Vegan Sunflower Seed Mayo
Our Vegan Sunflower Seed Mayo recipe is nothing, if not a total dream come true, for an oil-free, gluten-free, whole food, plant–based vegan! For one thing, just like our deliciously easy recipe for Cashew Mayonnaise, it’s far healthier than store-bought vegan mayo. And to make this recipe even more irresistible, our sunflower mayo has even less saturated fat than our cashew mayo. Now that’s impressive!
Vegan Sunflower Seed Mayo uses only five ingredients and a blender! Now that’s easy! By whipping up this mayonnaise yourself, you get a creamy, tasty, mayo, filled with healthy fats, that tastes out of this world delicious!
Also, our Sunflower Seed Mayonnaise is decidedly raw. In this case, raw means that nothing in this mayo recipe is heated or cooked. All of the lovely ingredients in this recipe arrive with their nutrients intact. Neato!
It’s true that there are currently quite a few brands of ready-made dairy-free mayo available for purchase. So, no, you do not have to make your own mayonnaise. But trust us, you should make your own even if you aren’t wishing to avoid unnecessary oils, which deserves some thought. We’ve been wrapping our thinking around eating less refined oils over the past year or so and we’re already noticing some health benefits.
But allow us to clarify that when we say oil-free, we do not mean to suggest that it is fat-free. We hope that you know that fat is not all bad. Certain fats, those from plant-based whole foods, are even good for you! (The fat from many seeds and nuts happen to be mostly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated.)
Benefits of Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated Fats:
Eaten in moderation, mono, and polyunsaturated fats may help improve heart disease.
They also reduce the risk of stroke and prevent weight gain.
Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats also provide vitamin E. Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that is great for promoting positive cell growth and overall health.
So as tempting as it is after all of that good fat talk, we’re not going to go into great detail about the virtues of our Vegan Sunflower Seed Mayo. However, we do highly suggest the following:
Try a dollop straight from the blender after you’ve made it!
Maybe a blob of mayo doesn’t sound appealing to you if all you have ever tasted is factory packaged mayo. But taste and believe! There’s no need to spread it on anything or mix it with a salad. Just dip in, taste, and see how good it is! Then go ahead and slide a smear across your favorite cracker. And BAM; we bet you’ll never go back to oil-drenched store-bought mayo again!
When we were testing out this recipe, we started getting excited real quick! We shared samples with family members sans crackers, only a bite of homemade sunflower seed mayo, straight from the spoon. The reaction was spectacular! And get this, as mentioned above, our sunflower mayo has significantly fewer fat and calories than our original cashew mayo. Woo-wee!
Back when we made our first ever mayo recipe, we fell head over heels for our Raw Oil-Free Cashew Mayonnaise; it’s fabulous! And thank you for letting us know that you love it too!
With only 30 calories per tablespoon and 2.4 grams of fat, our cashew mayo blows the pants off of the competition! And now here’s our Vegan Sunflower Seed Mayo, raising the bar even higher on the nutrition side of plant-based vegan mayo! On that note, be sure to take a look at the nutritional info at the bottom of the recipe for the mind-blowing details.
And, by all means, Pin this recipe for safekeeping and share it with the world however you like to share good things! And follow us on Pinterest.
Happy eating!
Vegan Sunflower Seed Mayo
- 10Prep:
- 0Cook Time:
- Yield: 64 Servings
Our ultra creamy Vegan Sunflower Seed Mayo recipe makes about 4 cups or about 64 tablespoons of delicious plant-based, oil-free, mayonnaise. Use this exactly as you would any mayonnaise and savor knowing that it’s loaded with nutrients rather than empty calories! Add it to anything and everything with barely a shred of guilt. Now you have the ideal creamy base to make any plant-based, vegan, dressing or sauce! This mayonnaise tastes divine in our practically famous Coconut Curry Salad Wraps. It also works well in no-cook Tofu Curry in a Hurry and our 1-Bowl Super Simple Chickpea Salad. And if you’re ever looking for a veggie sandwich recipe that will take you over the edge of deliciousness, try this mayo in a Green Veggie Sandwich with Cucumber, Sprouts & Avocado – it’s a fabulously satisfying and hearty combination of no-cook flavors! And if you love creamy, dreamy cashews as much as we do, try this reader favorite mayo recipe a try sometime, too!
Ingredients
- 2 cups of raw unsalted hulled sunflower seeds, soaked, and rinsed
- 1 cup of water
- 2 to 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 6 tsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 5 tsp of apple cider vinegar - We use an organic brand called Braggs in most of our recipes.
- about 1 1/2 tsp of salt - We like to use this pink Himalayan sea salt.
