Why you’ll love this homemade aioli
Once you make aioli from scratch, store-bought mayo starts to feel like a compromise. I’ve made countless mediocre aioli recipes that required store-bought mayo, and I always wondered what restaurants were doing to make their chipotle mayo or or their garlic aioli so much better, and I’ve finally found the answer.
Make it completely from scratch. Instead of using store bought mayonnaise as the base for my aioli and other sauces, I simply throw a few extra ingredients into a cup and blend it with my immersion blender. The immersion blender does all the work and it comes together in seconds.
It makes a creamy, thick sauce that you could literally eat with a spoon. It’s that good. It only takes a few minutes to make it and you can use it in so many different ways.
More dairy free condiments: homemade tartar sauce / homemade cocktail sauce / dairy free ranch dressing / spicy sushi sauce
Ingredient notes:
- Egg – Eggs are the base of the aioli, room temperature is key so the aioli comes together smoothly.
- Dijon mustard – The mustard helps with the emulsification process, which means it helps the oil and liquid mix without separating.
- Garlic – Feel free to leave this out if you want to make a basic mayonnaise.
- Oil – This is the body of your aioli. Use a neutral-flavored oil (like vegetable or canola – NOT extra virgin olive oil) so it doesn’t overpower the other ingredients. It helps with emulsifying and gives that silky texture.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Melissa’s tips & tricks
- Layer in the right order. This is key to getting the emulsion right. Eggs first, then oil. The blender pulls the eggs up through the oil as it moves.
- Work slowly. Start at the bottom of the cup and slowly pull up. Moving it too fast it.
- Room temperature eggs only! Set them out at least 15 minutes before you want to make your aioli – or place them in a bowl with warm water for a few minutes.
How to fix broken aioli:
If your aioli turns out thin or runny instead of thick and creamy, it has broken. This usually happens from moving the blender too quickly or over-blending. Here’s how to fix it:
- Blend less. This is more of a preventative measure, but once the aioli comes together, stop immediately. Over-blending can also cause it to break.
- Add an extra egg yolk. Pour the broken aioli into a new cup, add a fresh room-temperature egg yolk to the bottom, and slowly pour the broken aioli over it. Blend again, starting at the bottom and working your way up slowly.
Ways to use this aioli recipe: Make the best homemade tartar sauce of your life, drizzle it on patatas bravas, use it on tacos instead of sour cream, make ranch dressing, top your favorite quinoa recipe with some extra flavor, or serve it as a dip for crispy potato wedges.
Frequently asked questions
Don’t use your extra virgin olive oil for homemade aioli. It has way to much flavor and will completely over power any flavors you might want to taste. I made this mistake the first time, and I had to throw the whole thing away. Try a light oil like canola or light olive oil. I always use canola oil because that’s what we normally have at home (other than extra virgin olive oil).
Even though making homemade aioli is really easy, you can break it. This is done when you over whip the eggs. They lose their structure and the whole thing turns into a runny mess. If this happens to you, simply add an extra egg yolk and blend again – for the shortest amount of time possible.
This recipe should keep for about 4 – 5 days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Because it contains raw egg, it’s important to keep it cold. Don’t leave it out for more than 1 hour at time.
They’re very similar but not exactly the same. Traditional aioli is made from garlic, oil, and lemon, while mayonnaise typically uses oil, egg yolk, dijon mustard and lemon juice. With that being said, most modern aioli recipes (including this one) are essentially a garlic mayo.
2 Minute Homemade Aioli
Ingredients
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 egg yolk, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 garlic cloves, or 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 cup neutral-flavored oil
Instructions
- Layer the ingredients. In the bottom of large cup, start by cracking the egg and adding the separate yolk at the bottom. Then layer, the mustard, lemon juice, garlic, and salt. Then, slowly pour the oil over everything so it’s layered on top.
- Blend. Start with your immersion blender at the bottom of the cup where the eggs are, and start blending. Slowly work your way up to the top, until ingredients are combined and thick.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Do you use pasteurized eggs?
No, I don’t! If you try it, I’d love to know how it turns out.
Still runny, even w/ the extra yolk. Would love to perfect my recipe/technique. Not sure what I did wrong.
Whip your eggs first and slowly drizzle oil into eggs while whipping. Don’t add to quickly or they will break and become runny.
Thank you for your tip Ken! I knew I was suppose to add the oil in slowly but I am a rebel, and the recipe called to add all ingredients together at once. It just leaves you with a runny egg mixture. I did it over!! Adding the oil in slowly and it came out beautifully!
How do you pronounce aioli? Thanks!
Ayyyy-ooooh-lee
Can you change the recipe to read
“Whip eggs and yolk” as the first step? I followed al the directions and it still came out runny.
Thanks for this tip. If you’ve followed the recipe and it’s all gone wrong. Set the mixture aside, start again with 2 egg yolks and drizzle a bit of oil. Once it’s started to thicken, you can now add the messed up mixture a bit at a time as if it’s just oil. Waste not want not! We also doubled -quadrupled the flavours to get the balance right
So I want to make this but i guess im dumb, because it says one egg and the one egg yolk, so is that one full egg and then just a yolk also?
No. You’re correct. One full egg and a second egg yolk.
Not only was this a waste if time, it was waste of ingredients too. Don’t bother with this recipe.
Runny and gross. I’m sad. Recipe is missing critical instructions which could have helped readers avoid wasting ingredients.
Weird, I followed instructions exactly and it came out thick and delicious. Maybe the size of the eggs, or type of oil made a difference. There are other suggestions in the comments to “fix” a broken or runny sauce. Don’t knock the recipe and be sure to read a few comments before starting!
It came out perfect and so tasty. I added a bit more garlic and lemon juice because we love garlic. Not sure what you did but mine whipped up immediately. The recipe is goid. Maybe your immersion blender needs a higher speed of your bowl was too large. Is cup that is slightly wider than the circumference of the stick blender does a better job.
OMG, do you know how many cups of oil I’ve thrown away in the past before finding this recipe?? I’m not sure this one even took two minutes. The emulsion was instantaneous! I’ve heard you should use room temperature eggs. Mine were straight out of the fridge. Love this!!
Made this to serve with my grilled swordfish. AWESOME! It came out super thick, probably because I didn’t have dijon so I added a few splashes of murin and water and it was perfect. So easy and good.
This was a fantastic recipe. I used my homemade fermented mustard instead of Dijon and a combo of olive and avocado oil. It was perfect! Thank you.
This set up very quickly. I decided to use healthy olive oil. Big mistake. It tastes too “green”. Next time half n half, or not at all. I have always added paprika to mayo. I also added fresh chives and dried dill. A quick easy recipe. Set up the ingredients first. Be certain to drizzile in the oil. Simple and very tasty. Much more cost effective than purchased aoli. I use my immersion blender a LOT!