You may think that mayonnaise is the devil’s condiment - however if you find it to be a guilty temptation that you can’t resist, you’ll be happy to know that reduced-fat varieties do exist.
With soybean/canola oil, eggs and vinegar as the primary ingredients in most brands of regular mayo, it’s actually not high in saturated fat. Regular mayo has just 1 to 2 grams per tablespoon — about the same of what you get in a tablespoon of olive oil. And with just 5 to 10 mg cholesterol per serving, it’s far below the recommended upper limit of 200 to 300 mg of cholesterol.
But remember not to lay on your love for mayonnaise too thick! It packs 100 calories into every tablespoon, so if you’re watching your waistline, just use a thin spread of the real thing, or try one of our reduced-fat “Love it” options suggested below in one of our recent “Love it, Like It, Hate it” articles.
LOVE IT!
The following varieties all have just 35 to 50 calories per tablespoon, with less than1 gram sugar and 0-1 grams of saturated fat:
- Hellmann’s Light
- Blue Plate Light
- Kraft Reduced Fat Mayo with Olive Oil
- Spectrum Light Canola Mayo
- Veganaise Reduced Fat Mayo
- Kraft Flavored Mayo (e.g. Hot & Spicy and Chipotle)
LIKE IT!
- Any regular mayonnaise or regular (not light) vegan mayonnaise makes a good option. They’re low in saturated fat and cholesterol since they’re all made with canola, soybean or olive oil, but they have 100 calories and ~10 grams fat per tablespoon.
- Walden Farm’s Mayo has zero calories, zero sugar and zero fat, but also contains the artificial sweetener sucralose.
HATE IT!
- Kraft Fat Free Mayo has only 10 calories per tablespoon, but has more sugar and high fructose corn syrup than soybean oil, plus contains artificial colors yellow 6 and Blue 1.
For more details on this topic, read Molly’s full “Love it, Like it, Hate it” article on WGNO New Orleans.
