The Important Step That Will Prevent Your Aioli From Breaking - Tasting Table (2024)

The Important Step That Will Prevent Your Aioli From Breaking - Tasting Table (2)

The Important Step That Will Prevent Your Aioli From Breaking - Tasting Table (3)

The Important Step That Will Prevent Your Aioli From Breaking

The Important Step That Will Prevent Your Aioli From Breaking - Tasting Table (4)

Karlisz/Shutterstock

ByHeather Lim/

Making homemade aioliin your own kitchen can be a fun task, and it signals a bit of sophistication to any home cook. As with all emulsions, there are certain steps you must take to ensure that your aioli will come out smooth and buttery. A small prep step that can really help you get the perfect sauce is to dry your equipment thoroughly. Whether you're using a smoothie blender or a more high-powered food processor, you should dry away any water droplets or moisture that may be left in the device. As we all know, oil and water do not mix — in fact, they repel one another. Since an aioli is mostly made out of oil, any excess liquid at the beginning of the blending process can cause splitting or breaking.

If you find that your finished aioli came out too thick for your liking, you could always add in morewater later. Once the aioli has a creamy and smooth texture, it's much easier to incorporate additional liquids without having it split. But what do you do if you're mid-process when you realize you added too much water initially or started off with wet equipment?

Add in an extra egg yolk for creaminess

The Important Step That Will Prevent Your Aioli From Breaking - Tasting Table (5)

Chursina Viktoriia/Shutterstock

Aioli recipes may differ but most of them involve some type of acidic seasoning like lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, garlic, egg yolks, and oil. A runny, broken aioli is a very common problem that plagues kitchens everywhere, and there are several ways to troubleshoot it. In the case of having too much liquid in the beginning, be it in an extra squeeze of lemon juice or too much water, we recommend that you simply add an extra egg yolk. Egg yolks are high in fat, so the additional yolk will bring your mixture back to the proper ratio of fat to liquid and create a new starter for the aioli.

If you're halfway through adding oil, or you have a runny finished product, stop pouring in more oil. The egg yolk should be mixed with the acid and garlic first, and then oil can be added gradually as you blend. Once the extra yolk is fully incorporated with the rest of the ingredients, you can continue drizzling oil as you blend. Just make sure you're not pouring in lots of oil at once, since you will most likely end up with a pool of oil sitting on top of the egg yolk mixture. With an added egg yolk and a bit of patience, the split sauce will become the perfect aioli.

Recommended

The Important Step That Will Prevent Your Aioli From Breaking - Tasting Table (2024)

FAQs

The Important Step That Will Prevent Your Aioli From Breaking - Tasting Table? ›

Adding a small amount of water to the egg yolk (at room temperature) before you incorporate the oil helps prevent the sauce from separating or “breaking.” If the aïoli does separates, stop adding oil, but don't despair.

What causes aioli to split? ›

If your mixture splits it may be that you added the oil too quickly. If oil sits on top of the sauce it has broken. To rescue this you can blend a couple of teaspoons of boiling water. If this fails try whisking another egg yolk in a bowl and then slowly whisk in the split mixture.

What is an interesting fact about aioli? ›

Fun fact: Like many great sauces, the origins of aioli have been traced back to France, and the Provence region in particular. And its name basically means garlic and oil.

How do you keep mayonnaise from breaking? ›

Tips for avoiding broken mayonnaise
  1. use ingredients at room temperature;
  2. whisk the mixture vigorously and continuously: never stop whisking or blending and never change direction;
  3. always add the oil and (filtered) lemon juice or vinegar gradually and in the same part of the bowl.

What prevents mayonnaise from separating? ›

Well, mayonnaise contains an extra substance, called an emulsifier, which is used to unite the two immiscible ingredients to form a stable, usable emulsion. The emulsifier is made from a hydrophilic (water-loving) head and a hydrophobic (water-hating) tail, which work together to stop the oil from separating out.

How do you keep mayonnaise from separating? ›

Mayonnaise will often split if it is being mixed in a food processor or blender. The heat produced by the motor and speed can cause this to happen. To avoid a split sauce, use fridge cold ingredients and chilli the bowl in cold tap water before using.

How to rescue runny aioli? ›

When faced with watery aioli, employing specific techniques can remedy the consistency:
  1. Warm Water: Whisk in a few teaspoons of warm water to help re-emulsify the mixture.
  2. Adding More Oil: Gradually drizzle in additional oil while whisking vigorously to thicken the aioli.
Apr 3, 2024

What emulsifies aioli? ›

Aioli translates to “mayonnaise seasoned with garlic,” but it's much, much more than that. It's heaven-sent sauce. When the garlic, olive oil, and eggs are combined, these ingredients emulsify (aka combine fat with water) to create a luscious, creamy, and tangy sauce.

What are the risks of aioli? ›

Food safety implication 1: preparation of aioli from raw eggs, poor food handling. Many outbreaks of salmonellosis have been linked to products using raw eggs.

What does a broken aioli look like? ›

When making aioli, it's crucial to whisk in the oil slowly or the emulsion might "break". Here's what to look for and how to save it. If the mixture is thin and greasy instead of fluffy and creamy, or if oil seeps from the mixture or pools on top, it's broken.

What the heck is aioli? ›

Nowadays, the word aioli is pretty much synonymous with mayo, and is often just a simple mayonnaise (store-bought or homemade) that is flavored generously with garlic—a nod to its origins.

What do Americans call aioli? ›

Kidding aside, American eating has essentially defined aioli as fancy flavored mayo, usually flavored with garlic but also blended with everything from black truffles to chipotle chiles. In France and Spain, though, aioli is a different sauce entirely.

What causes broken mayonnaise? ›

Why Mayo Breaks:
  1. Too much oil was added at once. A lot of the time, if you add all of the oil at once, it is too much for the egg to take and it won't emulsify.
  2. Blender / immersion blender isn't strong enough for all the oil at once.
  3. Adding oil too fast.
Mar 13, 2023

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Rubie Ullrich

Last Updated:

Views: 6767

Rating: 4.1 / 5 (72 voted)

Reviews: 95% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Rubie Ullrich

Birthday: 1998-02-02

Address: 743 Stoltenberg Center, Genovevaville, NJ 59925-3119

Phone: +2202978377583

Job: Administration Engineer

Hobby: Surfing, Sailing, Listening to music, Web surfing, Kitesurfing, Geocaching, Backpacking

Introduction: My name is Rubie Ullrich, I am a enthusiastic, perfect, tender, vivacious, talented, famous, delightful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.