The key to making mayonnaise is understanding that adding oil in a very slow, thin stream should be taken quite literally and seriously because you are creating an emulsion, which means you are combining two liquids that normally don’t combine  — oil and water (lemon juice). The vigorous mixing and the very slow addition of oil create an emulsion … mayonnaise! 

Prep time: 15 min • Yield: A little over 1 cup

Ingredients

• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup macadamia nut oil or mild, cold-pressed olive oil
• Salt to taste

Equipment

• Food Processor
• Blender

Directions

1. Bring all ingredients to room temperature.
2. Place egg yolks in a food processor.
3. Add mustard and lemon juice. Pulse/blend ingredients until completely combined.
4. With motor running, add oil in a very, very slow, steady stream. Mixture should become thick and emulsified. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Refrigerate in an airtight container, up to 5 days.

Notes and Tips: Use very fresh, organic, free range, properly-refrigerated eggs with intact shells, and avoid contact between the yolks and the shell. If you’d like, use pasteurized eggs.

Because this is a fresh egg product without all the preservatives found in store-bought mayo, keep it tightly covered in the refrigerator and use within 5 days. That’s why the recipe is for 1 cup instead of a larger quantity, but you can easily double the recipe if you plan to use it right away.

How to Make Flavored Mayonnaise. That is, How to Add that Certain Star Quality to Plain ‘Ol Mayo: 

You can add a lot of pizazz to mayo by introducing additional ingredients. There is no right or wrong way to add flavors to mayonnaise. Experiment and taste as you create.

For roasted red pepper mayo, add roasted red peppers and fresh, finely minced garlic. About ½ to 1 teaspoon garlic and about 2 teaspoons roasted red peppers for ½ cup mayo work well, but remember, there are no rules. I like to leave bits of the roasted red peppers, or you can completely puree them. Trust your taste buds. I suggest adding about 1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (i.e. Tabasco) per ½ cup of mayonnaise to give it a little zing. A dash of cayenne will also work.

To make a hot and smoky mayo, use ½ -1 teaspoon chipotle in adobo and ½ -1 teaspoon finely minced garlic per ½ cup mayo. Just as in the lime chipotle mayo, you can also substitute lime juice for the lemon juice in the mayo recipe. You can also add smoked paprika.

Send me your suggestions and how you’ve used them in your Paleo recipes and I’ll post your suggestions!