The best vegan aioli is creamy and garlicky, made with simple ingredients and ready in minutes. Perfect as a dip, dressing, spread or topping.
This vegan aioli, also known simply as ‘garlic mayonnaise’ is just perfect.
It’s wonderful as a dip for your fries, sweet potato fries or roasted veggies, to spread on sandwiches or as a topping for vegan burgers.
Aioli is usually made with olive oil, garlic and egg yolks. Since this is a vegan aioli we’ve omitted the egg yolks but we’ve gone ahead and used the garlic and the olive oil. So it’s close enough (sort of).
I didn’t use a lot of olive oil though because when blended, olive oil can become bitter. And when emulsifying mayonnaise, too much olive oil can end up with a slightly bitter flavor.
So I went with avocado oil as the base with only a little olive oil added in. Crushed garlic provides all the garlic flavor you need and a little dijon mustard and paprika provide extra delicious flavor and create the gorgeous color.
You’ll also love our homemade vegan mayo recipe.
How To Make Vegan Aioli
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
Add aquafaba (chickpea water), dijon mustard, salt, lemon juice, crushed garlic, avocado oil, olive oil, maple syrup and paprika to a measuring jug.
Use an immersion blender (handheld blender) to blend it directly in the jug.
It will start to emulsify and thicken into aioli.
And there you have it! Thick creamy garlic mayonnaise (aioli).
Transfer to a jar and store it in the fridge.
Serving Suggestions
We’ve been enjoying this aioli on top of vegan burgers a LOT lately and of course, as a dip for fries.
It’s going to be pretty amazing no matter where you use it though, as a spread, as a dip for chips, roasted veggies or fries, as a dressing or as a topping for your vegan burgers or vegan steaks. Basically there’s not a lot of things that wouldn’t be enhanced by a little of this delicious vegan garlic mayo!
Storing Instructions
Keep your vegan aioli stored in a sealed jar in the fridge and consume within 5 days.
More Delicious Vegan Side Dishes
- Vegan Yum Yum Sauce
- Vegan Chipotle Sauce
- Cashew Cream
- Vegan Sour Cream
- Vegan Tartar Sauce
- Vegan Ranch Dressing
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Aioli
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons Aquafaba (45ml) Liquid from a can of chickpeas
- 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 2 teaspoons Crushed Garlic
- 1 cup Avocado Oil (240ml)
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil Extra Virgin
- 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
- ¼ teaspoon Paprika
Instructions
- Add aquafaba, dijon mustard, salt, lemon juice, crushed garlic, avocado oil, olive oil, maple syrup and paprika to a measuring jug.
- Use an immersion blender (handheld blender) to blend it into aioli.
Notes
- Aquafaba. This usually translates to about quarter of what you would get from a regular 15 ounce (425g) can of Chickpeas. You can throw the rest away or keep it for other uses.
- Avocado oil. I really like the neutral flavor of avocado oil as the base for this aioli, but if you want to experiment with different oils you can do so with differing taste results. I would recommend not to use more olive oil than directed as the process of blending olive oil can make it turn bitter.
- Quantity: This recipe makes around 1 and ½ cups of aioli.
- Storing: Keep your aioli stored in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Can you freeze this?
Hi Kathy, no, unfortunately it doesn’t freeze well.
Easy and tasty! Thank you so much for this recipe. Used it for grilled vegetable sandwiches
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Sara!
How long will this keep? I will make this but if it is as good as it looks I hate to toss out leftovers.
5 days in the fridge. 🙂
Mine hasn’t thickened up? Any ideas of what could have happened?
Thanks!
Hi Jack, so sorry to hear that! Did you use a hand blender? I have never had it not work, but I know there is much more variance between full blenders than there is with hand blenders so a hand blender is the safest bet for this recipe.
Easy to make and delicious! Very happy with the result, thanks Alison.
Awesome! Thanks Christine. 🙂
Super creamy and delicious 🙂
This is best aioli I’ve ever had including the standard egg based ones
Awesome! So glad to hear that, thanks Alex! 🙂
My family and I absolutely love this recipe. Mine didn’t come out the same color though. Not sure why, but in any case it was delicious. I made it with baked sweet potato fries.
Hi Yvette, so glad you liked it! I think the color in mine came from the paprika, and apparently paprika is not always super red (as mine is), so I think that could be why your color was a little different, but as long as it tasted good, and baked sweet potato fries are fabulous with this! Thanks so much for the wonderful review. xo
Can I Sub the chickpea water for anything else? If no, do you have any alternatives to this?
Thx!
Hi Jules, I haven’t tried it with anything else. You could maybe try unsweetened soy milk in the same quantity, but I’m not entirely sure it will work.
This looks fantastic! I haven’t tried making veganised aioli since going vegan, so will definitely be saving this recipe to try later. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I will definitely try this sauce but, I have to say this or the catalan in me will explode:
Allioli is, in its origin, vegan. Allioli it’s a catalan compound word that literaly means “garlic and oil” – garlic (all) i (and) oli (oil). Some people add the egg yolk because then the emulsion is easier, but let’s be honest, that’s cheating. Then you end up with a garlicky mayonaise.
So, that’s all I wanted to say, I hope it doesn’t come across as rude, is just that I wanted to share this 🙂
Thanks for all your great recipes!
Nora 🙂
Interesting! Thanks for sharing! 🙂 I have removed the word ‘traditionally’ from my post, I was operating from false info!
Thanks Alison, or gràcies, in catalan ?
Now that I have read your edit, I’ve looked it up and I see that the misconception is pretty common in the english speaking areas. I guess I have a lot of work to do! ahahaha
No really, thank for being so kind, I just wanted to share this small piece of my culture.
Better explained info to whoever may concern:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aioli
Hello!
Another Catalan here 🙂 (although almost 3 years later!)
Nora is completely right (I was looking through the comments in case no one had mentioned that already :))
The saddest part is that at most “traditional” restaurants in Catalonia, egg yolk is added to ease the emulsion. That means I rarely can have Allioli alongside some Cannelini beans 🙁
So useful for dips and gratifyingly attractive!