Once you try Japanese Mayonnaise, you’ll never go back. It has a rich egg flavor, a tangy and sweet taste, and is creamier in color and texture than regular mayonnaise. And just like any Japanese creation, it scores high on the umami factor.
Japanese mayonnaise (マヨネーズ) better known as Kewpie mayo—is a pantry staple in almost every Japanese household. Known for its richer egg flavor and umami goodness, Japanese mayo has become a cult favorite among foodies worldwide. David Chang, the famous chef and founder of the Momofuku restaurant group, even calls it “the best mayonnaise in the world.” I have to agree!
Thanks to its popularity, you can easily find Japanese mayonnaise outside of Japan these days. However, if you wish to make a homemade version, I have two recipes: One is made from scratch, and the other is a short-cut version using ready-made mayonnaise.
Table of contents
What is Japanese Mayonnaise (Kewpie Mayo)?
When most people mention Japanese mayonnaise, they refer to the most popular brand, Kewpie Mayo. It was invented in 1924 by Toichiro Nakashima, who first discovered mayonnaise on his visit to the U.S. and decided to introduce his own mayonnaise so the Japanese people would enjoy it.
Today, Kewpie mayo has become synonymous with Japanese mayonnaise. Everyone recognizes it for its signature squeeze plastic bottle with a Kewpie doll logo and a red cap.
The Japanese are obsessed with this condiment as we use it on sandwiches, okonomiyaki, rice bowls, fusion sushi, salad dressings, and even pizza. In fact, when I was growing up, there were limited choices of dressings, so we used to eat our salad with a dollop of Kewpie mayo (oh, the good old days!)
Many JOC readers told me they were never into American mayo, but they would only use Kewpie mayo as they are enamored by its slightly tangy, creamy, light, yet umami flavor.
What is the Difference Between Japanese Mayo and Regular Mayo?
So, what is Japanese mayo all about and why is it so famous? How does it taste differently?
You’ll first notice that Japanese mayo has a more prominent eggy taste with a hint of fruity sweetness. The texture is also thicker and creamier than regular mayo.
Japanese mayo uses only egg yolks to create a deeper yellow color and a custard-like texture that is smooth and luxurious, as opposed to regular American mayonnaise, which uses whole eggs. While distilled vinegar is used in American brands, Kewpie incorporates rice vinegar and apple cider vinegar to lend a sweeter and subdued tang.
As the flavor is more rounded and packed with umami, it’s no wonder Kewpie mayo is the must-have ingredient in many iconic Japanese dishes!
Where to Buy Japanese Mayo
You can find Japanese mayo, especially the Kewpie brand, at most Japanese or Asian grocery stores or online. Some well-stocked mainstream grocery stores such as Costco, Walmart, and Target might carry it too. If you live outside the U.S., you can find it at Daiso (if there’s one near you) or online.
Note that other brands of Japanese mayonnaise are also sold in a plastic squeeze bottle with a fine tip. The unique tip design allows you to spread the mayo on anything and to create zigzag patterns on okonomiyaki (see picture above). Look for the Kewpie doll logo on the bottle if you only want to purchase the Kewpie brand mayo.
Try my homemade mayo if you can’t find it or prefer to make your own!
7 Important Tips Before Making Japanese Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise is an emulsion of oil, egg yolk, and vinegar. Oil and water in the yolk are a mixture of two liquids that normally can’t be combined.
Emulsifying is done by slowly adding one ingredient to another while mixing rapidly. This disperses and suspends tiny droplets of one liquid through another. Proteins and lecithin in the egg yolk serve as emulsifiers.
Here are a few tips you need to know:
1. Use vegetable, safflower, grapeseed oil, or canola oil
Never use old oil or extra virgin olive oil, as it won’t emulsify well.
2. Make sure the egg yolks are at room temperature
Molecules in cold egg yolks get separated easily, which makes them less ideal for mixing.
3. Use mustard
Not sure about adding mustard? It’s not included just for the taste but also to further stabilize the emulsion as it contains small amounts of lecithin.
4. Add dashi powder for umami flavor
Kewpie mayo includes monosodium glutamate (MSG), which gives an umami flavor. Since I don’t keep a bag of Ajinomoto (the famous MSG brand) at home, I add dashi powder instead to boost a similar umami flavor. The umami from kombu and Katsuobushi in the dashi powder works in the mayonnaise.
5. Gently pour in the oil in a thin, steady stream
Adding oil too quickly will keep the two liquids from combining (emulsifying); hence, you want to pour the oil into a thin and steady stream when combined with the rest of the mixture.
6. Use a blender, mixer, or food processor
The key to making delicious mayonnaise is how small you make the oil molecules. Store-bought mayonnaise may taste better and lighter because household blender/mixer/food processor is not as powerful as commercial ones.
Still, it’s better to use equipment if you already have one in your kitchen. Using a tool helps churn your homemade mayonnaise much faster and more consistently (less arm work, too).
