How Healthy Is Vegan Mayo Compared to Regular Mayo?

 Plant-based diets are becoming more popular, but there are some foods that have become staples and are hard to give up. Mayonnaise is a perfect example. Alternatives are available in most cases, but are overly processed. Vegan mayo is available, but is it healthier than its egg-based counterpart? We will discuss how healthy vegan mayonnaise is, as well as how it compares to regular egg-based mayo in this article.

How is vegan mayo made?

In order to determine whether vegan mayo is a healthier option, we need to look at its ingredients. While different brands may use slightly different ingredients, the basic recipe remains the same: vegetable oil and vinegar.

The following is a comprehensive list of vegan mayonnaise's common ingredients:

Vegetable oil

Depending on the brand, you may encounter rapeseed oil, soybean oil, olive oil, or coconut oil. Rapeseed oil is one of the most commonly used oils to make vegan mayo, and is used by brands such as Hellman's, Heinz, and Follow Your Heart. Biona uses sunflower oil in their Egg Free Mayonnaise, another popular choice for vegan mayo.

Spirit Vinegar

In essence, this is regular vinegar but with a higher level of acetic acid. It is usually made from sugar cane and is made via a double fermentation process.

Apple Cider Vinegar

This type of vinegar is made from apples as the name suggests. Yeast is added to crushed apples, fermenting the sugar and creating alcohol. Bacteria is then added to further ferment the alcohol, thereby creating acetic acid.

Aquafaba

A great substitute for eggs, aquafaba is the water in which chickpeas have been cooked or soaked.

Yellow Mustard Flour

Grinding mustard seeds from specific plants into a powder is what constitutes yellow mustard powder. It provides a good flavour and is also used as a binding agent.

Sweetener

Most vegan mayos include a sweetening agent which is usually sugar or natural sweeteners such as brown rice syrup or agave syrup.

Other ingredients

Some of the more popular vegan mayo brands use natural colourings and flavors, as well as preservatives (citric acid, calcium disodium EDTA) and thickeners, usually wheat flour or an alternative flour.

Vegan vs regular mayo – Ingredients comparison

Essentially, the texture and flavor when an egg is emulsified with oil provide the base for the typical flavor of regular mayo.

vegan mayonnaise is completely free from dairy and traditionally, so is regular mayo. But what makes the latter not to be vegan friendly? Eggs. In a nutshell, the main ingredient that differentiates vegan mayo and regular mayo is the eggs used in the recipe.

The vegan alternative has much the same texture as regular mayo. A lot of the base ingredients are the same too, including oil, vinegar, salt, sugar, lemon juice and water.

Have you ever noticed how some of the cheaper brands don’t taste quite right, or have a strange aftertaste and are not always pleasant? Well, that very often has to do with the main ingredients – using cheap oils and eggs from caged hens that are not fed a healthy diet but are kept to produce as many eggs as possible in as short a time as possible. Many of the bigger brands will exclusively use free-range eggs however and make this clear on their packaging.

Some of the ingredients in vegan mayo could be considered healthier than regular mayo, but it seems to depend on the brand and what makes up their specific recipe.

Are the ingredients all certified organic? Is the recipe using as few ingredients but with the highest quality possible? Just a couple of many questions that can be asked when pondering the health of vegan mayo.

Some brands will use stabilizers and artificial colors, whereas others use natural colors and natural flavorings.

If you’re reading this article, your health is obviously important to you. Choosing a vegan mayo or a regular mayo is a matter of being aware of what makes up your mayo, reading the labels and choosing based on health rather than on price tag.

Vegan mayo vs regular mayo - Nutritional values

We need to compare the nutritional values of vegan mayo and regular mayo in order to determine whether vegan mayo is healthier.

Let's start with fat. Many mayos are high in omega 3, and some are high in fat. There is no need to pick up two bottles of mayonnaise and compare them label for label, fat content for fat content.  We need to dig a little deeper. How much fat is there in total? How much saturated fat is there? What about the monounsaturated? What about the polyunsaturated? Vegan mayo is also sometimes mistakenly thought of as low-fat compared to regular mayonnaise, but this isn't always the case.

The carbohydrate content follows. You'll be aware of carbohydrates and sugars in any food if you have digestive issues. Perhaps you follow a ketogenic diet and count carbs. Some mayonnaise brands contain high levels of sugar, which may surprise you since many of us consider mayonnaise to be a low-carb food.

In general, but not always, vegan mayo brands have a higher level of carbs and sugars than regular mayo. Where vegan mayo tends to shine though, is in the level of protein. Again, depending on the brand, vegan mayo typically has more protein than regular mayo.

Salt content tends to be an average across all vegan and regular mayos.