Need ketogenic egg-free mayonnaise that doesn’t have starch or sugar? Here is the ultimate answer! This purely vegan mayo is thick and tasty, and it contains only healthy fats. Moreover, it doesn’t require dozens of ingredients and it’s super-simple and fool-proof to make. Just try it out; I bet you won’t be disappointed!
About the Easy Keto-Vegan Mayonnaise recipe
Forget the inflammatory and highly-processed vegetable seed oils; this mayo contains healthy olive oil! When you use light olive oil, you get a neutral taste and healthier fats than, let’s say, sunflower seed oil, which is a real baddie as it contains the highest amount of inflammatory Omega-6 fatty acids of all vegetable seed oils.
I haven’t used vegetable seed oils (like soy oil, sunflower seed oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, rapeseed [or canola] oil) for years, and it really shows. I used to suffer from all kinds of infections, my skin looked unhealthy and dry, and I was depressed. As soon as I dropped the highly-processed oils from my diet, I’ve done much better, both physically and mentally. I’ve also noticed my nutrition therapy clients do better when they switch to healthy oils i.e. move away from vegetable seed oils.
Don’t get me wrong: you can (and you SHOULD) still eat your nuts and seeds — they are super-healthy! Just remember to soak them overnight and chew properly, otherwise you won’t digest those precious nutrients. It’s the highly-processed seed oils hat are the problem here, as there are so many problems with them. First of all, they are basically already rancid when you buy them.
The vegetable seed oils contain huge amounts of polyunsaturated fats that can’t stand heating. If you heat them, they go even more rancid. The fumes can also contribute to lung cancer! So, those small amounts of Omega-6 fatty acids you need are better off being taken from nutritious sources like nuts and seeds — not from oils. Moreover, the nuts and seeds contain natural antioxidants like vitamin E and selenium that also prevent the polyunsaturated fatty acids in nuts and seeds from going rancid. Furthermore, they also protect your body from inflammation.
But if you want to have mayonnaise, you cannot use whole nuts or seeds, you need oil. In that case, what are the healthiest oils you can use? Coconut oil is great, but as it solidifies in colder temperatures, it’s not suitable for making mayo. Olive oil is the second-best choice — actually extra-virgin olive oil — and it stays fluid also in the fridge. True, it can get slightly firm but not too badly, and it’s liquid at room temperature anyway, unlike coconut oil (unless it’s a really hot day, that is).
You can certainly take all the benefits of extra-virgin olive oil and use it in this recipe, however, my ultimate choice is extra-light olive oil. Extra-virgin olive oil has pretty strong flavor, and personally I cannot stand it in mayonnaise. Therefore, I need more neutral-tasting oil. Extra-light olive oil has a very neutral taste and when you choose a high-quality oil; it’s neither rancid nor does it contain other oils than olive oil. On a ketogenic diet – when most of the energy comes from fat – you’d better choose your fats wisely, otherwise, you will encounter health problems. Yes, that is very likely!
But just as oil is not enough to make mayo, you’ll need an emulsifier too. For a regular mayo, you can use egg. For a vegan mayo, you have to choose something else. Commercial vegan mayonnaise contains starch and food additives (in addition to those terrible vegetable seed oils!) but a homemade vegan mayonnaise can be made miles healthier.
For the first keto-vegan mayo experiment, I took some unsweetened almond milk, hoping it worked as an emulsifier if I added the ingredients slowly enough. Almond milk is nicely neutral in taste and low in carbs — unlike many other nut milks. Coconut milk is also a great low-carb option, but I didn’t want to have the slightest coconut note in my mayo.
I always add some raw apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, unrefined sea salt, and ground white pepper to my mayo, so I grabbed these ingredients as well.
However, at first, I didn’t have any clue in which order I should add the ingredients so I just started experimenting. First, I added all ingredients except the olive oil into a deep and narrow jar which came with my immersion blender. I blended all the ingredients until well combined, and gradually started adding olive oil, hoping the mixture would get thicker.
Well, it didn’t get thicker. Not at all! It was as fluid as it could be. What now? “I must use a thickener”, I concluded.
After some pondering, I chose xanthan gum as a thickener and emulsifier. Another option would have been guar gum, but as xanthan might make a better result, I chose it instead.
For my next experiment, I again added all other ingredients (except the olive oil and xanthan gum) to the immersion blender jar. I also increased the amount of vinegar in order to get more taste.
After I had blended the ingredients, I very carefully sprinkled in the xanthan while blending. The consistency started getting thicker! Finally, I poured in the olive oil little by little while still blending all the time to get that nice, rich mayo I was after.
To my big surprise, the result was just right – thick, rich, white mayo with an unbelievably delicious taste. It was just what I had been aiming for. The mayo as such made a perfect dip for veggies, and I could use it as in salads as well. Wonderful.
Tips for making the Easy Keto-Vegan Mayonnaise
As you see, this is a very easy mayonnaise to make. When you make regular mayonnaise with eggs, there is always a danger that everything goes wrong and your mayo fails. Moreover, when you don’t use raw eggs, you don’t have to be afraid of salmonella or other nasty bugs! With no eggs involved, there is basically no way this mayo will fail.
Let’s take a look at how to make this wonderfully healthy vegan mayo:
Take the almond milk and pour into a deep and narrow jar (preferably an immersion blender jar).
Add the vinegar…
…Dijon mustard…
…unrefined sea salt (or any natural salt you have)…
…and the white pepper.
Blend well.
Gradually add the xanthan while blending all the time.
Finally, add the olive oil while blending.
There you go! Nice, rich and tasty vegan mayo!
Let it stand for two hours so that it can still thicken a bit.
Serve as dip with veggies, use in sauces or salads.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup = 120 ml unsweetened almond milk
- 2 teaspoons raw apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- pinch unrefined sea salt or Himalayan salt
- pinch ground white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/2 cup = 120 ml (extra-light) olive oil
Instructions
- Place the almond milk, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper into the jar of an immersion blender.
- Blend with a high speed and sprinkle in the xanthan gradually while blending.
- Continue blending at high speed and gradually pour in the olive oil.
- “Taste test” and adjust the flavor as needed.
- Allow to set and thicken for 2 hours.
- Store refrigerated.
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