayonnaise a bit more of a yellowish hue and a richer taste. If you’re making a larger batch, you can also do a mix of whole eggs and yolks.
Mustard – This is a common ingredient, but you can omit it if you wish. I use just a bit of Dijon mustard here and the added flavor is negligible. The mustard helps as a binding agent though and helps to hold the emulsification together between the egg and the oil.
Vinegar – I prefer white wine vinegar here, but almost any vinegar can be used. The importance of vinegar and/or lemon juice in mayo is to raise the acidity level of the raw egg. This is what helps make the raw egg in mayonnaise safer to consume.
Lemon – Like vinegar, fresh lemon juice provides needed acidity for the raw eggs. You can use either/or, but I like the combination of lemon and vinegar both.
Oil – Along with the egg, this is the most important ingredient in mayonnaise for the emulsification to work. The choice of oil can make a big difference in the flavor, and not all oils are created equally. Use neutral oil for the best results. I use sunflower oil here.
🐓 Raw Eggs in Mayonnaise
The raw egg is the biggest point of contention in homemade mayonnaise. In the US, the risk of salmonella contamination in eggs is about 1 in 20,000. Even store-bought mayo isn’t 100% safe though, and numerous outbreaks have happened over the years.
The acid in the mayo helps to lower the risk, but nothing is a guarantee. If you’re overly concerned, you can look for pasteurized eggs (which only make up about 2% of all consumer eggs in the US), or use the liquid eggs in cartons, which are only sold pasteurized.
🍾 Best Oil to Use in Mayo
This is mostly a subjective choice, but a neutral tasting oil tends to work best. A lot of people prefer using avocado oil, but some brands can have a more pronounced flavor than others, so keep that in mind. Avoid extra-virgin olive oil though, as the flavor can be a bit intense. Extra-virgin olive oil also doesn’t do well with high-speed blending, as the flavor compounds can be ripped apart and cause a bitter flavor.
Popular oils for homemade mayo typically include avocado, grapeseed, safflower, sunflower, canola, and light olive oil. Blends of oil can also work. If you really want to use extra-virgin olive oil, you can mix it 1:1 with another of the oils listed above.
🔪 How to Make Homemade Mayonnaise
The fastest and easiest way to make mayonnaise is with an immersion blender, so I’ll go over that method here. Afterwards, I’ll go over a couple of other methods you can use to make mayo depending on the equipment you have access to.
The best part about using an immersion blender to make mayo is that you don’t need to slowly drizzle in the oil to emulsify it with the egg yolk, but technique is still important. Be sure to use the container that came with the blender or use something tall and narrow that just fits the head of the immersion blender. Using a container that’s too wide or shallow can mess up the emulsification.
In the bottom of the container for your immersion blender, add the egg, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, and salt. Slowly pour the oil on top of the other ingredients so that doesn’t cause anything to shift upwards and swirl into the oil.
Slowly push the head of the immersion blender to the bottom of the container while it is turned off. Holding the blender against the bottom of the container, turn it on and keep it at the bottom, blending the ingredients together.
Once everything is well mixed, you can slowly tilt the head of the blender, and the vortex should pull in the oil a little bit of the time. The mixture should slowly begin to thicken and look creamy.
As the oil is pulled down and you obtain an emulsification, you can slowly start lifting the head of the immersion blender through the mixture until there’s no liquid oil left, and you have a thick mayonnaise.
The homemade mayo can be used immediately, but for best results transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate it for a few hours first.
🍳 Alternative Methods for Making Mayo
While I find the immersion blender method to be the easiest, not everyone has one handy. Out of the 4 methods to make mayo, I find the easiest methods to be in this order: immersion blender, food processor, blender, bowl and whisk.
Food Processor
Add all the ingredients except the oil into the bowl of the food processor. Mix on low speed for a few seconds until everything is combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and begin to slowly drizzle the oil into the processor while running on high speed.
Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed until all the oil has been used and you have a thick emulsification.
Blender
This method works the same way as the food processor but can be a little more difficult since the blades are higher up than in a processor. Cheap blenders may not do a good job making a stable emulsification either.
