Wondering what the difference is between conventional shop-bought mayonnaise and keto-friendly mayo? We are here to help answer that question!
We love mayonnaise, but not all mayonnaise is made with real ingredients. That’s why we created our own Real Food range of avocado oil mayos that are also paleo and clean keto friendly!
Our Hunter & Gather mayo is packed with flavour and is nutrient-dense. We avoid any harmful inflammatory oils or hidden nasties often found in shop-bought mayo! Read on to discover all you need to know about this much-loved condiment.
Homemade Mayonnaise vs. Store-Bought
For most people, mayonnaise is something you buy at the store — not something you’d make at home. That’s probably because condiments should be as easy and hassle-free as possible — or so we think. Throwing a ready-made mayo into your basket as part of the weekly shop seems to tick all these boxes!
Trouble is, not all mayos are created equal, and store-bought mayos are often disguising inflammatory oils, preservatives, artificial flavourings and bulking agents alongside the usual mayo ingredients. This makes them last longer and keep the right consistency, but it also means that eating them often can be bad for your health.
So which one should you use — store-bought or homemade?
- Homemade mayo: If you can’t get your hands on a clean, real food mayonnaise then it’s a good idea to make your own instead — that way you can control exactly what’s going in, and what isn’t! The only downside to homemade mayo is that it requires raw egg yolks. Store-bought mayo is pasteurised, so it has a much longer shelf life, even after it's been opened. Ideally, you'll make just enough homemade mayo to last you a few days in the refrigerator, as it won't last much longer than that.
- Store-bought mayo: We have made finding and using mayo much easier for you with our four-ingredient mayonnaise. It's free from seed or vegetable oils, sugar, chemicals, or bulkers and it's a Great Taste award winner too. Get safe and tasty mayonnaise conveniently without the need to make your own — winning!
Check out our range of mayos.
Can Mayonnaise Make You Fat?
Lots of people think that mayonnaise is a definite no-no if watching your waistline or trying to lose a few pounds. This notion is likely due to the outdated idea that dietary fat = body fat. In truth, some fats are not great and actively bad for your health (like seed oils, vegetable oils, and trans fats), while others contain incredible properties that are beneficial to your health (like avocado oil, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, fish oil and certain animal fats).
Healthy fats like avocado oil are packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that are essential for overall health and well-being. They’re entirely different to the non-nutritive trans fats and fats from seeds or soya you’ll find in junk food.
If you eat sugar-free mayonnaise made using healthy oils like avocado oil, it can be an incredibly nutritious and health-optimising addition to your diet.
Ingredients in Mayonnaise
There are soooo many mayonnaise recipes out there from traditional to modern and downright outrageous! Aside from extras added for flavourings and seasonings, all mayonnaise begins its life as four main ingredients:
- Egg yolk: This is the emulsifier that blends all the ingredients together. Make sure you're opting for free-range eggs to keep the quality high and your health as the first priority. If you want an egg-free option, there are a number of vegan emulsifiers.
- Oil: Just about any oil can be used to make mayonnaise. Which oil is used dramatically affects the nutritional value of the finished mayo, so we would advise you to choose a mayo recipe made with 100% coconut oil, light olive oil, avocado oil or a combination of these. If you use 100% coconut oil, your mayo will solidify in the refrigerator, so it's a good idea to cut it with a less saturated oil for ease of use. And watch out for cheeky marketing with ‘blends’ of cheaper oils alongside coconut or avocado. Often those contain soya, vegetable or rapeseed oil (canola in the U.S. and Canada), all of which are detrimental to health.
- Acid: Vinegar or lemon juice regulates the pH, which helps preserve the product. It also adds a nice zing of flavour to the mayo. It's also an option to add in some dijon mustard, both because of its vinegar content and its flavor. You can change up which acid you use (there are tons of different types of vinegar) for different mayo recipes.
- Salt or spices: Salt helps stabilise the other ingredients, while additional herbs and spices will add new flavours into the mix. Aioli is basically just a fancy word for garlic-seasoned mayo, but garlic is only the beginning. Add kimchi spices for a Korean mayo, freshly minced coriander and chipotle (with lime juice as the acid) for a Latin flavor or add wasabi to go Japanese. The possibilities are endless. (Tip: You can spice up your homemade mayo or simply add some flare to your healthy store-bought variety.)