7. Use pasteurized egg yolks or very fresh egg yolks
Pasteurized eggs can reduce or eliminate the risk of being infected by the salmonella bacteria when preparing recipes that call for raw or uncooked eggs (Roughly one egg out of every 20,000 eggs will contain salmonella). If you have an immersion circulator, you can purchase pasteurized eggs or make your own. Also, the quality of the eggs makes a difference. Use fresh, local organic eggs if possible.
The Easy Version: Quick Japanese Mayo
Not everyone has the time to make homemade mayonnaise from scratch. The good news is you can take a shortcut by adding rice vinegar and sugar to the American mayonnaise. So don’t throw away your Hellmann’s Mayonnaise just yet. It’s not precisely the same, but consider this your easy hack when replicating the taste of Kewpie mayo.
For 1 cup of American mayonnaise, whisk together 2 Tbsp rice vinegar and 1 Tbsp sugar.
For 1 Tbsp of American mayonnaise, whisk together ½ tsp rice vinegar and ⅛ tsp sugar.
Signature Japanese Recipes Using Japanese Mayo
- Japanese Egg Sandwich (Tamago Sando)
- Takoyaki
- Okonomiyaki
- Karaage
- Japanese Potato Salad
- California Roll
- Japanese Kani Salad
Also, don’t forget to check out my super easy Spicy Mayo recipe! It’s so good in lobster rolls and sushi rolls like dragon rolls.
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Japanese Mayonnaise (Kewpie Mayo)
Ingredients
- 2 pasteurized egg yolks (at room temperature; from the market, or pasteurize eggs at home)
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1½ cups neutral oil
- 1 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 2 tsp sugar (plus more, to taste)
- ½ tsp dashi powder
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar (unseasoned)
- 4 tsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Before You Start: This recipe calls for pasteurized egg yolks. If you cannot find pasteurized eggs, use the best, freshest eggs you can find for this recipe. You can also follow my tutorial to pasteurize your eggs using an immersion circulator.
- Gather all the ingredients. Tip: If you reduce the recipe ingredients, there won’t be enough volume for the food processor or blender to do its work, so you may need to hand whisk the ingredients (or use a hand mixer or immersion blender).
- Make sure the egg yolks are at room temperature. Put 2 pasteurized egg yolks and 2 tsp Dijon mustard into the bowl of a food processor or a blender; I used a food processor with a 3-cup bowl for one batch (yields 2 cups) of this recipe. Process for 20 seconds. Tip: Mustard adds flavor and helps to emulsify the mixture, reducing the risk of the mayonnaise breaking.
- With the food processor running, SLOWLY drizzle about one-third of the 1½ cups neutral oil in a thin, steady stream—about ½ cup oil for one batch of mayonnaise. The mixture will begin to thicken and emulsify. Tip: If you add the oil too fast, it won’t emulsify.
- Add 1 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, 2 tsp sugar, and ½ tsp dashi powder and give everything a whirl again.
- Continue to add another one-third of the oil in a thin, steady stream. I use the Stir setting while adding the oil.
- Finally, add 2 Tbsp rice vinegar (unseasoned), 4 tsp fresh lemon juice, and the remaining one-third of the oil and process for an extra 10 seconds, just until the ingredients are combined and emulsified. Tip: Don’t blend the mayonnaise too long, as homemade mayonnaise comes together pretty quickly in the food processor or blender. When blended too long, the emulsion that brought the spread together is more likely to break, either from overprocessing or overheating.
- Taste the mayonnaise and adjust with salt, sugar, or lemon juice to your liking. I personally added 2 more teaspoons of sugar for a total of 4 teaspoons for one batch.
To Store
- You can keep the mayonnaise in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for about 4 days.
Do you have to use dashi powder?
Hi Anaya! Japanese popular brand Kewpie Mayo includes MSG (monosodium glutamate), which gives the umami flavor. And to make a similar taste, Nami added MSG-free dashi powder to give umami flavors from kombu and katsuobushi (smoked and dried bonito flakes).
Instead, you can try adding crushed katsuobushi (bonito flakes). We hope this helps!
Nami, as always, I appreciate your website and how you and your staff respond to our many questions. Do you know if the Kewpie Mayonnaise (store bought) has any onion or garlic in it at all???? I have to stay away from those ingredients and some American mayo has it in its flavorings. Thank you!
Hi Marge, Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and for your kind feedback!
We had looked up the Kewpie website, but it said “spice extracts (some include eggs, soybeans, and apples)” and not too sure Onion and Garlic is part of it or not. Sorry, we couldn’t be much of your help…😔
We hope this homemade mayonnaise would work for you.
Does not taste like kewpie mayo. Too sweet and too acidic.
Hi Christian, We are sorry to hear that this didn’t meet your expectation.
We hope you can adjust the sugar amount and lemon or vinegar amount to your liking and enjoy the homemade mayonnaise.
Thank you for trying this recipe and for your feedback.
Japanese Mayo is kind of a cross between American mayonnaise and Miracle Whip, or salad dressing. It reminds me of that. Thank you for the recipe! I have a bottle of QP, but I’ve been cutting out the additives. This is perfect!
