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Homemade Olive Oil Mayonnaise
Homemade olive oil mayonnaise is creamy, rich, and surprisingly simple to prepare. Made with high-quality olive oil, fresh eggs, Dijon mustard, and apple cider vinegar, it comes together in just a few minutes using a stick blender. The result is a smooth, flavourful mayonnaise that tastes far fresher and more vibrant than anything you can buy at the supermarket. Once you’ve made your own, it’s genuinely difficult to go back to store-bought versions.
Homemade Olive Oil Mayonnaise
This Homemade Olive Oil Mayonnaise is smooth, creamy, and incredibly easy to make with a stick blender. Made with olive oil, egg, Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, it comes together in just a few minutes. I created this recipe after searching for a mayonnaise made without seed oils, and now I rarely buy it from the supermarket. Perfect for sandwiches, salads, burgers, and homemade dressings, it's fresh, flavourful, and surprisingly simple.
Ingredients
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- Large pinch of sea salt flakes
- 1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup mild olive oil
Instructions
- Add the egg, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and salt to a tall, narrow jug.
- Pour the olive oil over the top and let everything settle for 30 seconds.
- Place the stick blender firmly against the bottom of the jug, directly over the egg yolk.
- Blend without moving the blender for 10-15 seconds, until thick mayonnaise begins forming at the bottom.
- Slowly lift and tilt the blender to incorporate the remaining oil.
- Taste and adjust with a little more salt or lemon juice as needed.
What I Cook With
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 225Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 4gUnsaturated Fat: 22gCholesterol: 19mgSodium: 36mgCarbohydrates: 0gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 1g
Please note, this nutrition information is to be used as a guide only. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
Serve this with
- Use my Homemade Olive Oil Mayonnaise in my Coronation Egg Salad, where its rich, creamy texture carries the curry spices beautifully and gives the filling a lovely homemade flavour.
- Swap it into my Coronation Chicken recipes instead of shop-bought mayonnaise. It gives you a smooth, savoury base for the curry, chicken and fruity flavours while letting you control the seasoning.
- Turn it into a dipping sauce for my Karaage Chicken instead of using Kewpie. Mix it with a little lemon, chilli sauce or garlic for a creamy dip that’s brilliant with the crisp chicken.
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Homemade Olive Oil Mayonnaise & The Great Kewpie Heartbreak
This recipe wasn’t originally part of my weekend cooking plans. In fact, it wasn’t even something I had considered making until an unexpected discovery sent me down a completely different path.
As I’ve mentioned before, I have a soy allergy. What I hadn’t fully acknowledged, however, was that my long-standing love affair with Kewpie mayonnaise might be a problem. For nearly twenty years, I’d been happily using it without ever properly checking the ingredients. Somehow, I had managed to avoid noticing what was actually in it. Ignorance, in this case, really was bliss.
That changed recently when I started paying closer attention to my diet in an effort to reduce inflammation and feel better overall. I picked up the bottle, turned it around, and there it was in plain sight: soybean oil. It was one of those moments where everything suddenly clicks, and not in a good way. My favourite mayonnaise was no longer an option.
Naturally, I went searching for an alternative. Surely there had to be a decent olive oil mayonnaise available without questionable ingredients. And there was, but it came with a hefty price tag. A small jar costing around twenty dollars felt excessive, especially for something I use regularly. That was enough motivation for me to take matters into my own hands. I unpacked my new KitchenAid stick blender and decided to make my own version instead.
Feeding the Fairies
This recipe yields about half a cup of mayonnaise, which is ideal for someone cooking for one. It’s easy to scale up if needed, but I find this amount perfect for keeping things fresh and avoiding waste. My first batch quickly became part of a simple egg salad that has been my go-to lunch this week as I try to reset after a period of less-than-ideal eating habits.
Living with allergies and food sensitivities has completely changed how I think about comfort food. In the past, comfort meant crisps, biscuits, or anything processed and easy. Now, it’s more about foods that actually support how I feel, things like good cheese, a bit of dark chocolate, or something homemade that leaves me feeling satisfied rather than sluggish. It’s been a gradual but meaningful shift toward nourishment instead of indulgence for its own sake.
