Reverse-Engineered Product: Vegan Mayonnaise

I never wanted to do this.

I never wanted to be that vegan blogger who tells you to make your own ingredients before you start cooking or baking. When I launched this website in 2023, my goal was to keep vegan formulae and techniques as close to conventional ones as I could.

I thus embarked on product reviews. Plug-and-play substitutions, I reasoned, would empower my readers and me to tackle any recipe whether it listed animal products or not.

And then reality hit.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

In a short amount of time, several of my product reviews demanded updating:

1. A new vegan mayonnaise entered the plant-based scene.
2. Ener-G Foods ceased production.
3. Country Crock updated their non-dairy line.
4. Trader Joe’s discontinued their Vegan Heavy Whipping Cream Alternative.

I also collected data for a vegan vanilla ice cream review, but by the time I was ready to type it, my favorite pint had permanently disappeared from Aldi’s shelves.

Crunching the Numbers

Mathematics is thankfully a strength of mine. Between the Nutrition Facts and Ingredients of my winning plant-based mayonnaises (Hellman’s and Chosen Foods), I was able to calculate the proportions for a theoretical test recipe that I refined through more taste and bake tests.

Is this recipe an exact combination of your winning products?

In a word, no. I leaned on components US bakers can easily source using things like aquafaba and dried ground turmeric instead of modified food starch and paprika extract.

The result is a combination that tastes and bakes well, and is economically sound to boot!

Back to the Future

I will continue to conduct reviews, but the goal of them has been extended. Instead of looking for recommendations to make, I will be seeking products to copy.

Learning to create outstanding substitutions with common ingredients will future-proof my recipes ensuring we can make them for years to come!

Reverse-Engineered Product: Vegan Mayonnaise

Author: Does It Vegan? Cuisine:French Western European Variable Courses:Sauces and Condiments

Description

A tall, narrow vessel and immersion blender are imperative! Even a high-speed blender won’t create the vortex required to emulsify.

Double this recipe for Chocolate “Mayonnaise” Cake!

makes 1 cup (240 mL/227 g)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (180 mL/168 g) vegetable or canola oil
• 2 1/2 Tbsp (37.5 mL/g) aquafaba (2 Tbsp + 1 1/2 tsp)
• 1 Tbsp (15 mL/g) fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tsp (7.5 mL/g) distilled white vinegar
• 3/4 tsp (3.75 mL) kosher salt (or about half as much table salt)
• 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) sugar
• <1/16 tsp dried ground turmeric (a scant pinch, optional)

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in a tall, narrow vessel.
2. Hold immersion blender against bottom of vessel. Hold while blending for 5-10 sec, until mixture turns mostly white, then slowly move blender up and down for another 15-20 sec, until uniformly combined.
3. Transfer “mayonnaise” to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 2 wks.

It will probably last much longer! Two weeks is the general food safety limit.

Notes

• Seriously, make Chocolate “Mayonnaise” Cake with this vegan mayonnaise.

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