Easy 3-ingredient Sambal Aioli (Sambal Mayo)

This easy 3-ingredient Sambal Aioli, a spicy sambal mayo sauce, is great with almost everything. It can be a dipping sauce for french fries, wedges, fried shrimp, fish tacos, chicken nuggets or slathered on grilled corn!

Jump to:

• Why Make This
• Ingredients
• Variations
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• How to Scale
• How to Serve
• How to Store
• Suggested Accompanying Recipes
• Easy 3-ingredient Sambal Aioli (Sambal Mayo)
• 💬 Comments

Why Make This

1. Delicious: The creaminess of the mayonnaise, the tang of the vinegar or lime juice and the heat of the sambal are a match made in heaven.
2. Quick: It only takes a few seconds to put together. Not much time for a lot of flavor!
3. Easy: You only need 3-ingredients to make this easy and delicious sambal mayo sauce, which can go with a lot of different foods!

Ingredients

The main ingredients for sambal mayo are:

• Japanese Kewpie Mayonnaise or Garlic Mayonnaise: If you don't have Japanese mayonnaise, regular mayo (or homemade) + a tinge of chicken stock powder is great too- but Kewpie really does taste better than normal mayonnaise so do try it if you've never had it before. (I also like to use it in my easy garlic cream cheese dip.) I show you how to make your own homemade mayonnaise with garlic below, but note that if you use homemade mayo for this sambal mayo sauce, the shelf life will be shorter. (I recommend using it up within 1-2 days instead of the usual 5.)
• Sambal chilli: You can use storebought or homemade sambal chili (You will need red chilies, an acid and salt.) There are SO many types of sambal chilies- I've tested this with both homemade sambal oelek as well as sambal belacan tumis. Alternatively, substitute with sriracha sauce to make sriracha mayo or 1 of these sambal oelek alternatives. (If you need more recipes to use up your jar of sambal, try these yummy sambal oelek recipes, such as this Vietnamese baked chicken wings in fish sauce or chicken sambal curry.)
• Rice vinegar: Or substitute with white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, lime juice or lemon juice. (I chose to use vinegar as it is a pantry staple so you don't have to worry about grocery shopping)
• Optional, garlic: Most people think of garlic when they hear the word aioli. For a true sambal aioli, stir in 3 minced up garlic cloves. (Do not keep the sauce for more than 2-3 days if using raw garlic.)
• Optional, Salt to taste (usually not necessary if the sambal is from the store, as it's salted.) and spring onions or coriander leaves as garnish. You can also add some sugar for sweetness if you like.

For Homemade Mayonnaise

To make mayo in a food processor, you will need a few simple ingredients:

• 2 egg yolks: make sure they're room temeprature and pasteurised as we're eating them raw
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1.5 Cups neutral oil: I usually use olive oil but you can also use vegetable oil
• 2-3 Tablespoons white rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons white sugar
• optional (if you want it to taste more savory, like Kewpie): ½ teaspoon chicken stock powder or dashi powder
• optional: 3 teaspoons of garlic powder (then you can skip mincing the garlic cloves later!)

Note: smaller quantities will have to be hand-whisked together, like we did at Le Cordon Bleu in London.

Variations

You can easily turn it into other creamy sauces:

• For Sriracha Aioli: Use Sriracha instead of Sambal!
• For Gochujang Aioli: Use Gochujang Paste instead of Sambal.

Step-by-Step Instructions

For Homemade Mayonnaise

1. Add the eggs and mustard to the food processor, whizzing for about 20 seconds.
2. Add ⅓ Cup of the neutral oil SLOWLY. (The machine should still be whizzing away.)
3. Add the salt, sugar and stock powder (if using), giving everything another blitz.
4. Add ½ Cup more neutral oil SLOWLY. (The machine should still be whizzing away.)
5. Add the rest of the oil and the vinegar, procesing just till everything comes together (about 5-10 seconds.) Don't whirl for too long or the emulsion will break.
6. Taste and season again if necessary.

How to Scale

I like to simplify my recipes down to ratios. For example, these 12345 pork ribs are my favourite Chinese spare ribs recipe and SO easy to make.

This makes them easy to remember as well as simple to scale up or down depending on how many people one is cooking for!

For this easy sambal mayo sauce, the ratio is 1:2:4. 1 part vinegar/ fresh lime juice: 2 parts sambal: 4 parts Kewpie mayonnaise. In other words, if you use 1T of vinegar, you would mix it with 2T of sambal and 4T of mayonnaise.

How to Serve

This easy sambal aioli dipping sauce is a great recipe for Super Bowl Sunday!

Sambal mayo makes an awesome dip for fries or vegetable crudites. (If you're looking for Game Day recipes, here are some others that you may enjoy.)

You can also pair this hot sauce with:

• hard boiled eggs
• canned tuna
• grilled corn
• onion rings
• etc

How to Store

This spicy sambal aioli sauce keeps in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days (2-3 days only if the mayo is homemade), making sambal mayo a perfect prep ahead recipe.

Always keep it in the chiller when not eating it!

Suggested Accompanying Recipes

Enjoyed this easy red chiles Recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below! If you REALLY liked this spicy creamy dip recipe, please consider supporting it by buying me a coffee! 🙂 (No obligation though!) Thank you and have a great day!

Let me know what you think of this easy, spicy, 3-ingredients sambal mayo sauce!

What is your favourite food to eat it with? Personally, I love mixing it with canned tuna and hard boiled eggs to make a cold salad.