Hellmanns Olive Oil Mayonnaise Review

February 24, 2021 60 Comments

Hellmann’s Olive Oil Mayonnaise is one of those products that has me scratching my head.

I don’t use a lot of mayonnaise in my recipes - check out my homemade Caesar salad dressing with no mayo and my egg salad with Greek yogurt and dill sandwich (I only use 1 tablespoon of mayo in this recipe).

But, I am always hoping for the holy grail of food products. My ultimate mayonnaise is one that tastes delicious and is calorie free. HA!

Mayonnaise is traditionally made with oil, egg yolk, and maybe some lemon juice or mustard depending on what you like. It is a pretty simple recipe really and one that I have never attempted. I just buy my mayo at the store - and I usually buy Hellmann’s.

I decided to review this mayonnaise because I am always looking for improvements. My assumption was that Hellmann’s Olive Oil Mayonnaise was using olive oil as THE oil in the mayo and that sounded awesome. But, alas, they are still using soybean oil in the mayonnaise.

Hellmann’s Olive Oil Mayonnaise Ingredients:

water, soybean oil, olive oil, whole eggs and egg yolks, modified potato starch, sugar, distilled vinegar, salt, lemon juice concentrate, sorbic acid and calcium disodium EDTA, natural flavor, paprika extract

Hellmann’s Olive Oil Mayonnaise Nutrition Facts:

For one tablespoon = 60 calories, 6 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 g carbohydrates, 0 g sugar, 0 g protein, 0 g fiber, 125 mg sodium, 2 Green, 2 Blue, 2 Purple WW SmartPts

You can see the added potato starch versus the regular mayonnaise ingredients.

Regular Hellmann’s Mayonnaise Ingredients:

soybean oil, water, whole eggs and egg yolks, distilled vinegar, salt, sugar, lemon juice concentrate, calcium disodium EDTA, natural flavors

Regular Hellmann’s Mayonnaise Nutrition Facts:

For one tablespoon = 90 calories, 10 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 0 g carbohydrates, 0 g sugar, 0 g protein, 0 g fiber, 90 mg sodium, 3 Green, 3 Blue, 3 Purple WW SmartPts

I will say that Hellmann’s olive oil mayo does taste like the regular mayo except a little sweeter. If you are looking to cut calories without sacrificing much - this is a good product,

But if you are looking for Hellmann’s mayonnaise without soybean oil because you are allergic or avoiding soy - your only choice is Hellmann’s Canola Oil Mayonnaise.

Hellmann’s Canola Oil Mayonnaise Ingredients:

water, canola oil, modified food starch, sugar, eggs, distilled vinegar, salt, sugar, lemon juice concentrate, sorbic acid, calcium disodium EDTA, natural flavor, extractives of paprika, vitamin E, beta-carotene

Hellmann’s Canola Oil Mayonnaise Nutrition Facts:

For one tablespoon = 40 calories, 4 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 1 g carbohydrates, 0 g sugar, 0 g protein, 0 g fiber, 115 mg sodium, 1 Green, 1 Blue, 1 Purple WW SmartPts

So, what Hellmann's did was add water and starch to reduce calories of the canola oil version. I am not sure why they did this but they manage to cut the calories in this version to less than half their regular product.

How did it taste? I found myself spooning mayonnaise into my mouth this morning (the things I do for this website!) and I noticed that the lower fat version tasted sweeter and less flavorful.

Then, I used both of them to make my favorite snack and I found myself slathering more of the low fat version to make it taste better. You see, if you water down mayonnaise it will lack what mayo is supposed to have - awesome flavor!

You know, the problem isn't that full fat mayo is calorific. The problem is we use to much of it on everything!

A few mayonnaise tricks:

Ask for light mayonnaise when you order a sandwich (you won't notice the difference)
mix your mayonnaise with much lower calorie mustard for a spread
measure out how much you are using on your food

Remember one teaspoon of regular mayonnaise is only 30 calories.

If you can get the serving size of mayonnaise down to a reasonable amount, then you don't have to give up the good stuff! And, you won't be spending $4.80 on watered down, starched filled, pseudo mayo.

I think Hellmann’s olive oil mayo is a good version of mayo and would not be opposed to using it all the time. It tastes more like actual mayo as opposed to the canola oil version.

Have you tried Hellmann’s olive oil mayo? What did you think of it?

For an easy snack I slap a little mayonnaise on a slice of whole grain bread, slice up some tomato, and shake some salt on the concoction. So yummy and very good for you as you are eating fruit, whole grain, and just a wee bit of mayo.

The key is to use about 1/2 teaspoon of mayonnaise which allows the tomato to shine. I love tomatoes.

Tomato & Mayo Snack Recipe

3.6 from 8 reviews

Makes 1 servings
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min

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Ingredients

2 thick slices of fresh tomato
1 slice 100% Whole Grain bread
1 teaspoon mayonnaise
salt

Instructions

Toast bread and slather on mayonnaise. Add slice of tomato, sprinkle with salt, and enjoy!

Nutrition Facts

One serving: 135 calories, 3.7 g fat, 0.8 g saturated fat, 22.4 g carbohydrates, 4.1 g sugar, 5.3 g protein, 3.4 g fiber, 141 mg sodium, 4 Green, 4 Blue, 4 Purple WW SmartPts

Points values are calculated by Snack Girl and are provided for information only. See all Snack Girl Recipes