Vegan Mayo (Thick and Creamy)
If you can’t live without mayonnaise, you don’t have to if you want to eat vegan. Here’s my fave Vegan Mayo recipe! It only takes 5 minutes, tastes incredible and uses easy ingredients!
I remember the first time I tried vegan mayo, or plant based mayo, about four years ago. It tasted just like regular mayonnaise and kind of blew my mind. It tastes exactly the same! Vegan mayo here costs me quite a lot, and I remember one day wondering if it was possible to make it at home and friends – here we are!
Not only is it possible to make vegan mayo at home, but it’s also easy and takes only a few minutes. It’ll save you a lot of money since it’s some basic affordable pantry ingredients (really), and tastes incredible!
What ingredients are in vegan mayo?
I’m so glad you asked! Vegan mayo is made up of three basic ingredients – soy milk, oil and salt. Let me break them down a bit for you.
- Soy milk – You’re going to need to use soy milk for this recipe. Truthfully, apart from almond milk, it’s the vegan milk I always have in stock. Why? Emulsification. Soy milk contains natural emulsifiers that make it perfect for so many purposes. I use it to make creamy and solid vegan butter, as the perfect buttermilk in pancakes and cakes and more, and here – in mayo! It works perfectly and binds to the oil to make it nice and fluffy and mayo like!
- Oil – oil adds the necessary fat and binds with the soy milk. You want to use a subtle/mellow and odourless oil for taste. I love olive oil and coconut oil but they can be a bit overpowering here, so I recommend a more neutral oil like sunflower seed, canola or grape seed oil.
- Salt – salt is such a superior ingredient to me. It acts as a flavour enhancer here and really boosts the flavour.
Now, for the other ingredients. I always add in some apple cider vinegar, mustard, black pepper and garlic powder which for me take it over the top and give it that quintessential mayonnaise flavour. If however you’re using this for a sweet dessert, leave those out.
Expert Tips & FAQ
- I go through this in detail in recipe, but the best tool to use is an immersion blender in an open cup (like the beaker that comes with it). Air is an essential ingredient and you need free-flowing air to allow the emulsification to properly take place.
- You can’t do this in a container that is completely sealed off (just like my whipped coffee recipe). You can use a blender, but ensure it’s an open blender. I would do it that way by blending the soy milk first and then slowly streaming in the oil in the top. Cover it loosely with a cloth so it doesn’t splash. If you’re doing that, you might need to double the quantity so there’s enough for the blade.
- You should start with all your ingredients at the same temperature, preferably at room temperature.
Flavour Customisations/Add-ins
Feel free to customise this vegan mayo recipe with flavour add-ins. Here are some of my favourites:
- add in some dried Italian seasoning and an extra pinch of garlic powdered for herbed garlic mayo.
- Add in some sambal oelek or sriracha for a spicy mayo
Related Recipes
These are my favourite recipes where I use my homemade mayo:
- Bang Bang Broccoli
- Bang Bang Cauliflower
- Vegan BLT Sandwich
- Loaded Vegan Potato Salad
- Vegan Tuna Sandwich
- Vegan Tartar Sauce (with vegan fish tacos)
- spread on some No Knead Bread
Enjoy friends! If you make this post about these Vegan Mayo (Thick and Creamy), please snap a photo and tag #jessicainthekitchen on Instagram! We’d also love it if you would leave a comment below, and give the recipe a rating! Thanks so much! P.S. – do you know that we have an entire blog dedicated to low carb recipes named Low Carb Vegan Recipes?! Be sure to check it out!
Vegan Mayo (Thick and Creamy)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup original soy milk, (125mL)
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar, or lime juice or white vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon dijion mustard
- 1 cup oil, I recommend any neutral oil (don't use coconut oil) (250mL)
Instructions
- Make sure all your ingredients are room temperature. If your milk is cold, you can microwave it for about 10 seconds.
- Add the original soy milk, apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, sea salt and mustard in the immersion blender beaker/jar and stir together.
- Pour the oil over the soy milk mixture. Let it sit for about a minute.
- Place your immersion blender into the bottom of the jar. Blend and keep it firmly pressed against the bottom for about 15 seconds while the mixture emulsifies. Slowly move the blender up and down to properly blend and incorporate all the ingredients until thick and fully combined.
- Taste and add/adjust any ingredients if needed. Place in a sealed jar in the fridge. It thickens up in the fridge even more. Enjoy!
Notes
Expert Tips & FAQ
- I go through this in detail in recipe, but the best tool to use is an immersion blender in an open cup (like the beaker that comes with it). Air is an essential ingredient and you need free-flowing air to allow the emulsification to properly take place.