Instructions
- Begin by preparing the sunflower seeds for blending by soaking. The quick method is to soak your sunflower seeds in hot water for around 20 minutes. If you have plenty of time for soaking, you may soak your sunflower seeds overnight using room temperature water and chilling the fridge. Generally speaking, the longer you immerse most varieties of nuts or seeds, the creamier they blend. In the case of sunflower seeds, they are not very large or hard, so a short soak in hot water is all they need to become creamy!
- Once the soaking method of choice is complete, drain and rinse the sunflower seeds and add them to a blender along with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth and a bit fluffy. We start low and slow and gradually increase the speed for super creamy results!
- Taste the mayo and add more salt, vinegar, or lemon juice based on preference. There's no need to add any thickeners. You may trust that your mayo will thicken up as it cools.
- Serve your Vegan Sunflower Seed Mayo immediately, or chill it first if you prefer your mayo cold and thick. This mayo will thicken up even more once it has chilled; it's a fantastically, spreadable, spread! Store your homemade oil-free mayo in a sealed container in the fridge for up to about a week - it keeps well. But chances are, once you taste this stuff, your homemade jar of mayo will be empty well before a week has passed.
Notes
- This recipe makes about four cups worth of mayo goodness so that there's plenty to use in your favorite recipes and have spread on your next sandwich. Making this larger quantity also makes getting the last drop of it out of the blender a far easier task.
Nutrition
% DV
- Total Fat 2.3 g 3 %
- Saturated Fat 0.2 g 1 %
- Cholesterol 0 mg 0 %
- Sodium 49.3 mg 2 %
- Carbohydrates 1 g 0 %
- Fiber 0.4 g 2 %
- Sugar 0.1 g ---
- Protein 0.9 g 2 %
- Vitamin A 0 %
- Vitamin C 0 %
- Iron 1 %
- Calcium 0 %
Vegan Sunflower Seed Mayo
BY VEEG.CO
Ingredients
- 2 cups of raw unsalted hulled sunflower seeds, soaked, and rinsed
- 1 cup of water
- 2 to 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 6 tsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 5 tsp of apple cider vinegar - We use an organic brand called Braggs in most of our recipes.
- about 1 1/2 tsp of salt - We like to use this pink Himalayan sea salt.
Instructions
- Begin by preparing the sunflower seeds for blending by soaking. The quick method is to soak your sunflower seeds in hot water for around 20 minutes. If you have plenty of time for soaking, you may soak your sunflower seeds overnight using room temperature water and chilling the fridge. Generally speaking, the longer you immerse most varieties of nuts or seeds, the creamier they blend. In the case of sunflower seeds, they are not very large or hard, so a short soak in hot water is all they need to become creamy!
- Once the soaking method of choice is complete, drain and rinse the sunflower seeds and add them to a blender along with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth and a bit fluffy. We start low and slow and gradually increase the speed for super creamy results!
- Taste the mayo and add more salt, vinegar, or lemon juice based on preference. There's no need to add any thickeners. You may trust that your mayo will thicken up as it cools.
- Serve your Vegan Sunflower Seed Mayo immediately, or chill it first if you prefer your mayo cold and thick. This mayo will thicken up even more once it has chilled; it's a fantastically, spreadable, spread! Store your homemade oil-free mayo in a sealed container in the fridge for up to about a week - it keeps well. But chances are, once you taste this stuff, your homemade jar of mayo will be empty well before a week has passed.
Notes
- This recipe makes about four cups worth of mayo goodness so that there's plenty to use in your favorite recipes and have spread on your next sandwich. Making this larger quantity also makes getting the last drop of it out of the blender a far easier task.
Leave a Comment
Comments
I made this over the weekend to use in a chickpea salad recipe. So happy with it! Very flavorful and creamy. I’ve also been spreading it on tofu scramble breakfast sandwiches, and found the flavor versatile enough to put a dollop on a bean burrito in place of store bought nondairy sour cream, since the ingredients are basically identical to the other recipe I have for cashew sour cream. My partner enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks for sharing, I’m definitely going to explore the rest of your recipes. 🙂
It’s so wonderful to read that you’ve found so many ways to use this wonderful mayo recipe, Jane! Thank you for commenting – looking forward to hearing about the next recipe you try. We have many new plant-based dishes lined up to share over the coming months – we’re excited and can’t wait to share them with you!
Thanks! Used this in potato salad and it worked out great!
BTW I threw a whole medium peeled lemon in the blender instead of just the lemon juice in case any WFPB people were wondering how that would go — went fine 🙂
Has anybody frozen some of this & used it later?
I’m with you, Beth – this sunflower seed mayo tastes excellent in potato salad – so nice to hear that you enjoy that way of using it, too! And about the whole peeled lemon instead of the juice – thank you for sharing that alternative – looking forward to trying it myself!
Love this! I added a tsp. of dijon mustard to the recipe. Made the best potato salad! chickpea curry salad coming up next!