If you're planning on trying your hand at homemade mayonnaise, we recommend using an immersion blender (stick blender) instead of a food processor or hand mixer. Place your ingredients into a jar just wide enough to fit the end of your immersion blender, then immerse and blend. The mayonnaise appears in seconds like magic. It's actually pretty cool to watch!
Use your mayo as-is or as a base for a super creamy, dairy-free salad dressing. Just make sure you refrigerate it as soon as you're finished mixing. You never want to let raw egg (or any mayo for that matter) sit around at room temperature for too long, or it could go bad.
Health Benefits of Avocado Oil Mayonnaise
Let’s take a look at the nutritional value of our Avocado Oil Mayonnaise. This will differ drastically to some store-bought alternatives, which are packed with non-nutritive bulking agents, preservatives, artificial flavourings, inflammatory veg oils and, in a lot of cases, powdered eggs with flow agents.
Here’s what you’ll find in every serving of Avocado Oil Mayonnaise:
- Healthy fats: Most people associate mayonnaise with being high in fat, and that’s true. Mayonnaise is an incredibly dense source of dietary fat. But in a good quality mayo, these are healthy fats that are essential for your body to function best. Avo oil mayonnaise is a good source of monounsaturated fats such as oleic acid, which support heart health and even promote fat oxidation, aiding in weight loss. It's also much lower in omega-6 fats than mayo made with seed oils.
- Vitamins: Avocado oil mayonnaise is high in B vitamins as well as vits C, E and K. Just 25ml of avocado oil provides 100% of your recommended dose of vitamin E, helping to support eye, skin and immune health. What’s more, the healthy fats found in mayonnaise help your body absorb the fat-soluble vitamins like vit E — bonus!
- Minerals: Avo Mayo is a good source of potassium and magnesium, essential micronutrients that help to support bone and muscle strength as well as immunity and cardiovascular health.
- Antioxidants: Healthy fats such as avocado oil are a rich source of beta-carotene, tocopherols and carotenoids such as lutein and zeaxanthin — all powerful antioxidants that help to protect the whole body from cellular damage.
Most of these amazing nutrients come from the oil in the recipe, in this case, avocado oil. Switch it out for an alternative oil such as vegetable or seed-sourced and you’ll have a different story altogether. Always check the ingredients list!
The Best Keto Mayonnaise
Most mayonnaise is high in fat and low in carbohydrates, making it the perfect ingredient for a ketogenic diet. Remember to always check the label to ensure that there's no added sugar or mysterious fillers that may add to your daily net carb count.
Main branded mayonnaise such as Heinz and Hellmann’s all (at the time of posting this) contain rapeseed oil, sunflower, safflower or other blends of oils. Even the "Avocado Oil" mayonnaise blend by one of these big players has only a small percentage of avocado oil with the remaining oil being seed or vegetable oils. There are also olive oil mayonnaise options on the market, which contain only 4% olive oil — it's shockingly dishonest marketing in our opinion! Always be sure to check the backs of the jars/bottles before purchasing.
Arguably, mayonnaise made from 100% avocado oil or 100% light olive oil is the best for a keto diet, providing a whopping dose of good fats and health-optimising nutrients with a mild flavour that won’t overpower the other ingredients. This compares with the GMOs, preservatives and more dominant flavour profile you’d get from vegetable, rapeseed or soya bean used in many mass-produced mayos.
Mayonnaise FAQ
We've put together some answers to the most frequently asked questions, whether you're making mayo at home or on the hunt for the perfect shop-bought keto mayonnaise. Below, you'll find quick fixes, tricks, common pitfalls to avoid and a surprise use for this keto staple.
Which Mayonnaise Is Gluten-Free?
Most mayonnaise is gluten-free if it sticks to the core ingredients of a traditional recipe: eggs, vinegar/lemon juice, oil and salt/spices. That’s because these ingredients are naturally gluten-free! It’s when other ingredients are added that those following a gluten-free diet come into problems. So, as always, it’s best to check the ingredients list if gluten-free isn’t clearly displayed on the packaging. We also recommend being careful of mayonnaise that doesn't specify what vinegar is used. Barley malt vinegar is not gluten-free.
What If I Can't Eat Egg?
Most mayonnaise recipes call for eggs, usually their yolks, to emulsify the mayo and create that silky-smooth texture we know and love. But what about vegan mayonnaise recipes or a recipe for those that have allergies?
