Homemade Garlic Mayonnaise (a.k.a. Aioli)

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Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

I have another confession to make. When I was a little mouse, one of my absolute favorite treats was a mayonnaise sandwich. Yep, you heard right. A big dollop of Hellmann’s spread on a slice of white bread, then folded in half. (Jam sandwiches, a la Paddington Bear, were a close second.) These days, I still love my mayo. Here are step-by-step instructions for how to make my version of aioli, Miss. Mayonnaise’s sophisticated French cousin.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

Making mayonnaise at home may sound daunting, but it really isn’t. (Can I get an “amen?” Who else out there makes their own mayo?)

You can use a hand-held electric mixer to make it, or do it the old-fashioned way—with a whisk and a little elbow grease (your biceps will thank you).

Back up, Mouse. Just what is mayonnaise, anyways?

Good question. The main ingredients in mayonnaise are egg yolks and oil.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

The oil is whipped together with the egg yolk bit by bit, so that it emulsifies. This part needs to be done slowly. If you dump in all the oil at once, it just won’t work. You need to build the emulsion bit by bit.

Add a little vinegar, a little salt, and a little lemon juice, and eventually that gloriously thick and piquant condiment so many of us know and love will begin to emerge.

One of the great things about making your own mayo is that you control exactly what goes in it, and can skip the emulsifiers and stabilizers found in a lot of commercial products.

Plus, it’s kind of fun to say, “Hey, that mayo? I made it myself!”

OK, so what is aioli, then?

Pronounced “ay-O-lee,” aioli is a garlicky mayonnaise that comes from the Provence region of Southern France. It’s often served as a garnish or dipping sauce for seafood, veggies, and some meats.

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But, like regular mayo, the uses for aioli are kind of unlimited. You can slather it on an indulgent BLT. You can drizzle it in soup. Or serve it with fried potatoes. Or dip chips in it. You get the picture.

About eating raw eggs

Here’s the obligatory raw egg warning: Consuming raw or undercooked eggs, beef, fish and/or poultry may increase your risk of food borne illness, especially if you have certain medical conditions. Use pasteurized egg yolk, if you like.

Homemade Garlic Mayonnaise (a.k.a. Aioli)

1 egg yolk
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp. white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp. mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove, mashed

Yields about one cup of mayo. Keeps for about 3 days in the fridge.

Beat the egg yolk with the vinegar and lemon

Grab your egg yolk.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

Toss it into a medium-sized bowl with the lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, and salt. For a thinner mayo, add a little more lemon juice.

Beat them together with a whisk or handheld mixer until well combined.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

Add the olive oil by the teaspoon

This isn’t as silly or tedious as it sounds. Measure out your olive oil.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

Add a teaspoon of the olive oil into the egg mixture.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

Beat with a whisk until the olive oil is completely combined. The mixture should be yellow, frothy, and opaque. You want to beat it until all the droplets of olive oil have disappeared.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

Repeat this process—adding a teaspoon, then beating to emulsify it—until you’ve added about 1/4 cup of the oil. As you go, the mixture should begin to turn a creamy yellow, and become more and more opaque.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

When you’ve added 1/4 of a cup of oil by the spoonful, your emulsion should be off to a really good start.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

It should coat the back of a spoon like this, but should still be pretty thin.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

Drizzle in the rest of the olive oil

Start to drizzle the oil in, beating it as you go to incorporate it completely. Go slowly, and be patient. If you add the oil too fast, or dump it in all at once, the oil will overwhelm the emulsion you’ve built and it will separate.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

After a minute or two of drizzling and beating, your mayo should start to look very creamy, like this:

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

When all the oil has been incorporated, the mayo should be thick, glossy, and opaque.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

It should stick to the back of a spoon, like this:

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

Add the mashed garlic and whisk to combine.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

Give it a taste, and add a little more salt if you like. When you’re happy with it, pour the mayo into a glass jar or bowl.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

Cover it well and pop it into the fridge. It will thicken up more as it gets cold.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

Use within 3 days or so.

