Homemade vegan aquafaba mayo is so easy,
It’ll save you money AND be super delicious :)
I was never a huge fan of mayo until I went vegan. I didn’t eat sandwiches that much, but I loved to smother avocado sushi with chipotle mayo and dunk my homemade pizza in vegan garlic sauce. And I would eat those in pretty large quantities if pizza phase or sushi phase came into effect.
As much as I love brands like Veganaise, 6-8 dollars for a 340 mL jar adds up and if you want to save yourself some money, I highly recommend making your own mayo if you can! It takes about 10 minutes and lasts about as long as a storebought jar of mayo. No preservatives, you can control the amount of sodium and sugar, and you save money by making it with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry!
You can use aquafaba from a chickpea can, but I’ve also used aquafaba that I’ve frozen and thawed before. Luckily for us, we can save the liquid by freezing them into cubes and using them when we need it, instead of cracking open a can of garbanzo beans every time. Aquafaba maintains its structure and ability to suspend oil in an emulsification even after freezing and thawing. It’s pretty magical.
Recipe adapted from Mary’s Test Kitchen and Oh She Glows
Vegan Aquafaba Mayo
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas)
- 1 tsp white granulated sugar (or cane sugar)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard powder (yellow mustard will also work)
- 1/4 tsp black salt (kosher salt will work too)
- 1/2 - 3/4 cup grapeseed oil
Instructions
- Using a food processor or a hand blender, whip the aquafaba for a minute or two until the mixture is foamy.
- Add sugar, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, dry mustard powder, and black salt and process until incorporated.
- Slowly trickle in the oil with the blender on to emulsify the oil. It'll thicken as you add the oil. Ensure you scrape down the sides and the top of the stick blender to ensure even blending.
- For last batch of mayo, I probably could have stopped at 1/2 cup of oil, but I added the full 3/4 cup of oil, resulting is a rather oily-flavoured mayo instead of the flavourful one I'm used to. Depending on how thick your aquafaba is, you might find you need the full 3/4, or even more, or you might find you need less. Taste and check as you go.
- Once you achieve a thick and creamy mixture, transfer the mayo to a clean, airtight container and use up within 2 weeks. (I've used mine after a month or even 2 before, but I think for food safety reasons, play it safe with 2 weeks)
Denisha Hobbs says
Can you use a different oil other than the grapseed oil??
Lisa Le says
Yep! Canola, Sunflower, and general vegetable oil would work too
Caitlin says
I don’t have a hand blender so when I tried making aquafaba mayo last year I used a handheld coffee frother device and it was a total fail! Lol. So then I attempted again with a (jug) blender and it was a no-go too. I’m interested in your recipe because you say you can use a food processor! I think I might just have to try again with my food processor. Is it the standard blades or do you need special blades for it?
Laudcélia says
I loved the recipe of Vegan Aquafaba Mayo seems very delicious will be a joy to do, I’m sure it looks wonderful.
marc says
I love when you taste it, and are like “Oh, that tastes oily”
love your site btw. Keep up the great work!
Julija says
The best mayo I have ever tried in my Life! Better than any unvegan! Thank you so much for the recepie !!!!
Lisa Le says
So glad you liked it! :)
Maggie says
I don’t eat white sugar, so I’m trying to figure out what alternative to try. Any suggestions?
Lisa Le says
Any neutral sweetener should work :)
Denisa says
Hello Lisa, I just tried your recipe and I was really impressed because I have to admit I didn’t think it will actually work. But I think I might have added a little too much vinegar and I was wondering if I could add something to make it taste better. And still my mayo is quite liquid for the quantity that I made, approx a jar, and oily enough so I didn’t think adding more would be a good idea. How was the texture suppose to be?
Lisa Le says
The texture you can see in the video, but if you added a little too much vinegar it’d likely impact the viscosity of the mayo in the end :) You might be able to use a bit more aquafaba and whip that separately and then incorporate the mayo you’ve already made to try and balance the vinegar flavour.
Manal says
Is the black salt is the same as hemalian salt ???? Amazon have the black color salt not pink???
Lisa Le says
Hi there! No it’s not the same, black salt is black as a whole crystal, but once ground it’s more of a pink colour. It’s a sulfuric salt that smells very distinctly like eggs.
Galina says
It didn’t work for me, I followed the video recipe but it stayed liquid :(
Lisa Le says
HI Galina! Sometimes aquafaba varies from can to can, and the aquafaba you used might have been less concentrated than mine. If it’s still liquid that is most likely the case. If you end up trying again, try reducing the aquafaba over the stove until it’s a little more viscous (almost egg-white in consistency)
Dleo says
For how long bro? I just did that, left it on high for a few minutes, its almost all gone, and not much of a difference…? how long? its reducing but not getting thicker, not gonna be much left… I thought this was going to be easier. lol…
Lisa Le says
It’s hard to say because it depends on the concentration to begin with. When I cook my own chickpeas the water/aquafaba from it is perfect. It should be like kinda gelatinous like raw egg white.
Dleo says
UGH. Tried this three times using avocado oil. I used a hand blender (stick blender) poured it in much slower than the video version, no. Watery! Liquid! no creamy mayo! Tried it again with a different brand of stick blender I had, NOPE, watery ! Just tried it with the food processor, even put a small funnel into where you would drop it into the food processor, turned it on, kept the blades moving, slowly poured WATERY! 1 BOTTLE of organic cold pressed avocado oil down the drain.!!! So from what I heard, avocado oil works fine for a mayo, or is that wrong? So frustrating.
Micky says
I recently delved into the science of mayo making. When you get runny mayo, the trick is to add a little more oil. I had the same issue and, although it sounded counterintuitive to add a liquid to thicken something, I decided to trust the science – and it worked. You can also dissolve some pea protein in the oil before adding it to the rest of the ingredients. Works like a charm.
Pam S says
Same! I kept giving up, because it wasn’t thickening, but you really have to just keep adding oil. It wasn’t until I added like 3/4 of the required oil that it started to get less soupy. And then once I kept adding it thicken up. It was surreal. Also make sure that you are running the blender and the aquafaba gets frothy before drizzling the oil. This recipe is definitely one that requires patience and faith in the cooking spirits.