Homemade Roasted Garlic Aioli
Homemade roasted garlic aioli is rich, creamy, and packed with mellow garlic flavour without the sharp bite you get from raw cloves. I make mine with roasted garlic paste, which gives it that deep, almost sweet garlic flavour I love, while still keeping the whole thing smooth and balanced. It’s one of those simple little recipes that makes sandwiches, chips, roasted vegetables, and basically anything savoury taste instantly better.
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Homemade Roasted Garlic Aioli
My homemade roasted garlic aioli is creamy, rich and packed with mellow garlic flavour, with the roasting taking away the harsh bite of raw garlic. I love using it as a dip for chips, spooning it onto burgers and sandwiches, or serving it with seafood and grilled vegetables. This easy garlic aioli recipe is simple to make and far more useful than one sauce probably has any right to be. Once I’ve got a jar in the fridge, it tends to find its way onto just about everything.
Ingredients
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 additional egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
- Large pinch of sea salt flakes
- 4-5 tbsp roasted garlic paste
- 1 cup neutral oil
Instructions
- Add the egg, additional egg yolk, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, roasted garlic paste, and salt to a tall, narrow jug.
- Pour the neutral 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 aioli begins forming at the bottom.
- Slowly lift and tilt the blender to incorporate the remaining oil until smooth and creamy.
- Taste and adjust with a little more salt if needed.
Notes
- This aioli is rich, garlicky, and completely foolproof when made with a stick blender. Using roasted garlic paste rather than raw garlic gives you a sweeter, mellower flavour with none of the sharp raw bite.
- Room temperature eggs are non-negotiable. A cold egg straight from the fridge is the most common reason homemade aioli fails to emulsify properly.
- The extra egg yolk gives the aioli a richer, more stable emulsion than a single egg alone. Don't leave it out.
- A tall, narrow jug is just as important as the technique. A wide bowl gives the oil too much room to spread out and the emulsion won't form properly.
- Placing the blender firmly at the bottom and not moving it for those first 10-15 seconds is the key to success. Resist the urge to move it around. The emulsion needs to form at the bottom before you start incorporating the rest of the oil.
- Neutral oil is essential here. Olive oil, especially extra virgin, can be too strong and bitter in large quantities and will overpower the roasted garlic flavour.
- I use this stick blender for aioli and mayonnaise. It's powerful enough to emulsify everything quickly and the narrow blending cup that comes with it is the perfect size.
- Adjust the amount of roasted garlic paste to your taste. Four tablespoons gives a strong garlic flavour, while five is for serious garlic lovers.
- If your aioli splits, don't panic. Start fresh with a new egg yolk in a clean jug and slowly pour the broken aioli in while blending. It should come back together.
- White wine vinegar adds a clean acidity that balances the richness of the oil and egg. Apple cider vinegar works as a substitute.
- This aioli keeps in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 5 days. As it contains raw egg, don't leave it at room temperature for extended periods.
- Not suitable for freezing as the emulsion will break when defrosted.
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
- Serve with my Air-Fryer Halloumi Fries for dipping. The mellow roasted garlic and creamy aioli are perfect with salty, crisp halloumi and make a brilliant little appetiser or party snack.
- Spoon alongside my Classic Beef Sausage Rolls as an alternative to tomato relish or barbecue sauce. The creamy roasted garlic gives the rich beef and flaky pastry a savoury, garlicky lift.
- Use as a dipping sauce for my Karaage Chicken instead of Kewpie. The roasted garlic keeps the flavour softer and sweeter than raw garlic while still giving the crispy chicken plenty of punch.
A Promise Is a Promise
I have a rather large headache today and, if I’m honest, I would quite happily have spent the afternoon doing absolutely nothing. Unfortunately for sleepy me, my little sister was coming to visit and I’d already promised her a batch of homemade aioli. So here we are. Sometimes love looks like remembering birthdays and sending thoughtful messages. Sometimes it looks like standing in the kitchen making garlic mayonnaise when your brain would prefer you were lying somewhere dark and horizontal.
Thankfully, aioli isn’t exactly the most demanding thing to make, which is probably why I was still willing to tackle it. It’s one of those recipes that feels far more impressive than the effort involved, especially once you’ve made it a few times and know what texture you’re aiming for. And because I knew this batch was heading straight to my sister, I wanted it to be properly garlicky, creamy, and worth the promise I’d made. Family food obligations are serious business around here.
Also, full disclosure, these photos have been edited. Not because the aioli needed rescuing, but because I somehow managed to spell “aioli” wrong on the label and didn’t notice until after I’d finished taking the photos. Of course I did. I can spend ages fussing over styling, checking the light, moving jars around by a centimetre, and then completely miss the actual word written directly on the front. Thankfully, modern editing exists to save me from myself. So if you’re admiring the beautifully labelled jar, just know reality was briefly a little less polished.
Why I Use Roasted Garlic
I make this aioli with roasted garlic paste, which I really do need to share properly on the blog soon because I use it constantly. At first glance, the amount of garlic in this recipe might look a little excessive, especially if you’re used to making aioli with raw cloves. But roasted garlic behaves completely differently. Once it’s been cooked until soft and golden, that sharp, fiery bite mellows into something much softer, sweeter, and rounder.