Hi Charlotte, We hope you enjoy this homemade recipe!
Thank you for trying the JOC recipe.
Hello!
I don’t have dashi powder on hand, but I do have a large bag of bonito flakes. Could I grind the flakes to make a powdered katsuo dashi?
I also have an “umami” powder which has a bit of a mushroom taste to it. Would that possibly work? We love making egg salad with kewpie mayo, just it’s spendy in my area of Texas!
Hi Katrina! Thank you very much for trying this recipe!
Grind Katsuobushi flakes may work for this recipe, but we have never tested it before.
We recommend trying adding 1/8 tsp and see how it goes for your taste. We hope this works!
Hi! I have diabetes, can i replace the sugar with any sweetener? Thank you. 🙂
Hi Bogi, We haven’t tried it before, but we think it will work for this recipe. Let us know how it goes!
Total failure. I cook a lot, followed the recipe to a T. Ended up with liquid I had to toss. Sad. I even used the hole in the column of the food processor trick.
Hi Tristan, We’re sorry to hear that this recipe didn’t turn out for you.😞
Our recipes have been carefully and repeatedly tested before we publish them. Please read the tips Nami provided in the blog post and recipe one more time. As Nami mentioned in the recipe, the emulsion that brought the spread together is more likely to break if you blend them too long, and the result will be a liquid sauce.
Thank you very much for trying this recipe.
I’m not sure what went wrong, I followed all the tips. Brought my egg to room temp in a bath of warm water, used the hole in the food processor to make a steady stream etc. It never even got close to coming together. Remained thin liquid the entire time.
Hi Tristan, I see… Do you think your food processor is too big for the quantity you made?
As Nami mentioned in Step 1, If you’re using a blender or food processor, we recommend DOUBLE the recipe or use a smaller food processor. When making too small of a batch in the blender or food processor, the ingredients don’t have enough volume for the machine to do the work. I wish I could be of more help.
Hi, what about the speed of the blender/processor? Does that make a difference? I have 1 with only 1 speed though I can go out and buy a different one
Hi Stephen, As Nami mentioned in step 6, the Mayonnaise does not need to blend for too long, so one speed will do the job.
Thank you for trying this recipe!
My actual question is, does the speed need to be slow or fast or does it not matter at all.
Hi Stephen, Sorry! The answer was not clear for you.
You can make this with one speed. The key is how slow you add the oil to the mix.
Is it okay to freeze this recipe?
Hi James, Unfortunately, we do not recommend storing it in the freezer. When Mayonnaise reaches below freezing temperature, the oil and other ingredients will separate when you defrost them. Hope this helps.
My go to mayo recipe! I use my kitchenaid and thus recipe never fails me. Thank you 😊
Brandie, We are glad to hear you enjoy homemade Japanese Mayonnaise. Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. ☺️
Awesome..👍🏽! I wanted to buy Kewpie but I have an allergy to MSG.. you’re recipe is heaven sent. I’m not Japanese and never been to Japan but crave the food.
Thanks so much🙏🙏🙏
Hi JaneV, Yay! We are so glad to hear this recipe worked out well for you! Thank you for your kind feedback.☺️
I did not understand this step: ” is how small you make the oil molecules”.
Make the molecules smaller? Are we making a neutron star or something?
Kind regards,
Rick Spierenburg
Hi Rick,
This means to beat oil and egg well together. If you mix well, you will not see the separation and flavor are better.
We hope this helps.😉
I haven’t attempted yet but I am curious, you say if we can’t find pasteurized eggs, we should use the freshest eggs possible. Do my fresh laid chicken eggs count as super fresh or should I go for store bought? I know store bought aren’t always the freshest so figured I would check before I make it.
Love love LOVE your recipes! I have been diving into the Japanese cooking in the last year and so far our favorite of yours is the Japanese Beef Curry! SO DELISH! We always check your recipes first when learning a new dish!
Hi Beth,
WOW! We are so jealous! You are so lucky to have freshly laid chicken eggs! That is super fresh and yummy!😋
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and your kind feedback!
I havev never tasted Kewpi, I think the price is outrageous. I follow this recipe to the tee and always get excellent results. I love the tase of it, today I added some cayenne pepper to my new batch and it kicked it up a notch. Next batch I will add some fresh grated garlic. Yum Yum, thank you Nami.
Hi Lola,
Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. We’re pleased to hear you enjoyed the Mayonnaise!
Thank you for sharing your cooking experience and tips with us!
Buna, nu stiu cum este maiaua in SUA dar in partea de est a Europei se face maiaua din 2galbenusuri tari de la 2 oua fierte si un galbenus crud, 1 lingurita mustar, ulei neutru, suc de lamaie, sare , piper sau un pis de boia de ardei pentru culoare – optional . Maiaua se poate amesteca cu ceapa verde pentru crema de conopida, cu usturoi pentru salata de carofi fierti sa simpla pentru crema de peste afumat.
Multa sanatate si numai bucurii.
Buna! Vă mulțumim că ne-ați împărtășit sfatul!