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Aquafaba Mayonnaise

Aquafaba mayo is super simple and easy to make. This vegan recipe produces a classic mayonnaise that is thick, creamy, slightly tangy and simply perfect for all your sandwich needs. The ingredients are basically the same as with a normal mayonnaise recipe, except we replace the traditional egg with aquafaba and a sprinkle of eggy-tasting black salt. Just like with most mayo, it’s gluten-free. But unlike many vegan mayo recipes floating around, this recipe is soy-free and nut-free as well. Click here for the printable recipe.

Video tutorial for Aquafaba Mayonnaise | Vegan Mayo

What is aquafaba? In short, the water left from cooking legumes such as chickpeas and white beans. You can collect it by draining a can of beans, such as chickpeas, and saving the thick cooking liquid. Aqua means water and faba means legume. Contrary to conventional cooking beliefs, this water doesn’t seem to induce gas or cause indigestion. A chemical analysis was done on aquafaba recently and shows it’s mostly starches and proteins. Since being discovered in 2015, aquafaba has been used as an egg replacer for meringue, macaron, cakes, cookies, breads, butter, mayonnaise and more in both home and commercial settings.

 
thick-vegan-mayo-on-spoon

Ingredients for Aquafaba Mayonnaise

The ingredients to this vegan mayonnaise recipe are very similar to traditional mayonnaise: oil, vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, and optional sugar. Instead of using egg yolk, three tablespoons of aquafaba provides the emulsifying properties to whip up the oil into a thick and creamy consistency. And don’t worry, your mayo won’t taste like beans.

aquafaba-mayo-ingredients

Black salt, also known as kala namak, is added for a bit of an eggy flavour. You can take this basic recipe and increase the vinegar or lemon juice for extra tang, add more salt or sugar if you like, or add herbs and spices to make it your own gourmet creation.

The Tricky Part of making Mayonnaise (vegan or not!)

The tricky part of making mayonnaise, vegan or not, is incorporating the oil slowly in a thin, steady stream. This requires a steady hand if you’re using a blender. But I don’t have a steady hand at all. Luckily, food processors often have a small opening at the top just for this purpose. This way, you can just pour oil into the well and the opening does the oil-regulation for you. Easy-peasy.

pouring-oil-mayonnaise

My mini food processor is designed to be used in short pulses so that’s what I’ve done in the video. If you’re using a blender or food processor designed for steady blending, you can simply keep your machine on at a medium to high speed. It only takes a few minutes for the mayo to thicken.

jar-aquafaba-mayonnaise

Once the oil has been totally incorporated, you can taste and adjust for salt or other seasonings. This recipe is written to be fairly light-tasting; a blank canvas for your preference and creativity! Enjoy!

Other recipes with Aquafaba:

 

Printable Recipe for Aquafaba Mayonnaise

Yield: 1 cup

Aquafaba Mayonnaise

Aquafaba Mayonnaise

Aquafaba mayo is super simple and easy to make. This vegan recipe produces a classic mayonnaise that is thick, creamy, slightly tangy and simply perfect for all your sandwich needs. The ingredients are basically the same as with a normal mayonnaise recipe, except we replace the traditional egg with aquafaba and a sprinkle of eggy-tasting black salt. 

Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons aquafaba (thick water from can of chickpeas/white beans) (45ml)
  • 1/4 teaspoon black salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon white vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
  • 1 teaspoon sugar, optional
  • 3/4 cup canola oil (180ml)
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients EXCEPT for the oil in a blender or food processor. Blend briefly just to mix the ingredients.
  2. While blending on medium-high speed (or pulsing with a food processor), SLOWLY add the oil in a thin, steady stream until completely incorporated. The mixture will thicken quickly within a few minutes.
  3. Transfer to clean jar and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Notes

This vegan mayonnaise is fairly light tasting and meant to be a blank canvas. Feel free to increase the amount of vinegar or lemon juice for more tang, add salt, or add other seasonings to your preference.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

16

Serving Size:

1 Tablespoon

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 92Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 70mgCarbohydrates: 0gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 0g

Nutritional Information automatically calculated by a plugin and may not be correct.

Did you make this recipe?

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Showing 25 comments
  • Kit
    Reply

    I just made this. It does work however my first attempt was a dud and didn’t thicken. The problem was I didn’t get a proper emulsion of the non oil ingredients – I thought I could be lazy and add whole mustard and my vitamix would grind it. Not so. I them remade the base ingredients with thicker aquafaba(boiled down) and used Dijon mustard as it is already emulsified plus some garlic because there wasn’t quite enough liquid to get to my blenders blades. Success!

    I then used the failed batch as my oil and didn’t waste any. Only problem is I’ll be eating mayo for days. 🙂

    • Mary
      Reply

      Yay! I’m glad you persisted and achieved success! 🙂

      • Erika
        Reply

        Pretty much the same thing happened to me and thank God I found your comment . This way I did not wasted my time, I was able to fix it and I used some of it right away . Thank you for both: the recipe and the method of fixing it 🙂 !!!

  • Louise
    Reply

    I live in the UK and can have trouble getting Vegan Mayonnaise. I ran out yesterday and decided to whip up a batch of this. It worked perfectly first time! Thanks so much for the recipe.

    • Mary
      Reply

      That’s fantastic to hear, Louise 🙂 Thanks for commenting!