That’s exactly why I love using it here. Raw garlic can be brilliant, but it can also dominate everything around it, especially in something creamy like aioli where there’s nowhere for that flavour to hide. Roasted garlic gives you depth without making the sauce taste harsh. You still know it’s garlic, absolutely, but it’s a gentler version that works beautifully with the richness of the mayonnaise rather than fighting with it. For me, it makes the whole thing taste much more balanced.
Honestly, roasted garlic has slowly taken over my kitchen. I use it in sauces, pasta, dressings, mashed potatoes, soups, and anything else where I want garlic flavour without that raw edge. Once you start keeping roasted garlic paste on hand, it becomes dangerously easy to add a spoonful to everything. I’m not claiming raw garlic has been permanently banished, because it still has its place, but roasted garlic is the version I reach for most often now. It’s convenient, mellow, and incredibly versatile. If you haven’t made the swap yet, I’d strongly recommend trying it at least once. You may suddenly find yourself looking for excuses to roast garlic every weekend too.
Sleepy Girl Cooking
Beyond the aioli, I genuinely don’t have much to report today. I’m tired, my head hurts, and the most ambitious thing happening is this little jar of garlicky goodness making its way to my sister. Not every cooking day needs to come with a dramatic story, a major life update, or some sort of revelation. Sometimes I’m simply in the kitchen because I promised someone something tasty and I’d rather keep that promise than stay in bed.
I think that’s part of why I love recipes like this, though. They fit around real life. You don’t need a special occasion or hours of preparation. You make a batch, tuck it into the fridge, and suddenly sandwiches are better, chips are better, roasted potatoes are better, and tomorrow’s lunch feels like you planned ahead. Utility recipes like this might not be the most glamorous things on the blog, but they’re often the ones I end up making again and again.
So today is very much a quiet one. Homemade aioli for my little sister, a bit of kitchen pottering, and then hopefully something involving very little effort for the rest of the afternoon. The roasted garlic paste recipe will make its way here soon, because apparently I’ve now mentioned it enough times that I can no longer avoid actually sharing it. Until then, this aioli is a very good place to start. Rich, creamy, mellow, and garlicky in exactly the right way. And, thanks to a little photo editing, even the label is spelled correctly now.
Frequently asked questions
Why roasted garlic paste rather than raw garlic? Raw garlic in aioli has a sharp, aggressive bite that can be overwhelming in a sauce that’s already rich and intensely flavoured. Roasted garlic paste is sweet, mellow, and completely smooth, which means it emulsifies into the aioli evenly and gives you a rounded, deeply garlicky flavour without any of the harshness. It also removes the need to mince or crush garlic before you start.
Why do I need both a whole egg and an extra yolk? The whole egg gives you the base emulsion and the additional yolk makes it richer and more stable. A single egg produces a lighter, less cohesive aioli that is more prone to splitting. The extra yolk is a small addition that makes a noticeable difference to both the texture and the staying power of the finished sauce.
Why does my aioli split? Almost always because the oil went in too fast before the emulsion had a chance to form at the bottom of the jug. The first ten to fifteen seconds with the blender held firmly at the bottom without moving is what builds the emulsion that holds everything together. If it does split, start fresh with a new egg yolk in a clean narrow jug and slowly pour the broken aioli in while blending.
Ingredient breakdown
Egg and additional egg yolk
Both at room temperature, which is non-negotiable. A cold egg straight from the fridge is the most common reason homemade aioli fails to emulsify. The whole egg provides the base of the emulsion and the additional yolk adds richness, stability, and a more cohesive texture than a single egg alone would produce. Take both out of the fridge before you start prepping anything else.
White wine vinegar
The acid that balances the richness of the oil and egg and helps stabilise the emulsion. White wine vinegar has a clean, mild acidity that suits the delicate roasted garlic flavour without overpowering it. Apple cider vinegar works as a substitute with a slightly more rounded, fruity character.
Dijon mustard
A heaped teaspoon that does two jobs simultaneously, adding flavour and acting as an additional emulsifier that helps bind the oil and egg together into a stable sauce. Don’t leave it out thinking it’s just a seasoning element because it’s genuinely structural here.
Sea salt flakes
A large pinch that goes in with everything before blending, seasoning the aioli evenly from the start. Taste at the end and adjust if needed.
Roasted garlic paste
Four to five tablespoons depending on how serious a garlic situation you want, and the quantity is genuinely adjustable based on preference. Four gives you a strong, present garlic flavour. Five is for people who want garlic to be the dominant note in everything it touches. Roasted garlic paste gives a sweet, mellow depth that carries through the whole aioli without any of the sharp bite that raw garlic would produce in the same quantity.
Neutral oil
A full cup, poured over everything before the stick blender goes in and then incorporated gradually from the bottom up. Neutral oil is essential here because olive oil, particularly extra virgin, is too strongly flavoured and bitter in this quantity and would completely overwhelm the roasted garlic. A light vegetable, canola, or sunflower oil gives you the fat the emulsion needs without adding any competing flavour.
