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Lemon-Dill Aioli Sauce

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This amazing Lemon-Dill Aioli Sauce is smooth and creamy with a pronounced dill flavor that is the perfect accompaniment for fish.

lemon-dill aioli sauce
Lemon-dill aioli sauce

The first time I saw aioli sauce on a menu with a fish entrée I did not know what to expect and was surprised to find that is was similar to a mayonnaise.   

It is basically made in the same way as mayonnaise with garlic and any herbs that you want to jazz it up with.  I chose dill here as it is a great accompaniment to fish.  

This lemon-dill aioli sauce was also delicious mixed in with my tuna salad for a sandwich.

Oil choices when making Lemon-dill aioli sauce:

We all like the fresh taste of a rich, extra-virgin olive oil but save that good stuff for dipping your sourdough bread in and your fresh salads.

For this aioli recipe, you will want a mild-tasting oil that will not dominate but allow the full flavor of the other ingredients to shine.

We have used avocado oil which has a very neutral flavor.  Other choices would be:

  • Grapeseed oil
  • Light olive oil
  • Sunflower oil
  • Peanut oil
  • Canola oil
lemon-dill aioli sauce
Lemon-dill aioli sauce

Does Lemon-Dill Aioli Sauce use raw eggs?

The straight answer is, yes, it does.  If you have a concern about salmonella when using raw eggs, pasteurized egg yolks may be substituted.   

We like to use Safe Eggs which are purchased locally at Albertsons .  Check your local grocery store for these eggs. 

You can be assured these eggs have been pasteurized by the company stamp of a  on each egg which identifies them as pasteurized.

Lemon-Dill Aioli Sauce
A creamy aioli sauce with a distinctive dill flavor.

Tips for making Lemon-Dill Aioli Sauce:

  • A mini-food processor is ideal for this sauce as it has a small hole in the lid that keeps the oil dribbling in at a steady stream.  It also is just the size for a small batch.   A hand held immersion blender or a standard blender will also work very well for this recipe.
  • There are two very important steps to the success of this lemon-dill aioli sauce:  use room temperature ingredients and drizzle the oil in slowly.
  • If your egg yolks are still cold from the fridge, you will have trouble getting the mixture to emulsify and end up with a runny mess.  A quick trick to bring eggs to room temperature is to place them (while still in the shell) in a dish of warm water for about five minutes. After you crack the eggs and separate them, make sure they are not still cold.  If they are cold, then let them sit on the countertop a bit longer.
  • Starting with cold ingredients is one of the main reasons for a failed aioli sauce.
  • Another key to success is to drizzle the oil in slowly.  You will notice the recipe says to add the oil in a thin stream over two minutes.  This is not a typo.   Seriously, take two minutes to add the oil in a thin stream.
  • The first 30 seconds to 1 minute are the most critical.  Start very slowly and try not to add more than 1/4 cup of oil in the first 30 seconds. By the time 1 minute has gone by, you should not have used more than 1/2 cup of oil so pace yourself and go slow.

How to save a ‘failed’ aioli sauce:

If you do happen to miss the mark on this and end up with a broken, curdled-looking mess, don’t throw it out. You can fix a broken aioli with a new egg yolk.

Pour the broken aioli into a bowl and place a fresh, room temperature egg yolk in the food processor or blender.

Start processing the egg yolk then slowly add the broken aioli back into the processor.  You can add a bit more oil after the broken aioli has been added.

If you find the aioli is too thick then you can drizzle in some water to thin it down.

 This recipe has been adapted from The Joy of Seafood, by Patrice Boely and makes about one and one-half cups and will keep in the refrigerator for about one week.

Check out some great fish recipes to go with this sauce.

Video:

Check out our video and see how easy it is to make this Lemon Dill Aioli Sauce.

If you like this aioli sauce, check out our

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Lemon-Dill Aioli Sauce

Lemon-Dill Aioli Sauce

Yield: 16 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

A smooth creamy lemon dill sauce that is the perfect accompanyment with fish.

Ingredients

  • 2 medium garlic cloves
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 large egg yolks (room temperature)
  • 1-1/2 tablespoons chopped dill
  • 1 cup avocado oil (or olive oil or any combination of oils)
  • ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • Salt and white pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Place the garlic, mustard, egg yolks and dill in a mini food processor or a work bowl for an immersion blender.
  2. Process until evenly combined, about 10 seconds.
  3. With the motor running, slowly add the oil in a thin stream until completely combined. Take about 2 minutes to completely add the oil and don't add more that 1/4 cup in the first 30 seconds.
  4. Once you have a thickened sauce, stop the motor and add the lemon juice then season with salt and pepper.
  5. Start the motor again and combine until well combined.
  6. Refrigerate in a covered container for up to one week.

Notes

For the best success, start with room temperature ingredients.

