Is Your Aioli Just Fancy Mayo?

Here’s a fun fact that might ruin your next brunch: roughly 80% of restaurant menus listing “aioli” are just serving you flavored mayonnaise with a European accent. And charging extra for it.

I’m not here to start a condiment war, but I am here to tell you that traditional aioli and mayonnaise are completely different things. Different ingredients, different textures, different vibe. Once you know the difference, you’ll never look at a $4 “house aioli” upcharge the same way again.

Mayo: The Reliable Friend

Let’s start with what you probably already have in your fridge. Mayo is simple: egg yolks whisked with neutral oil, a splash of acid (usually vinegar or lemon), and sometimes a little mustard. The egg yolks do all the heavy lifting, binding oil and water into that pale, creamy spread we slather on sandwiches without thinking twice.

Mayo is the Switzerland of condiments—neutral, stable, plays well with others. It’s the base for ranch, thousand island, and basically every creamy dressing you’ve ever loved. It doesn’t demand attention; it just makes everything else taste better.

But its Mediterranean cousin? Total opposite energy.

Traditional Aioli: Garlic With an Attitude

The name comes from Catalan: “al i oli” literally means garlic and oil. That’s it. That’s the whole ingredient list.

Traditional aioli is raw garlic cloves pounded with coarse salt until smooth, then olive oil added drop by drop while you stir like your life depends on it. The garlic itself creates the emulsion—no eggs involved.

The result? Intense doesn’t begin to cover it. It’s garlic turned up to eleven, backed by peppery olive oil. If you eat the real thing, your breath will make announcements for hours. (Ask me how I know. Actually, don’t. My partner still brings it up.)

The Great Restaurant Aioli Scam

Somewhere around 2010, restaurant kitchens figured out a neat trick: call your house mayo “aioli” and suddenly you can charge three extra dollars for a burger.

The word sounds fancy. European. Artisanal. Throw some garlic in the mayo and technically you’re not lying, you’re just… creatively interpreting.

Here’s the thing: real aioli uses garlic paste to bind olive oil. Mayo uses egg yolks. Modern restaurant “aioli” follows mayo’s playbook and adds garlic afterward. It’s fine! It’s tasty! But calling it aioli is like calling grilled cheese a croque monsieur because you used expensive bread.

How to spot the fake:

• At restaurants: Ask if the aioli contains eggs. If the server says yes (or “it’s basically garlic mayo”), mystery solved.
• At the grocery store: Check the ingredients. Eggs anywhere on the list = mayo based, no matter what the label claims. True aioli is rarely sold pre-made because the emulsion falls apart on shelves.

When to Use What

Traditional aioli is for bold food that can handle it: Mediterranean seafood, grilled lamb, tapas spreads, roasted vegetables where you want garlic to be the main character. It’s not a supporting player; it’s the star.

Mayo is for everything else: potato salad, coleslaw, sandwiches, delicate fish, anywhere you want creaminess without competition.

Garlic mayo (let’s just call it what it is) splits the difference. Great on burgers, fries, and roasted veggies when you want garlic flavor in an addictive smoky paprika sauce without the full raw garlic assault.

Oh, and bonus for my egg free friends: traditional aioli has no eggs. Just double-check labels if you’re buying something, because most store versions are mayo in disguise.

Make Your Own

Quick Mayo (3 minutes, seriously)

Combine 1 egg, 1 teaspoon Dijon, 1 tablespoon vinegar, a squeeze of lemon, pinch of salt, and 1 cup neutral oil in a jar. Stick an immersion blender in there, blend from the bottom up. Done. It’s almost embarrassingly easy.

Garlic Mayo (The Honest Version)

Make or buy mayo. Mince 1-2 garlic cloves into it, let it sit for 20-30 minutes, add salt and lemon to taste. That’s it. No pretense required.

The Real Deal Aioli

Pound 4 garlic cloves with half a teaspoon of coarse salt in a mortar until completely smooth. Add half a cup of extra virgin olive oil teaspoon by teaspoon at first, stirring constantly. Once it starts thickening, you can speed up slightly. Finish with a few drops of lemon juice if you want.

Fair warning: it might break on you the first time. If it does, start fresh with a new garlic salt paste and slowly whisk the broken mess into it to fix sauce separation. Room temperature ingredients and patience at the beginning will save you heartbreak.

Both sauces keep 3-4 days in the fridge. Raw egg means don’t leave homemade mayo out more than two hours—or use pasteurized eggs if that makes you nervous.

The Takeaway

Look, I’m not saying never order “aioli” at a restaurant again. Garlic mayo is delicious. I eat it all the time.

But now you know the difference. You can decide if that upcharge is worth it. You can make the real thing at home and experience garlic flavor that will genuinely knock you sideways (in the best way). And you can smugly correct people at dinner parties.

Okay, maybe don’t do that last one. But you could.