Photo: Aya Brackett

BY Mark Bittman

PUBLISHED February 14, 2024

For new cooks, reading that mayonnaise is easy to make at home can feel like a lie. But the first time you get it right—maybe even on your first attempt—you’ll see it’s not all smoke and mirrors. And then you’ll have a sauce to work with that’s infinitely better and more impressive than what the supermarket has to offer.

Some notes:
Do some experimenting and find the method—whisk, blender, food processor—that works for you. If you’re adding something like chile paste or spices, you’ll get a smooth, even sauce no matter which method you use. If you want to make a chunkier sauce, like tartar, whisk in the additions by hand.

If you’re worried about eating raw eggs—and I’m not going to argue with you—you can make mayonnaise with pasteurized eggs (though it’s not my first choice), or try the sauce variation after the recipe.

Mayonnaise is an emulsion, in which oil is dispersed in the water in eggs and vinegar or lemon juice through vigorous stirring, to produce a thick, pale yellow cream. A few basic seasonings balance the flavors. That’s really all there is to it.

Homemade mayos go south when you add the oil too quickly or (less often) you add too much oil. To help you add the oil in a slow steady stream, you could put it in a squeeze bottle or a liquid measuring cup with a spout. Or use a teaspoon to add a few drops at a time. If you’re using a food processor, note that many have a small hole in the feed tube, put there specifically for this purpose; you put the oil in the tube and it drips out. (I have drilled holes in feed tubes without them, which also works.)

For general purposes, I like grapeseed oil best because of its neutral flavor, especially if I’m planning on adding other flavorings. Use olive oil if you want a particularly Mediterranean taste, which is often the case, especially with the aioli variation. But note that mayonnaise made with 100 percent olive oil tends to break more easily; go for a mix of grapeseed and olive. Asian ingredients go better with a mayonnaise made from grapeseed, corn, or—for a more pronounced flavor—peanut oil. For vinegar, I like sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar, but try lemon or even lime juice for a brighter flavor. All of these decisions should be based on how you plan to use the mayo.

If you’re cautious, make sure your eggs and oil are roughly the same temperature, because fluctuations can cause some instability, though this is a really minor point. And despite what you may have heard, the direction in which you whisk does not matter.

If your mayonnaise doesn’t emulsify on the first attempt, transfer the egg-oil mixture to a measuring cup with a spout and put a fresh egg yolk and more mustard in the bowl or machine. Begin again, adding the broken mayonnaise a few drops at a time, as you would the oil. Once all of that mixture has been added, you can begin to incorporate any remaining plain oil.