  • Pepper
    Reply

    There is a slight mistake in the metric conversion of the black salt. 1/4 teaspoon is 1.25ml instead of the metioned 0.125ml
    Apart from that, I am looking forward to make some of this mayo 🙂

    • Mary
      Reply

      Thanks, Pepper! I have corrected my silly typo thanks to you!

  • Jessie
    Reply

    Just made this, love it! I make aquafaba mayo all the time but i never though to add black salt. Great idea!! – Thanks 🙂

    • Mary
      Reply

      Awesome! You’re most welcome 🙂

  • John Donaldson
    Reply

    Wow! Congratulations on having both US and metric versions! 🙂

    • Mary
      Reply

      Thanks, John 🙂

  • Linda
    Reply

    This is perfect, delicious! Thank you for sharing!

  • Leigh
    Reply

    I am at an absolute loss…I have made this recipe, to the delight of friends and family, for about 7 months now. So you can imagine my complete dismay when suddenly it came out like water. In fact the last 4 or 5 x’s this has happened. I watched your video over and over, followed every direction and just now, again, water. My husband bought me a new Cuisinart that has two bowls, one small and one large. I have tried both of them….still water. I took your advise this time and cooked the aquafaba down.to thicken, although I never had to do that before. I put it in the frig overnight …still water. I am using organic sunflower oil and put it in the cup on the processor to drizzle into the mixture. I cant think of any thing else it could be. Now my husband doesn’t want me to make it anymore….don’t know why it makes me feel so lousy but it does. What is going wrong??? It was so perfect before :(.

    • Mary
      Reply

      Hi Leigh,
      That sounds so frustrating! You made this recipe before with success and out of nowhere, it stops working for you. Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer for you. That hasn’t happened to me. I wonder what little thing might be different now that is affecting your results. Are you using making homemade aquafaba from scratch or using canned? If using canned, are you using the same brand? Maybe it’s something the manufacturer is doing differently. I have nothing but hugs for you!
      -Mary

      • Amy Bird
        Reply

        Hello, Leigh. I use chick peas to make hummus. Today I am going to make aquafaba mayonnaise for the first time. I hope it will turn out good. I have noticed that some of the canned chick peas have a very thin, watery liquid and some have thick liquid. Could your problem be thin liquid from the can? Also, sometimes overblending will cause the consistency of foods to change.

  • Lisan
    Reply

    Just tried making aquafaba mayo for the first time on the weekend. I reduced the chickpea juice quite a lot, and then whisked it by hand. It worked pretty well; I got a good texture and it didn’t split.
    I made a couple of substitutions based on what I had in my pantry; unfortunately asafoetida is NOT a good sub for kala nemak. Don’t do what I did LOL. It tasted kind of gross. But I still ate it (in a watercress sandwich).
    Also, I would suggest using half the recipe amount of sugar to start. You can always add more after mixing and tasting.

    • Mary
      Reply

      Oh, Lisan! After all that work! Eating it anyways is such a 2020 mood. Thank you so much for trying this recipe and now that you’ve figured it out, it’ll be so much easier to make (delicious) in the future. Thanks for your comment.
      Cheers,
      Mary

  • @lorenaintheUK
    Reply

    A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Let me start by saying I am not vegan but I do not miss egg mayo with this recipe!
    I use mayo very sparingly and if I buy it I get a dry crust before I have the chance to use the whole jar (and I hate having to throw away food), and if I make it I always end with more than what I need because I cannot use 1/3 of an egg to get the right quantity, I am worried of using it for picnics because of the raw egg, and never keep it because of raw egg (food waste again!!!).
    So the aquafaba mayo wins regular mayo, even for non-vegans reasons, at:
    – control of quantity (I used 2 spoons of aquafaba and adjusted the rest of ingredients) = less waste
    – no raw egg
    – non-perishable ingredients (I freeze my aquafaba in an ice cube tray to always have on hand)

    I changed half of the oil for olive oil and garlic instead of mustard, because I am Spanish and that’s the way we roll! ???? Used it for some baked cauliflower, but will definitely work for patatas bravas also.
    I plan to add chipotle powder and make chipotle mayo, the same with sriracha.

    After this I am going straight to my Instagram to spam all my vegan and foodie friends to let them know about the wonders of this recipe! ???? (I am truly exited about how well it works!!)

    • Mary
      Reply

      Yay! Thanks so much, Lorena! You’re so right about the aquafaba advantage 🙂 I really appreciate you sharing your own spin too!
      Cheers,
      Mary

  • Elijah
    Reply

    Firstly, thank you for your recipe. I have tested different ones online that claim to be the best vegan mayo, but I think yours is the best. My question is, Do you have a recipe to make more quantity? e.g. which ingredients would you increase? or do you just double everything and it will turn out the same?

    • Mary
      Reply

      Hi Elijah,
      Thanks for the kind words! If you just want to boost the volume a bit, you can keep adding oil. I’ve added 50% more and it incorporated fine. I haven’t tried more than that because for this kind of homemade mayo, I do want to use it up in a week or so.
      Hope that helps.
      Cheers,
      Mary

  • Teresa
    Reply

    Finally got to make this after using up my store bought mayo. I had to make some substitutions (table salt for black salt, Dijon mustard instead of powder). I don’t have a food processor so I used a handheld blender. Taste wise, it’s great! Just like store bought ones. I just need to improve on the texture as it’s not as thick as Mary’s. Can’t wait to make some chickpea salad with this. Thanks!

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