Avocado Mayo With Real Avocado

Here’s a fun healthy alternative to mayo: avocado mayo! It’s made from real avocados, which gives it a brilliant green color. It’s totally plant-based, which makes it a vegan and egg free mayo too. But honestly: Alex and I love it most because it’s so flavorful! You get all that beautiful avocado flavor and a creamy sandwich spread at the same time. It’s easy to make: and we’ve got a few tricks to make it super creamy! Let’s go.

What is avocado mayo? Is this avocado oil mayo?

So, a few clarifications first! This avocado mayo is a plant-based mayonnaise made with real avocado. It is not avocado oil mayo. You might see avocado mayonnaise at the store: the packaged versions are avocado oil mayo. That’s simply mayonnaise made with avocado oil and eggs (instead of using vegetable oil like most brands on the shelf). Here’s what’s in this vegan avocado mayo:

AvocadoGarlicLemon juiceDijon mustardOlive oilAquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas)

How to make avocado mayo: 3 ways

Once you’ve got your ingredients, there’s really only one thing to do: blend! Yep, blend up the ingredients until they become one very creamy avocado mayo. Here are the tools you’ll need:

Small blender or immersion blender: This avocado mayo lasts only 2 to 3 days, so we like making a small quantity. Because of that, you’ll need a small blender, food processor, or immersion blender to blend it up since the quantities are so small. Blending it makes for a beautiful fluffy texture! Standard blender / food processor: You can use a standard sized blender or food processor, but you’ll need more quantity of ingredients to blend. So, double the recipe below to do that!Whisk: If you don’t have either of these tools, you can simply whisk together the sauce until it becomes smooth and creamy. However! It will be much chunkier and the texture won’t be anything like the photos. Blending with the aquafaba really makes a smooth, creamy texture. But it will still taste good!

Storage tips to reduce browning!

The one caveat to making this avocado mayo is that it lasts 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator, so it’s not as stable as avocado oil mayo you’d find at the store. Because it’s made of straight up avocado, it does brown when exposed to air. Here are some storage tips for how to reduce browning:

Immediately press plastic wrap onto the surface of the mayo. The plastic wrap acts as a barrier and prevents the air from reacting with the avocado. You can use this trick with guacamole as well! If browning does occur, simply scrape off the top. There’s nothing wrong with brown avocado mayo: you can still eat it! It just doesn’t look as pretty. If there is some browning, just scrape off the top layer and discard. The mayo below will be perfectly bright green!

What is aquafaba and why is it needed here?

If you’re a pro with vegan food, you’ll know aquafaba. But if not, here’s what you need to know. Aquafaba is the thick liquid that’s inside a can of chickpeas. It’s used in vegan cooking as a replacement for eggs and as a thickener. Believe it or not, you can actually use it like egg whites and whip it into vegan meringues. Why use aquafaba in this avocado mayo? It adds a richness and thickness to the mayo that cannot be substituted! Alex and I tried the recipe without it, but it was not nearly as good. Adding the aquafaba made it suddenly silky smooth and rich, with the perfect mouthfeel. So you’ve got to open a can of chickpeas! What to do with them once it’s open…?

What to do with leftover chickpeas

Once you open a can of chickpeas to get aquafaba, what to do with the leftovers? Glad you asked. We have 25 Chickpea Recipes to use up a can; here are our favorites:

Simple Chickpea Salad A 5-minute fast lunch idea! This simple salad is easy to throw together: the perfect healthy plant based desk lunch or quick fix dinner.Best Chickpea Burgers A hugely satisfying plant-based dinner! Here they’re painted with BBQ and served topped with vegan bacon and spicy mayo. (Or use this avocado mayo…just saying!)Vegan Chickpea Curry This healthy curry is a 5 star plant based dinner recipe! It’s ready in 20 minutes and so tasty you’ll immediately want seconds.