Homemade Garlic Mayonaisse (a.k.a. Aioli) at The Hungry Mouse

Enjoy!

 

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Jessie Cross is a cookbook author and creator of The Hungry Mouse, a monster online food blog w/500+ recipes. When she's not shopping for cheese or baking pies, Jessie works as an advertising copywriter in Boston. She lives in Salem, Massachusetts with her husband and two small, fluffy wolves.

19 COMMENTS

  1. I use to love Paddington Bear too when I was kid! I never knew mayonnaise (Aioli) was easy to make, it would go so well with a good turkey blt sandwich. Yummmy!
    • Wrong, yes are all wrong, all you have to do is mealt a bit of garlic butter and then mix it with mayonase, I'm a Michelin chef and that's what I do.although it has to be proper garlic butter like Connacht gold
  2. I still love Paddington Bear.I knew mayonnaise is easy to make but I don't like the taste.Maybe it make this one - it will change my mind. I have been using yogurt and adding different herbs to it as a replacement to mayonnaise. How you got any suggestions for me?
  3. I still love Paddington Bear.I knew mayonnaise is easy to make but I don't like the taste.Maybe,I'll it make this one and it will change my mind. I have been using yogurt and adding different herbs to it, as a replacement to mayonnaise. Do you got any suggestions for me?
  4. Aioli sounds like a war cry yelled out by an army of Scottsman while fighting the English army! Haha Also worth noting the etimology of the word "Aioli" that has the Provençal equivalent "alh" meaning 'garlic' or 'allium' in Latin, joined with "òli" meaning 'oil' (or "oleum" in Latin) Cheers! Gabi @ mamaliga
  5. I used to make pickle, mozzarella and mayo sandwiches as a kid. I wonder if they would taste as good today. I have never made mayo for one simple reason: it doesn't keep for long and I'm not sure what I'd do with a cup of mayonnaise in 3 days. Any suggestions.
  6. Any thoughts on pasteurizing a recipe like this? I love mayo and like darn near everything else, homemade anything is better than store bought so I'm sure this recipe is no exception! Would love to try this, but with being pregnant, eating raw eggs is out. :( Will have to bookmark this for later.... Michelle
    • You really shouldn't consume raw eggs while pregnant at all, not worth the risk in case you do something wrong in the below methods. But, if you want to try: First note, this recipe comes with its own airbag. The vinegar and lemon juice added at the beginning creates a very acidic (low PH environment) which will kill most if not all of the germs on contact. Leave it on the counter for 1 hour before consuming, this temp and the acid will sterilize the mixture. If you want to heat pasteurize the egg at home beforehand to be doubly sure, you can bring the egg to 161 degrees F in a pot of hot water for 2 minutes. Heat the water a bit higher, then put the egg in, watch the temp, keep it at or just above 161. I leave the egg in for 2-3 minutes above 161 once I've stabilized the temperature, but watch it, it's easy to hard boil the egg, esp. on an electric range. You need the extra time so the heat reaches the inside of the yolk, which is the part you care about. When you crack it open, the white will be somewhat coagulated, a good sign. Make sure the yolk feels warm when you separate it (if not, you maybe didn't keep it in long enough).
  7. A good insurnace against bad bacteria is to de-white the yolk under really hot tap water, moving the yolk from one hand to the other while putting the empty hand in the hot water, this pretty much "cleans" the yolk without cooking it, as some do
  8. I tried to follow this recipe and my aoili never thickened up, after a bit of research i discovered this was because I used an egg straight out of the fridge. The egg should be room temperature or it will not emulsify! Important detail :)
  9. We just attempted this aioli recipe and everything went great, except that at the end the result was very very salty... we added exactly 1/2tsp. of salt like the recipe called for and I feel it was way too much... Any suggestions?? :/
  10. Garlic butter O.K, but with ready prepared mayonnaise, this is the point. I don't prefer to buy mayonnaise from food stores and mix it with garlic butter Why? The mayonnaise manufacturers used Soybean oil which is very harmful, so this way using the olive oil is healthy.

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