Sometimes, changing up a traditional recipe comes at the expense of taste. Does the thought of replacing mayonnaise with Greek yogurt, which is a popular eggless alternative, make your taste buds squirm? Well, there’s a way to have your cake and eat it too. In other words, Just Mayo is a trending mayonnaise alternative that stays true — or is pretty close — to the tangy flavor of traditional mayonnaise, and offers nutrition that slightly edges out your typical mayo offering. Just Mayo comes in four flavors: original, chipotle, garlic and sriracha.
What is Hampton Creek? The Company Behind Eggless Mayo
San Francisco is known for its innovative startups, so it’s no wonder why people have about Hampton Creek, the company behind Just Mayo, and why they set up shop in this bustling city. Founded at the end of 2011, Hampton Creek believes that eating well should be affordable. Just Mayo is Hampton Creek’s bread and butter, so to speak. The condiment is the company’s most well-known product, and it has been making headlines as an eggless alternative to traditional mayonnaise. Unlike traditional mayonnaise that consists of egg yolk, Just Mayo’s creaminess derives from yellow pea protein.
Just Mayo: Making Food Sustainability More Accessible
An increasing number of consumers want to be more aware of how food gets on their plates and support more environmentally sustainable food practices. That’s among the reasons why Just Mayo has garnered so much interest. Since it does not require egg production because it is plant-based, Just Mayo has been considered an environmentally sustainable food product. Hampton Creek takes it one step further: the company intentionally markets food sustainability to consumers who are more concerned that food is delicious and affordable, thus changing the accessibility to sustainable eating.
The Bottom Line: Does Eggless Mayo Taste Like Traditional Mayonnaise?
So does Just Mayo deserve a spot on your plate? The ratings on e-commerce website Amazon show a strong four out of five stars. Reviewers have consistently stated that Hampton Creek’s mayonnaise substitute tastes as good as or even better than the traditional mayonnaise. In addition to taste, many reviewers wrote that Just Mayo worked as a great alternative for those with food allergies or food sensitivities. So if you’re allergic to eggs but want to eat mayo, Just Mayo is a possible mayonnaise substitute. Also, the lack of soy makes Just Mayo a possible option for those with soy allergies.
Food blog Vegenista reviewed Hampton Creek’s Just Mayo and incorporated it in an eggless “egg” salad. The blogger used tofu instead of eggs to keep this classic lunchtime meal vegan-friendly. The blog praised Just Mayo’s Chipotle flavor as “creamy, zesty, crunchy, and delicious.” Vegenista offers a “Beyond Eggless Salad” recipe to try as well.
Tasty Recipes for Eggless Mayo
Since it’s eggless, Just Mayo is often thought of as an ingredient in vegan-friendly recipes. However, it’s possible to use Just Mayo to replace mayonnaise in any recipe, vegan or not. Hampton Creek offers a variety of recipes, like chocolate cake, Mediterranean pasta salad and bruschetta, that highlight Just Mayo’s tasty flavor.
Want to start with a recipe that’s easy? Try out The Oregonian’s Colorful Roasted Corn Salad. It basically requires four ears of grilled corn, red onion, and green and yellow bell peppers. Mix them with a few tablespoons of Just Mayo, and you can get a taste of how eggless mayo can spruce up a dish.
Nutritional Value of Eggless Mayo
Just Mayo’s original flavor barely edges out traditional mayonnaise in nutritional value. If you look at the calorie count between Just Mayo original and its competitors, Just Mayo has 90 calories per serving, while other mayonnaise brands have 100 calories per serving. Just Mayo Original has zero saturated fat and zero cholesterol. Traditional mayonnaise brands typically have about 1.5g of saturated fat and 10mg of cholesterol.
The amount of sodium in the original flavor is barely below a typical serving from egg-based mayonnaise— 65mg of sodium in Just Mayo compared to 70 mg of sodium in traditional mayonnaise brands. However, make sure to check the nutritional label of Just Mayo’s other flavors, because they slightly vary in sodium and carbohydrate content.
Other Plant-Based Products to Try
In addition to Just Mayo, food company Hampton Creek produces other plant-based products. Just Cookies and Just Cookie Dough are dairy-free alternatives, a huge feat since butter and eggs are traditionally included in cookie recipes (butter is known to provide flavor and eggs are known to bring out a cake-like texture). However, Hampton Creek was able to develop a tasty cookie product without these ingredients.
The best part about Hampton Creek products is probably more than the company’s ability to bring out tasty flavors using plant-based ingredients. The availability of the products at national grocery chains makes sustainable eating practices more accessible to the average Joe.