Enjoy fresh-tasting lemon and dill in this easy homemade lemon dill aioli recipe. Serve the tangy sauce with everything from appetizers like calamari and tempura to sandwiches, seafood, chicken, and vegetables. Try horseradish aioli or chimichurri aioli for a similar flavor.
What is Lemon Dill Aioli?
Lemon dill aioli is a tangy and slightly sweet condiment that features lemon juice and fresh dill. Use it as a dipping sauce, spread, or topping for various meals and appetizers.
What is Lemon Aioli Made Of?
Lemon aioli with dill is a tangy and flavorful sauce made with egg yolks, fresh lemon juice, mustard, minced garlic, and oil. I love including freshly chopped dill for the best flavor.
- Egg Yolks: Blend the creamy egg yolks with fresh garlic and olive oil to create the smooth base for the aioli.
- Garlic: Include three fresh garlic cloves for the best flavor.
- Lemon: Brighten the sauce with fresh lemon juice and lemon zest.
- Salt: Season the lemon dill aioli with kosher salt.
- Olive Oil: Extra-virgin olive oil gives the aioli a creamy texture or you can substitute it with a neutral oil like Canola.
- Dill: Fresh dill is slightly sweet and herbaceous; the finely chopped herb gives the sauce its signature flavor. Speaking of fresh dill, don’t miss out on my tangy dill pickle ranch dressing.
Additions and Substitutions
- Can I make lemon dill aioli with mayonnaise? Replace the homemade aioli with one cup of quality mayonnaise; I recommend Duke’s or Hellman’s. You can also use a combination of mayonnaise and sour cream or full-fat yogurt.
- Replace the lemon juice. Balance the richness of the sauce with white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or distilled white vinegar instead of lemon juice.
- Experiment with fresh herbs. Replace the fresh dill or add parsley, basil leaves, or fresh chives.
Tools You’ll Need
You can use an immersion blender, food processor, or high-speed blender to make the creamy aioli. However, I highly recommend using an immersion blender when making salad dressings or sauces that require emulsification because I always have the best results.
Use the blender cup provided with the immersion blender, a wide-mouth jar, or one of these meal prep containers to ensure the blender works properly.
How to Make Lemon Dill Aioli
The full recipe with measurements is in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Combine egg yolks, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, mustard, and salt with an immersion blender, food processor, or blender.
Step 2: Pour the olive oil into a cup or blender in a slow, steady stream while blending the ingredients.
Step 3: Add the fresh dill and stir to combine.
Expert Tips
- Use room temperature ingredients. Start with room temperature ingredients, especially the eggs. Cold ingredients make it more challenging to achieve a good emulsion.
Tips for Emulsification
What is Emulsification?
Emulsification is a cooking term that describes combining ingredients that do not naturally mix, such as oil and water, and making them stay together using an emulsifier.
What is an Emulsifier?
An emulsifier acts like a bridge between two opposing ingredients, holding them together in a smooth, stable mixture. The best emulsifiers have water and oil-friendly properties to help the ingredients combine. The most common emulsifiers are egg yolks, mustard, mayonnaise, soybeans, honey, and xanthan gum.
How to Create a Stable Emulsification
If you want to make homemade vinaigrette, dressing, hollandaise sauce, aioli, or mayonnaise, learning how to create a stable emulsification is important.
- Choose an Emulsifier: Select an emulsifying ingredient based on what you are making.
- Combine the Ingredients: Mix the water-based ingredients, such as vinegar or lemon juice with an emulsifier.
- Slowly Add Oil: Add a few drops, then pour the oil gradually in a slow, steady stream while whisking or blending the ingredients. The gradual addition helps to achieve a stable emulsion (so the two liquids combine instead of separate).
- Adjust the Consistency: If the mixture gets too thick, add more water-based liquid to thin it out while continuing to mix.
How to Save a Failed Aioli
Here is how to save your aioli if it fails to thicken (or breaks). Begin by whisking a fresh egg yolk in a small bowl. Gradually incorporate some of the broken aioli into the egg. Then, add the new egg mixture to the aioli and whisk to combine. You can combine the ingredients with an immersion blender or food processor instead of whisking by hand.
If you enjoy lemon dill aioli, pair it with one of these dinner recipes!
How to Use Lemon Dill Aioli
Use lemon aioli with dill as a spread for burgers, sandwiches, fish tacos, and oven-baked salmon—the brightly flavored aioli pairs well with fried salmon bites, grilled chicken, and roasted vegetables. Dip fish sticks, sweet potato fries, salmon cakes, roasted potatoes, crab cakes, and home fries into the delicious sauce, or feature it on a vegetable crudite with ranch dressing and creamy butter bean hummus.
What To Do With Leftovers
- Refrigerate: Store the leftover lemon dill aioli in an airtight container for one week.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is aioli different from mayo?
Aioli and mayonnaise are creamy condiments used in cooking. Mayonnaise combines canola, safflower, or grapeseed oil with egg yolks and lemon juice. Traditional aioli, a condiment from the Mediterranean region, includes garlic, egg yolks, oil, and sometimes lemon juice.
More Aioli Recipes:
Lemon Dill Aioli
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- lemon juice, 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅔ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup fresh dill
- Combine the egg yolks, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, mustard, and salt with an immersion blender, food processor, or blender.
- Pour the olive oil into a cup or blender in a slow, steady stream while blending the ingredients. Add the fresh dill and stir to combine.
- Use room temperature ingredients. Start with room temperature ingredients, especially the eggs. Cold ingredients make it more challenging to achieve a good emulsion.