Homemade Mayonnaise   Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is homemade mayo not advisable? ›

Homemade mayonnaise is made with raw eggs that will not be cooked. The United States Department of Agriculture does not recommend eating raw shell eggs that are not cooked or undercooked due to the possibility that Salmonella bacteria may be present.

This is where the lemon comes in: it helps prep the egg yolks so that the lecithin is ready to do its magic, which helps the mixture emulsify when you mix in the oil. It's not just lemon, though: any acid can play this role, including different varieties of vinegar, or even lime juice.

the ingredients have not been dosed correctly; perhaps you have added too much oil or lemon juice; the ingredients (oil and lemon juice) were not added gradually to the mix.

The safest is to use pasteurized eggs or commercial eggs marked as Salmonella free. If eggs from back yard sources or eggs of unknown Salmonella status origin are being used, it is important that they have been kept cold since Salmonella may proliferate quickly in the eggs at ambient temperatures.

According to the USDA, homemade mayonnaise made with pasteurized eggs can be stored in a covered container in the fridge for up to 4 days. But since homemade mayonnaise using pasteurized eggs is basically the same as store-bought, most home cooks successfully store it in the fridge for 1 month or more.

This is because mayonnaise is an emulsion that requires a specific balance of ingredients for it to work. If you don't get your measurements right, or add an ingredient too quickly, your mayo may end up runny. If this happens to you, don't throw the mixture out quite yet -- there is a simple solution: egg yolk.

That said it is also a method with little to no margin of error for the consistency; it is completely possible to overmix mayonnaise when making it at such a high speed. If that happens thin it out with water while mixing with a wire whisk.

Egg Yolks, the Emulsifier. Add egg yolks and salt; pulse to combine. Egg yolks contain lecithin, which resembles both oil and water molecules and can connect to both. The salt boosts flavor and makes eggs more viscous, which helps prevent separation.

In the case of mayonnaise and hollandaise, it's the lecithin in the egg yolks that acts as the emulsifier. Lecithin, a fatty substance that is soluble in both fat and water, will readily combine with both the egg yolk and the oil or butter, essentially holding the two liquids together permanently.

However, a more promising explanation for the bitterness is the presence of polyphenols, like oleuropein in olive oil, which are known to taste bitter and scientists consider them to be responsible for the bitterness that shows up in olive-oil based mayonnaise.

Is homemade mayonnaise healthier than store-bought? ›

But only when it's homemade. Store-bought mayonnaise is unhealthy because all brands available to us contain unhealthy oils, sugar and other additives. And as a rule of thumb, if you want to know how bad a certain brand of mayonnaise is, just look at what oil is used to make it.

So many store-bought mayos are laden with ingredients like canola oil, added sugar, and/or preservatives. With homemade mayo, like anything else, you are in charge of exactly what you put into it, which means that you can choose to use better-for-you ingredients, instead.

It is mostly fat and calorie-dense, making it easy for calories and fat to quickly add up when you're not paying attention to portion sizes. In addition, some people steer clear of the popular condiment due to concerns that improperly stored mayonnaise may be a hotbed for bacteria.

Homemade mayo is ultra creamy and much more flavorful than anything you can buy at the store. This recipe calls for a simple list of ingredients and takes less than 10 minutes to make!