Name: Tasty Vegan Mayo
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups medium-firm or firm silken tofu (you can use regular tofu, but it will be a bit grainy); 2 tbsp natural, light oil, like sunflower; up to 1/2 cup water (depending on how watery the tofu is); 1 1/2 tsp yellow mustard; 1 tsp minced garlic; 1/4 of an onion, minced; 1/4 tsp white pepper; 1 1/4 tsp sea salt; 1 tbsp lemon juice; 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar; 2 tsp granulated beet sugar (optional); 1 tbsp finely ground raw cashews

Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Sunflower + mustardtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together233 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Sunflower + lemontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together352 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,053 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Silken tofu: Provides the creamy body and emulsified base that replaces egg.
Oil: Adds richness and fat for a smooth, thick texture.
Yellow mustard: Helps stabilise the emulsion and adds tang.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens flavour and sharpens the sauce.
Apple cider vinegar: Adds acidity that balances richness and gives a tangy bite.

The step that matters

Whip until smooth. Blending the tofu, oil and water thoroughly builds a stable, creamy emulsion. Under-blending leaves a grainy or separated texture, while the water should be added gradually so the mixture does not become thin.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tofu, sunflower, mustard, garlic, onion, lemon, apple cider vinegar):

Thymefits better
Turmericfits better
Cuminfits better
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tofu, sunflower, mustard, garlic, onion, lemon, apple cider vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Sunflower	1 oz (28g) hulled	165
Cashew	1 oz (28g / ~18 nuts)	157
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Tofu	100g firm	76
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Beet	1/2 cup (85g)	35
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

Tasty Vegan Mayo

Tasty Vegan Mayo

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mayo

Store

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)