For an at-home recipe, you can use aquafaba (the liquid in cans of chickpeas) in place of the egg yolk in the traditional recipe. It has the same emulsifying properties!
Can Mayonnaise Be Frozen?
It’s perfectly safe to eat frozen and then thawed-out mayonnaise, but it's not always palatable! That's because mayonnaise relies on the emulsification process for its consistency. Freezing can cause ingredients to separate — much like when you leave a vinaigrette in the fridge and don’t shake it up. But thawed mayo can be chunky and weird. You can try re-blending the thawed mayo, but it doesn’t always work.
We recommend ensuring that you keep mayonnaise, especially homemade or avocado oil mayonnaise, in the door of the fridge as high as possible. That way you can avoid it getting too cold and freezing. Avocado oil has a higher freezing point to seed and vegetable oils and can, therefore, freeze at higher temperatures. The best temperature range to store your mayonnaise is between 4-6 C.
My Homemade Mayonnaise Is Too Runny. What Can I Do?
You may sometimes end up with a runny homemade mayo because all eggs and their yolks are different sizes, no matter what the box says!
If your first time making it seems like a bust, never fear. To rescue a runny mayo try adding just 2 teaspoons of boiling water and re-blending. This should reactivate the lecithin in the egg yolks and help to emulsify the mixture, thickening the mayo.
What's the Best Avocado Mayo Recipe To Start With at Home?
Here’s our recipe for a simple four-ingredient avocado oil keto mayonnaise. By making your own mayo you can be sure that it’s sugar-free, gluten-free and keto and paleo approved.
Remember, you’ll need to eat up within a few days, as the recipe uses fresh egg yolks as opposed to the lab-tested, pasteurised yolks used in jarred mayos, which last much longer — but we are sure that’s a challenge you’re willing to take on!
Surprise! Mayonnaise Is GREAT for Moisturising Your Hair
Last but not least, let’s get our heads around mayonnaise for hair! That’s right, some of us are as keen to dollop mayonnaise on our hair as we are our plates. That’s because the high oil content is extremely nourishing and can penetrate hair cells to hydrate them, making them strong and glossy.
We love natural life hacks like mayonnaise-based hair masks. Next time you make a batch — or if you have some remaining in your jar of Hunter & Gather mayo — be sure to dollop some on wet hair and leave for 10-15 minutes. Rinse well with cool water.
Alternatively, you can use pure avocado oil to nourish your hair as a leave-in serum. Just rub a small amount into your hands and run through your hair. This works really well to smooth any flyaways. Just don't overdo it.
Flick that a-mayo-zing hair back and forth with pride!
Ways To Use Our Mayo: Recipes Featuring Avocado Oil Mayo
Our mayos are perfect for dipping and dolloping but they can also be a great addition to meals, sauces and much more for a double-whammy flavour and nutrient boost! Here are some of our favourite Avocado Oil Mayonnaise recipes:
- Seaweed Sushi Rolls
- Egg Free White Sauce
- Spicy Keto Cheese & Beef Taco Boats
- Seared Yellowfin Tuna Sashimi with Pomegranate Seeds and Wasabi Mayo
- Potato and Egg Mayo Salad
- Avocado Oil Mayonnaise Coleslaw
- Warm Smoked Pepper Mackerel With a Caper & Garlic Mayo
- Soft Boiled Eggs with Avocado Tips & Truffled Mayo
- Tuna & Avocado Mayo Dip
- Avocado Oil Mayonnaise Coleslaw
- Asian Cashew Coleslaw with Seaspoon Seaweed and Avocado Mayonnaise
Hunter & Gather Avocado Oil Mayonnaise
Now that you’re a mayonnaise expert, why not learn more about Hunter & Gather Avocado Oil Mayonnaise? We use just four real food ingredients in our original blend, and you can read more in-depth info on all four at these links:
- Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Avocado Oil
- British Free-Range Eggs
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Pink Himalayan Salt
We’d love to see your Real Food mayo creations, so don’t forget to share your wonderful recipes and photos with us either via email or through our social channels!
All information provided on our website and within our articles is simply information, opinion, anecdotal thoughts and experiences to provide you with the tools to thrive.
It is not intended to treat or diagnose symptoms and is definitely not intended to be misconstrued for medical advice. We always advise you seek the advice of a trained professional when implementing any changes to your lifestyle and dietary habits.
We do however recommend seeking the services of a trained professional who questions the conventional wisdom to enable you to become the best version of yourself.