- You can’t do this in a container that is completely sealed off (just like my whipped coffee recipe). You can use a blender, but ensure it’s an open blender. I would do it that way by blending the soy milk first and then slowly streaming in the oil in the top. Cover it loosely with a cloth so it doesn’t splash. If you’re doing that, you might need to double the quantity so there’s enough for the blade.
- You should start with all your ingredients at the same temperature, preferably at room temperature.
- If you don't have the immersion blender cup, be sure to use a tall and narrow jar (like a Weck Jar).
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The recipe is very good and helpful for both vegans and non vegans but pepper and industrial mustard is dangerous to the body so it’s best if you don’t use it
Thanks so much for reading Regis. We’ll definitely take that under consideration.
As a middle-aged woman who needs to get her LDL cholesterol down, I was hoping this would be “okay.” It has vastly exceeded my expectations.
I followed the directions to the letter, going so far as to purchase an immersion blender. I even noticed and followed the direction to have the ingredients at room temperature. I still love McCormick’s lime mayonnaise, but my bloodwork will not tolerate it. Thank you so much for creating a recipe that is more than good enough and also very easy.
Thank you so much Leslie! We’re so happy that this recipe was useful to you.
I had a question for future reference do I add prepared mustard or mustard powder.
Hi Mona,
Prepared mustard. I hope you enjoy!
Followed it to the letter and it loved the end result! The best part is the texture – thick and creamy like the best ‘real’ mayo. My only minor complaint is that it was marginally saltier than I expected – next time I will start with 1/4 tsp of salt and add more if needed at the tasting stage. Thanks a ton for a great recipe!
Hi Abhay,
I’m so happy you enjoyed that! If you aren’t using regular sea salt granules and instating using table salt or a finer salt, you’ll be adding in more salt than needed – that might be it! I hope that helps for future makes of this!
The best mayo I’ve had. Hands down!
Thanks so much! We’re so happy that you like it.
This looks like a great recipe I will be trying it soon.
I wanted to know what the serving size is for the 85 calories. I seemed to have missed it in the recipe. Thanks!
Hi Jill! Thanks so much for reading. It’s per tablespoon. I hope this helps.
Made this today for my daughter who’s trying veganism. Great success! What kind of mustard do you use? I added half a teaspoon of Dijon which worked well.
Hi Jenny! We’re so happy that you like it. You can use dijon or prepared both work great!
OMG! I’ve been vegan for 17 years and love messing around in the kitchen. So, I’ve made my fair share of vegan mayo recipes, and attempted my own, and all of them were, to be honest, really unappealing. This is by far thé best of the lot! It’s so much tastier than my favourite store-bought version (we’re not really spoiled for choice in South Africa) and it’s free of nasties like preservatives and sugar, which I’m highly allergic to.
I omitted the garlic powder and mustard as I was trying to copy by favourite brand and subbed apple cider vinegar for a good quality white wine vinegar. Since I want a thicker consistency, I ended up adding a bit more oil than in the recipe, around half a cup. The result is just amazingly delicious! It’s thick, creamy and naturally sweet, so no need for any added sweetener. I just love it!
Thank for sharing this wonderful recipe. I won’t be buy mayo ever again.
Wow this was such a nice review Micky we really appreciate this. We’re so happy that we were able to help.
Hi Micky. What oil did you use? I’m also in South Africa.
GIRLLLL, I just made this for the first time today.. It was beautiful! I added raw garlic which is what I had on hand. And a splash of lime at the end just bc I was lacking that zing. Otherwise, followed to a T. Sooo yummy and creamy and easy. THANK YOU SO MUCH for this AWESOME recipe!
We’re so happy that you like it Maria! Love the addition of lime at the end!
This is a spectacular recipe & I am very thankful I found it. Occasionally, it won’t whip up & remains totally liquid. I make it the same way each time & have been making it for a fairly long time. Is there anything I can do to make it thicken up? The first time it happened, I added just a little more milk but today that didn’t help. This will be the second time that I end up throwing it out.. I double the recipe most every time.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Sue Walker
Hi Sue thanks so much for reading. Sometimes that will happen if you swap milks have you been using Soy milk only? Also it also helps the emulsification process a lot if all ingredients are at room temp.
Happened to me yesterday where it wouldn’t whip up, I have also made this recipe a lot and love it!! Took the time today to try again and figure out why it sometimes doesn’t whip.. ended up being the oil I was using, it was pure sunflower oil but very light in colour and simply wouldn’t work. Swapped it out for a different brand of sunflower oil (one that was deeper in colour, more golden) and it worked a treat!
Thanks so much for this!