Mayonnaise is so common and simple to make, but we still buy it in a jar from the supermarket. The mayonnaise recipe is not complicated, it needs only four ingredients that you most probably have in your kitchen and it takes less than 10 minutes to put together.

I know that things can go easily wrong with homemade mayonnaise and that’s probably why lots of people gave up trying to make it at home. I was very disappointed when my first mayonnaise separated and I started to buy it from the supermarket for a while.

Mayonnaise is great for salads and it’s the base for many delicious dip-ins, such as remoulade sauce, garlic sauce or the dreamy Caesar dressing.

Related: Homemade Remoulade Sauce Recipe

I’ll try to teach you all the tips and tricks and hopefully, you’ll enjoy homemade mayo as much as I do.

Homemade Mayonnaise Recipe

Servings: 200 grams | Prep. Time: n/a | Waiting Time: n/a | Cook Time: 15 mins | Difficulty: Easy

Method:

1. Add the egg yolk, mustard and a pinch of salt in a tall bowl and mix well until combined.
2. Add 2-3 tablespoons of oil and mix well until incorporated. Repeat the process until you finish the oil. The mixture will get thicker and thicker as you add the oil.
3. Add a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice and mix. The mayonnaise will become lighter in both texture and in colour.
4. Add salt or more lemon juice to taste.
5. Store in the fridge for up to one week. 

Keep reading for further tips and tricks of the recipe.

What can go wrong:

• too much lemon juice will make the mayo too sour
• too much oil will turn it into oil egg flavoured
• not mixing in the same direction, will make the mixture separate

I highly recommend using a mixer for homemade mayonnaise. In this way, you’re stress-free, since the pallets are always mixing in the same direction, even though you move the mixer in different directions.

If you don’t have a mixer, you can use a wooden spoon to mix. The drawbacks of using a wooden spoon are that it will take quite some time for the mayo to form and if you don’t mix in the same direction, it will separate.

Related: Homemade Garlic Sauce Recipe

When the mayonnaise separates it will either:

• separate into water and solid and they won’t mix together at all, or
• it will get a granulated texture and the mixture won’t come together smooth and creamy

Can separated mayonnaise be fixed?

I never tried honestly, so I can’t recommend any method of ‘fixing it’. Some say that adding an extra yolk will do the trick or a couple of tablespoons of water. I haven’t tried it, but if you will, please let me know if it works.

I usually add the egg white and an extra egg or two, mix it well and turn it into an omelette or frittata. After that, I start again with a fresh egg yolk and mustard.

As you can see, homemade mayonnaise is super easy to make. With a it of cautiousness, you’ll have delicious mayonnaise in less than 15 minutes. If you haven’t tried homemade mayo until know, you have to know the flavour is more intense than the store-brought kind and you might not like it in the beginning.

Have you tried homemade mayonnaise so far?