My husband I don’t argue about much, but we do argue about aioli. Yep, aioli. We argue about the degree to which it is similar or different from mayonnaise. I say that aioli is practically sisters with mayonnaise, while he claims that the two condiments might as well be second cousins.
This typically takes place over wine and French fries in our favorite restaurants. We ask our server, “What is aioli?” Somehow his or her answer is always a point for both of us. I know, it’s silly.
If you ask me, aioli is quite similar to mayonnaise. They’re both made of raw eggs emulsified with oil (mayonnaise is made with neutral oil, while aioli is made with olive oil) and a little bit of acid (mayonnaise uses vinegar, while aioli uses lemon juice). Sometimes the French add a little bit of mustard.
Aioli also contains garlic, which we agree must be included. The word aïoli literally means oil and garlic (ail is garlic in French). The most original form of aioli, which I’m hoping to taste in Provence this summer, is made only with garlic and olive oil emulsified in a mortar and pestle.
Anyway, the point of all of this is that there are many opinions about aioli. I’m surely going to upset someone with this quick and dirty version of aioli that tastes just like your favorite restaurant’s. Want to learn how it’s done?
How to Make This Quick & Easy Aioli
My easy aioli recipe is made with—wait for it—mayonnaise! To make it, you simply soak minced garlic in lemon juice for 10 minutes, strain it out, and stir the garlicky lemon juice into the mayonnaise. Essentially, you’re using mayonnaise as the creamy base, and adding the most characteristic aioli flavors to it.
I learned this trick from my tahini sauce. This way, you get nice garlic flavor without any actual garlic floating around in your mayo. Minced garlic would only distract from the creaminess and could make your sauce too garlicky with time.
Watch How to Make Aioli
Uses for Aioli
Anywhere you might use mayonnaise, you could probably use aioli. Here are some ideas:
- As a dip for prepared artichoke, French fries, crispy potato wedges (shown below) or sweet potato fries
- As a sandwich spread, perhaps in lieu of mayo on my veggie breakfast sandwich
- Serve a dollop with prepared vegetables, like green beans, roasted cauliflower, potatoes or a grilled kebab
- Generally speaking, aioli plays well with Spanish and provincial French cuisine, and also on seafood, apparently
Please let me know how your aioli turns out in the comments!
Cheater’s Aioli
- Author:
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: ½ cup 1x
- Category: Condiment
- Method: By hand
- Cuisine: French
Learn how to make creamy, tangy, garlicky aioli at home with this easy recipe! You’ll just need good mayonnaise, lemon juice and garlic. Recipe yields ½ cup aioli; multiply as necessary.
Ingredients
- 5 medium cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice, to taste
- Sprinkle of salt
- ½ cup good quality mayonnaise (I like Sir Kensington’s), to taste
- Optional: ¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard
Instructions
- In a small, shallow bowl, combine the pressed garlic and lemon juice. Stir to combine and spread it into an even layer so the juice can work its magic. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Let the mixture rest for 10 minutes, so the lemon juice can absorb the garlic’s flavor.
- Place a fine mesh strainer over another bowl. Using a silicone or rubber spatula, scoop the contents of the bowl into the strainer, then press on the garlic with the spatula to get as much juice out as possible. Discard the garlic.
- Stir the mayo into the garlicky lemon juice until combined. Taste, and adjust only if necessary—if the garlic flavor is overwhelming, stir in more mayonnaise by the tablespoon. If you want it to taste a little more interesting, add the Dijon mustard. For more tang, add another little squeeze of lemon juice.
- Aioli will keep well in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 10 days. It will thicken up more as it chills.
Liana
My family and I enjoyed this recipe on some Greek chicken skewers! Easy to make and the flavors were mild enough to balance out the chicken but definitely strong enough to just add some umph to the dish. Will be making it again!
★★★★★
Carl Jenkinson
I cheated on my wife Melinda last night just to try out this recipe. 10/10 would recommend!
★★★★★
Amethyste Reynolds
How long would this last in the fridge if wanting to make ahead and store? Please and thanks :)
Kate
Hi! See the last step. I hope you like it!
Jennifer Becker
My daughter just told me that I made the best sauce ever. Excellent. Thank you!
★★★★★
Lori Corradetti
Time Saver!!! This is great. No need to get my food processor out and since i am just mixing the two liquids together it’s easy to scale the recipe back for smaller portions.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you loved it, Lori! Thank you for your review.
Jackie
Wouldn’t change a thing! Was great on bbq’ed burgers with bacon cheese. Thanks for the recipe!