When I think about gut health, I like to use a simple analogy: goblins versus fairies. The goblins represent the less helpful bacteria, chaotic, noisy, and fuelled by junk food. The fairies, on the other hand, thrive on real, wholesome ingredients and quietly keep everything balanced. Whenever I’m deciding what to eat, I ask myself whether I’m feeding the goblins or the fairies. This mayonnaise, made with simple, clean ingredients, definitely supports the fairies.
Small Kitchen Wins
Over time, I’ve become increasingly aware of how closely gut health is linked to overall wellbeing. It’s not just about digestion. It influences mood, energy levels, inflammation, and even mental clarity. Taking care of it has become less about restriction and more about choosing foods that genuinely support my body.
That’s why recipes like this feel so rewarding. Homemade mayonnaise might seem like a small thing, but it represents a larger shift toward self-sufficiency and mindful eating. I don’t need to rely on expensive specialty products or compromise on ingredients that don’t suit me. Instead, I can create exactly what I need in my own kitchen.
Cooking from scratch has a way of building confidence through small, consistent wins. A jar of homemade mayonnaise can be used in so many ways, egg salad, sandwiches, dressings, or as a base for other sauces. What started as an unplanned recipe has quickly become a staple. Sometimes the best discoveries happen when things don’t go according to plan, and this is one I’ll definitely be making again.
Frequently asked questions
Why do I need a room temperature egg? A cold egg straight from the fridge is the most common reason homemade mayo fails to emulsify. Room temperature egg blends more readily with the oil and forms a stable emulsion much more reliably than a cold one. Take the egg out before you start prepping anything else and you’ll be fine.
Why mild olive oil and not extra virgin? Extra virgin olive oil is too strong and bitter for mayonnaise and will overpower everything else in the jar. Mild or light olive oil gives you the flavour benefit of olive oil without the intensity that makes extra virgin so good for dressings and finishing but genuinely unpleasant in a mayonnaise.
What do I do if my mayo splits? Don’t throw it out. Start fresh with a new egg yolk in a clean narrow jug, place the blender at the bottom, and slowly pour the broken mayo in while blending. It should come back together into a smooth, stable emulsion. The new yolk acts as a fresh emulsifier and rescues the whole batch.
Ingredient breakdown
Egg
One large egg at room temperature, which is the emulsifier that holds the whole mayonnaise together. The lecithin in the egg yolk is what allows oil and acid to combine into a stable, creamy emulsion rather than separating. Room temperature is non-negotiable because a cold egg won’t emulsify as readily and is the most common reason homemade mayo fails before it even gets started. Take it out of the fridge before you do anything else.
Mild olive oil
Mild olive oil rather than extra virgin, which is an important distinction. Extra virgin has too strong and bitter a flavour for mayonnaise and will overpower everything else. Mild or light olive oil gives you a clean, neutral base with just a subtle olive oil character that makes this noticeably better than a mayonnaise made with a completely flavourless oil. The oil goes in all at once on top of everything else and the stick blender does the work of incorporating it gradually from the bottom up.
White wine vinegar
The primary acid in the mayonnaise, adding a clean brightness that balances the richness of the oil and egg. It also helps stabilise the emulsion alongside the Dijon mustard. Apple cider vinegar works as a substitute if that’s what you have, and gives a slightly softer, more mellow acidity.
Dijon mustard
Doing two jobs simultaneously: adding flavour and acting as an additional emulsifier that helps bind the oil and egg together into a stable mayonnaise. Don’t leave it out thinking it’s just a seasoning element, because it’s genuinely structural here as much as it is flavour.
Lemon juice
A small amount added with everything else before blending, which adds a fresh citrus brightness that vinegar alone doesn’t quite provide. Taste at the end and add a little more if you want the mayonnaise slightly more acidic or vibrant.
Sea salt flakes
A large pinch goes in before blending and then taste and adjust at the end. Salt brings all the other flavours into focus and stops the mayonnaise from tasting flat, which is a very easy thing for a homemade mayo to do without enough seasoning.