Add all ingredients except the oil to the blender. Blend until the egg is fully mixed with the other ingredients. Remove the plastic center part of the lid and begin to slowly drizzle in the oil while blending at high speed. Continue until all the oil has been used and you have a thick emulsification.
Mixing Bowl & Whisk
While this method is simple and readily available for any home cook since there’s no need for specialized equipment, it’s much more physical. Add all the ingredients except the oil into a non-reactive mixing bowl and whisk together.
Slowly drizzle in the oil while whisking as quickly as possible to create the emulsification. You may need to drizzle a bit at a time, or have another person do this while you concentrate on whisking and holding the bowl steady.
Continue whisking and slowly adding oil until you have a thick emulsification come together.
💭 Frequently Asked Questions
Technically, no. You can utilize ingredients such as pasteurized eggs and enough acidity to lower the risk, but there’s almost always a slight risk involved. Even commercially available mayo has had outbreaks of salmonella over the years.
It’s best to use a neutral, refined oil such as avocado, grapeseed, safflower, sunflower, or canola oil in mayonnaise. If using olive oil, use light olive oil and not extra-virgin. If you want to use extra-virgin olive oil, it’s best to mix it with another of the listed oils first.
If stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, homemade mayo should last between 1-2 weeks. After the first 3-4 days, keep an eye on the color and smell and use your best judgment.
If the mayonnaise has trouble emulsifying or becomes broken, boil some water. Add about a tablespoon of boiling water at a time and try to remix it until it becomes emulsified. Another option that won’t thin it out as much is to use a teaspoon of mustard and mix it with a tablespoon of the broken mayo. Add the mixture back to the mayonnaise and mix again until emulsified.
🍽 Recommended Equipment
While every home cook should have a mixing bowl and whisk, not everyone will have the other types of blenders. This is a list of the tools I use personally; in order of easiest methods I mentioned above.
Immersion Blender – These tools are great for blending ingredients directly in pots or slow cookers, like I do in my homemade apple butter recipe. An immersion blender is a handy tool with a lot of applications.
Food Processor – While I love the immersion blender for this homemade mayo recipe, a good food processor is more likely to find a place in people’s kitchens. These tools are really useful for chopping up ingredients that are too low for a standard blender.
Blender – After some mixing bowls and whisks, most kitchens will have a blender. While you don’t have to have a professional grade blender like an expensive Vitamix, I do recommend a quality blender over the cheap $20-30 models. The difference really is night and day.
🥗 How to Use Homemade Mayo
Besides using as a spread on sandwiches and burgers, mayo is a common ingredient in lots of other foods and condiments, such as:
- Chicken Salad
- Tuna Salad
- Creamy Pasta Salad
- Potato Salad
- Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
- Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing
❄️ Storing Homemade Mayonnaise
Once emulsified, transfer the mayonnaise into an airtight container, like a mason jar, and store in the refrigerator. Stored in the refrigerator, homemade mayo should last between 1-2 weeks.
While mayo can technically be frozen, I don’t recommend it at all. Because it’s an emulsification, once thawed it will begin to break. At room temperature it will basically start to melt into oil.
📋 Recipe
Easy Homemade Mayonnaise
Ingredients
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup sunflower oil, or neutral oil of choice
Directions
- *These directions are for making mayo with an immersion blender. For other methods, refer to the post above under “Alternative Methods for Making Mayo”*
- In the bottom of the container for your immersion blender, add the egg, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, and ¼ teaspoon sea salt. Slowly pour 1 cup sunflower oil on top of the other ingredients so that doesn’t cause anything to shift upwards and swirl into the oil.
- Slowly push the head of the immersion blender to the bottom of the container while it is turned off. Holding the blender against the bottom of the container, turn it on and keep it at the bottom, blending the ingredients together.
- Once everything is well mixed, you can slowly tilt the head of the blender and the vortex should pull in the oil a little bit of the time. The mixture should slowly begin to thicken and look creamy.
- As the oil is pulled down and you obtain an emulsification, you can slowly start lifting the head of the immersion blender through the mixture until there’s no liquid oil left, and you have a thick mayonnaise.
- The homemade mayo can be used immediately, but for best results transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate it for a few hours first.
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