Riana
Fantastic! Only aioli recipe I saw on Google that took 15 minutes, and it’s so easy I nailed it first try! My family was fighting over who got to lick the spoon
★★★★★
lccasey
It was super easy and delicious – used it on artichoke hearts that I gave a little char to in the oven. Luckily I use Sir Kensington too!! I will definitely put this to good use in other recipes as well.
★★★★★
Kate
Sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing.
TARA M COGHLAN
I used this for my very first tortilla espańola. I put the garlic in a press, added it to the lemon juice with a squeeze of Dijon, Mayo and salt. I did not strain it and it is perfect. Can’t wait for lunch. And dinner.
★★★★★
Kate
That sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing, Tara.
Ron Peterson
I virtually exclusively microplane my garlic, super potent, and it’s almost a cream. A single clove goes a long way.
Sam
I made this as a burger sauce and a fry dipping sauce, and I thought this was very tasty but a touch too garlicky with 5 cloves. I would definitely make this again, but I will try 4 cloves next time for a more subtle garlic flavor.
★★★★
Erica Jackson
Tried this with Follow Your Heart brand Veganaise. One family member has an egg allergy so Mayo is out for us. It worked beautifully. this recipe is a keeper!
★★★★★
Roz
We loved it! One of our children (all adults) do not like mayonnaise. I didn’t tell her the ingredients. Thought she would share with her brother – she continued to dip her asparagus and exclaiming how delicious it tasted. The tip about the garlic worked out wonders! I saved the garlic to use again. Mahalo!
Rebel Blainey
Can this be a dipping sauce for onion rings
★★★★★
Lorri
This recipe is amazing! Made it exactly as directed and used Coleman’s powdered mustard… delicious with my asparagus fries
★★★★★
Cathy Oliver
This is absolutely addictive. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.
★★★★★
Ash
This recipe is amazing! I happened to make the sauce about 16 hours ahead, and we had it on a meal of grilled salmon, potatoes and steamed greens. Three generations of family absolutely loved it and fought each other for the last spoonful. I recommend letting the sauce sit to allow the garlic flavours to mellow a bit. Thank you Kate for this phenomenal addition to my repertoire!
Sharmon
I was looking for a dip for some zucchini fries I had made and came across this recipe. I’m vegan so i used vegan mayo instead of regular mayo and i used minced garlic. It was delicious!!! My boys asked for seconds just to get more of the aioli!! Bravo!! This recipe rocks!!
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Sharmon!
Charlotte
Planned to make tapas at home tonight with my husband and was dying to recreate aioli from our favourite tapas restaurant. Found a few recipes that called for a blender but can’t remember if we have one and that seemed like a huge faff just for a dip! I was super pleased to find this quick, easy recipe (if a little hesitant as I’m not sure I’d agree aioli tastes like mayonnaise and I didn’t want it to). Fast forward to our food coma post-tapas and had to leave a review to say this is awesome! Even better that it made enough for leftovers, yum!
Thank you so much
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Charlotte!
Kim
I use mayo made with olive oil and add basil garlic pesto to use as my sauce for Margherita pizza. I top it with plum tomatoes fresh mozzarella and after baking I put on fresh chopped basil. For my pizza crust I use whole grain Naan bread. So yummy.
LL
How about starting with olive oil mayo?
I’m trying to break down an aoli dipping sauce from a local restaurant and I think they may have used red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice. Any thoughts?
Kate
Hi LL! I recommend this recipe as written. I hope you try it!
Patrick Moore
This is a great recipe ! I didn’t use as much garlic, but my cloves were large. I also used the Magic Bullet to mix the garlic, salt, and lemon juice. I let it sit for about 20 minutes before adding mayonnaise, and did not remove garlic – mostly because it was so small. I am adventurous, and so I added the mustard……. wow, what a difference!
I did a ‘before and after’ taste test, and this Aioli is definitely better with the addition of mustard.
Thank You.
Keith Kreisher
Terrific! We used extra lemon juice, mustard, and two dashes of tobacco– licker a little kick in our airline, especially with crab cakes. Will do it again (and again)!
Juliet
My love of this recipe is pretty intense. I never make less than double. Grilled asparagus, roasted sweet potatoes and this aioli are in my top 5 favorite dinner.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Juliet! I appreciate your review.
Heather Kulaga
This was wonderful – I added some brown mustard, and drizzled it over baked salmon — perfect.
★★★★★
Mbj
I found this recipe in 2020 and use it for everything. My family loves it! Best easy aioli ever! Thank you for sharing this!
★★★★★
Kate
Love to hear that, MBJ! Thank you for sharing.
Mary
I look forward to making it this weekend for portabella mushroom burgers! I notice when you 2x or 3x the recipe, you do not increase the dijon. may I ask why?
Kate
Hi Mary, I’m sorry that seems to be doing that. You want to increase everything.