The Simple Way To Transform Mayo Into A Garlicky Aioli

While they may look interchangable and have a similar texture and consistency, mayonnaise and aioli are not strictly the same. Mayonnaise is made using egg yolks and olive oil. Meanwhile, in restaurants along the Mediterranean coast, traditional aioli recipes contain just finely pureed garlic, olive oil, and salt, with perhaps a just kiss of lemon juice.

While whipping up some fresh aioli is well worth the effort, especially for garlic lovers, not everybody is going to have the time and energy to start from scratch. As aioli is made with chopped garlic, it takes a fair amount of effort to mince this up and smoothly mix the ingredients to create an emulsified sauce. Luckily, the frequent confusion between mayonnaise and aioli means that, if you have some store-bought or homemade mayo on hand, you can pretty easily tweak it to resemble aioli by adding garlic and lemon juice to your sauce.

Crushed garlic cloves are the key to an easy peel-and-mince and will help you get a good aioli flavor with less effort. Remove two or three cloves from your whole garlic bulb, smash them with the flat side of a kitchen knife, and remove the loosened peel. Another easy garlic peeling hack is to flatten the bulb to separate the cloves and then give them a hard shake inside a sealed container until the peel falls away. 

Sprinkle a pinch of salt in with your diced garlic and use the flat side of the knife again to smear the garlic into a fine paste on your board. This may take a few minutes, but working the garlic this way will reduce the strong, bitter taste and leave you with a delicious aromatic base. You don't want a chunky garlic sauce as this will contain pockets of overpowering flavor. If you have a mortar and pestle at home, this is a great tool for effectively mashing garlic.

Once smooth, scrape your garlic paste into a small bowl along with roughly 1 cup of mayonnaise, 2 ½ teaspoons of fresh lemon juice, and around ¼ teaspoon salt. Mix this until thoroughly blended. Cover the dish and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors settle, then enjoy with some crispy bread and salad or as an unconventional dip for mozzarella sticks.