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As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1 tablespoon
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 86Total Fat: 9.6gSaturated Fat: 1.1gCholesterol: 12.7mgSodium: 27mgProtein: 0.7g

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© Pat Nyswonger
Cuisine: American / Category: Sauces

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About the Author

We are Pat and Dahn, a mother and daughter team who live in the 
Pacific Northwest. We spend
 most of our time together in the kitchen, the busiest room in the 
house. We love to cook, bake, entertain and develop new recipes
 for our readers who share our passion for delicious, from-scratch
food. We developed Savor the Best in 2013 to help inspire readers
to enjoy their kitchen, grow their culinary skills, and savor good 
food every day.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. DAS

    Make it easy on yourself.
    An inversion blender is the only way to have no-fail mayo or aioli. You just have to make it in a pint jar or something that is tight that allows the shape of the inversion blender. After dumping in ALL the ingredients together. Then place the blender on the bottom and leave it there for like 5 seconds while it emulsifies. Bring up the blender slowly to the top. Preston. Takes about 10-15 seconds to make. No dripping of oil. You can make it as think as you want. Gordon Ramsay has a video if you don’t understand this.
    –from a very old lady who refuses to buy mayo (soybean oil being terrible for you)

    Reply

  3. Cynthia Hinrichs

    You’ve probably discovered this by now. The immersion blender is the only way to go when making mayonnaise, aioli, dressings. Put all ingredients in the provided jar (or mason jar) with the oil last. Place the stick in the bottom of the jar, blend for 15 seconds an then pull stick upwards till you reach the emulsified stage. Takes a minute, no drizzling or soupy outcome. Hop on over to One Minute Mayonnaise, you find plenty of recipes. I’m a bit of a condiment nut !

    Reply

    • Pat

      Hi, Pete…That is a great question. I have never tried freezing it but aioli is basically a jazzed up mayonnaise and my experience with freezing mayo has been less than favorable as it separated. If you decide to try freezing this lemon-dill aioli sauce I would love to hear your results. 🙂

      Reply

    • Dahn

      Colleen, I’m sorry this didn’t emulsify for you. When aioli does not emulsify it can be fixed by starting with a fresh egg yolk and a pinch of salt. Whisk that together real well then very slowly add the batch of aioli that did not emulsify. One key to success when making aioli is to have your ingredients at room temperature but not too warm.

      Reply

      • Christina Abbott

        I had the same results and I had bought expensive avocado oil and used fresh dill and lemon juice, dijon mustard and followed the directions exactly, taking at least 2 minutes to drizzle the oil in. All ingredients were room temp.
        Then I tried your fix of using another egg yolk and salt to start and adding the broken mixture. It’s still a runny mess. What a waste.

        Reply

        • Dahn

          oh Christina, I am so sorry. I know you are frustrated. I hope you didn’t throw it all out. You can still try again to save it. If your having trouble with this technique then try an immersion blender. Some food processor motors heat up quickly and if the food processor gets warm then the aioli will warm up and break. Another possible problem could be that the blade in your food processor sits too high above the mixture to adequately blend it. Don’t count it as a waste, it is still salvageable. Especially if you use an immersion blender. If you don’t have an immersion blender then whisk it by hand, just in case the problem could be with the food processor.

          Reply

  6. Billy

    I definitely need to make this aioli the next time I go to the store to grab ingredients. It looks so great. I’m going to put it on my favorite sandwich as a spread. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply

    • Pat

      Thank you, Billy for your nice comments. You will not be disappointed! It is really good with fish and when I mixed into a tuna sandwich, I loved it! 🙂

      Reply

    • Pat

      Hi, Jen….After making the sauce in the blender, transfer it to a jar with a tight fitting lid and it will keep in the frige for one week. Hope you enjoy the Lemon-Dill Aioli Sauce. 🙂

      Reply

  8. Ryan Gay

    This was the missing piece to my brussel sprouts! I tossed my roasted sprouts with this, some caramelized onions, and bacon pieces and it was simply divine!

    Reply

    • Pat

      Hi there, Ryan….I am so happy that this worked out for you! That sounds like a great brussels sprouts recipe with the onions and bacon plus the lemon aioli. Thanks for your comments. 🙂

      Reply

  9. Andrea @ Cooking with Mamma C

    This looks so delicious! Homemade condiments are the best. I’ve been making basil-garlic mayo every week, and microwave the yolk with some vinegar, water and lemon to bring it to a safe temperature, since I don’t buy pasteurized eggs.

    Reply

    • Pat

      Hi, Andrea….thanks for the tip on mixing the egg yolk and microwaving it. I will try that idea as the pasteurized eggs cost a little more and I usually have to buy a whole dozen when I really only need a couple. 🙂

      Reply

  18. Kavey

    I adore aioli and love the idea of adding lemon and dill. I’ve seen avocado oil but it’s hard to find here and is expensive. Want to try it though!

    Reply

    • Pat

      Hi, Kavey…..This is a classic! I like avocado oil for it’s neutral flavor. If there is a Costco near you, they have the best buy ever on avocado oil but olive oil is also very good.

      Reply

  20. dkeith

    Please make recipes so you can just print the recipe not all the pictures and comments. Just for this one small recipe, it printed 7 -8 pages.

    This is a great website, but p l e a s e!

    Thank you

    dkeith

    Reply

    • Dahn

      Oh my goodness, I am so sorry you printed all those pages. The recipe card is set up to print only the recipe if you click on the “print” button directly under the small thumbnail photo next to the ingredients list. I hope this helps for future recipes and thank you for visiting our site.

      Reply

    • Dahn

      Oh my goodness, I am so sorry you printed all those pages. The recipe card is set up to print only the recipe if you click on the “print” button directly under the small thumbnail photo next to the ingredients list. I hope this helps for future recipes and thank you for visiting our site.

      Reply

    • Pat

      Hi, John…it is easy for me to get heavy handed with the garlic as I also love it but the lemon and dill do get into the act here. It is a good balance. Thanks for the comment. 🙂

      Reply

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