How to Make Mayonnaise by Hand (With or Without a Blender)

Homemade mayonnaise is no different from store bought. Even my favorite brands, Kewpie and Duke’s, can’t match the rich, spicy homemade mayonnaise. The texture is less jittery, the taste is fresher, and you can tweak it by playing with acid (vinegar or lemon?), eggs (whole or just yolks?), and fats (anyone duck fat, mayonnaise?). And homemade mayonnaise is easy to make, with or without a blender, but you always need to learn when working with emulsions.

Mayonnaise – stable emulsion

Emulsions are a mixture of two liquids that do not mix naturally – usually oil and water (or two ingredients containing oil and water). To get a stable emulsion, you suspend one of the liquids (oil) in another (in our case, a mixture of acid, eggs and spices), gradually introducing it in small amounts. These tiny bits of butter stay suspended in the water to form a smooth and stable sauce. (Other famous emulsions include vinaigrettes, ice cream, and hollandaise.)

Emulsifiers such as egg yolks and mustard help keep the mixture harmonious. These ingredients contain molecules containing both water- and fat-soluble parts that help hold them together and prevent the emulsion from separating into a greasy curd.

You can make mayonnaise with a food processor, immersion blender, or a simple whisk. Each process is slightly different, but you do the same thing every time: slowly inject the fat to suspend it in the water.

How to make mayonnaise with a whisk

This method requires the most physical effort, but making mayonnaise with a whisk will help you fully understand the power of emulsions and the importance of taking your time when adding oil. This recipe uses whole eggs; While egg yolk is a great natural emulsifier on its own, the protein in the white helps maintain stability. The recipe also calls for the use of Dijon mustard , another excellent emulsifier. (Even with eggs and mustard, you still have to go slow.)

Light homemade mayonnaise

Ingredients:

• 1 whole egg
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

Add everything except the oil to a large bowl and beat with a whisk until smooth—the mixture will turn pale and slightly frothy. Add a tiny spoonful of oil (just under 1/4 teaspoon) to the mixture and beat well until emulsified. Repeat until you’ve added about 1/8 cup of oil, then start adding more, but two tiny tablespoons of oil at a time, beating until fully emulsified after each addition.

After you’ve added a total of 1/4 cup of oil, the mixture should almost completely lose its frothy appearance and become like a runny sauce. Slowly pour in another 1/4 cup of oil, whisking constantly to keep the emulsion from breaking up and occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl with a whisk. Repeat this process adding another 1/4 cup of oil until all the oil has been added and you have a thick, shiny mayonnaise.

How to make homemade mayonnaise with an immersion blender

This is my favorite way to make mayonnaise because it looks like a scam. Instead of dripping and splattering a small amount of oil to create a stable emulsion, you pour everything into a large bowl, let the ingredients settle until the oil floats to the top, and then dip the immersion blender head all the way to the bottom. Turn it on and the blades will pull the oil down in thin streams, effectively splattering the rest of the ingredients for you.

It’s just amazing. At one point, you have a cup of immiscible ingredients; two minutes later you have a cup of beautiful, smooth and creamy mayonnaise. What’s more, you can use this method with any mayonnaise recipe, whether it’s the one you see above, Duke’s hoax , or duck fat mayonnaise .

How to make homemade mayonnaise with a food processor

Like any other method of making mayonnaise, this one is also based on the gradual addition of fat to the rest of the ingredients. Luckily, you don’t have to remove the food processor lid every time you add a little oil – you don’t even have to take out the plunger. In fact, you should leave the plunger there at all times, as most models have a tiny feed hole at the bottom, perfect for spraying water.

Again, you can use this method for any recipe; the steps are always the same: add the egg and other non-oily ingredients and mix briefly. With the blades humming and the piston in the feed tube, pour about 1/4 oil into the piston. Let it drain and emulsify, then add the remaining oil to the piston. Once all the oil has been added and the mayonnaise is fully emulsified, open the food processor and scrape the sides off, mixing thoroughly to avoid leaving slippery stains. Spread it on a sandwich, preferably a tomato sandwich if the tomatoes are in season. Homemade mayonnaise will keep in the fridge for a week.