What Is Follow Your Heart Vegenaise Original?
Vegenaise is the flagship product of Follow Your Heart, a California company that has been making dairy-free and egg-free foods since the 1970s, long before "plant-based" was a grocery store aisle. The Original Vegenaise is an egg-free, dairy-free mayonnaise alternative built on canola oil rather than the aquafaba (chickpea brine) base that newer entrants like Sir Kensington's Fabanaise use. It's sold in glass jars ranging from 12 oz squeeze bottles up to 32 oz tubs, and it's one of the most widely distributed vegan mayo brands in the U.S., showing up in the refrigerated section of most natural grocers and increasingly in mainstream chains as well.
The brand's pitch has always been simple: it should taste and behave like real mayonnaise in a sandwich, potato salad, or aioli, not like a watered-down "spread" that reminds you it's missing eggs. That's a real test, because most people who buy vegan mayo grew up eating the dairy-and-egg version and have a specific texture and tang in mind. Whether Vegenaise clears that bar is the whole question of this review.
Ingredients
The Original Vegenaise ingredient list is short by condiment standards: expeller-pressed canola oil, filtered water, brown rice syrup, apple cider vinegar, soy protein, sea salt, mustard flour, and lemon juice concentrate. There's no gum-based stabilizer doing the heavy lifting, no added sugar beyond a small amount of brown rice syrup for balance, and no eggs or dairy derivatives anywhere in the formula.
A few notes worth flagging for people with dietary restrictions: Original Vegenaise contains soy protein, which rules it out for soy-free households (Follow Your Heart does sell a dedicated Soy-Free Vegenaise for that reason). It's also made with canola oil, not olive oil or avocado oil, so if you're specifically avoiding seed oils, this isn't the jar for you — Follow Your Heart also makes an Organic Grapeseed Oil version and a Vegan Avocado Oil version for that audience. The Original formula is gluten-free and does not list any of the top allergens besides soy.
Is Vegenaise Vegan?
Yes — Follow Your Heart Vegenaise Original is 100% vegan. There's no egg, no dairy, no honey, and no animal-derived emulsifiers anywhere in the ingredient list. The product is certified Kosher Parve, labeled non-GMO, and Follow Your Heart markets it explicitly as an egg-free alternative to traditional mayonnaise, which relies on egg yolk as its emulsifier. Vegenaise uses soy protein instead to bind the oil and water into a stable emulsion, which is the main technical difference from both regular mayo and from aquafaba-based competitors.
If you're checking a specific flavor variant (Vegenaise also makes Chipotle, Roasted Garlic, and reduced-fat versions), it's worth reading the label each time, since add-in flavors occasionally introduce new ingredients. For a quick gut-check on any packaged product, the spvegan.com ingredient checker can flag animal-derived ingredients hiding under less obvious names.
Nutrition Facts: Vegenaise vs. the Competition
All vegan mayos are oil-based, so none of them are "diet" foods — the calorie counts are all in a similar range. Where they actually differ is sodium, saturated fat, and how much protein (if any) they carry from their protein source. Here's how a 1-tablespoon serving of Vegenaise Original compares to three of its most common rivals, based on manufacturer nutrition data:
| Brand | Serving | Calories | Total Fat | Saturated Fat | Sodium | Carbs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Follow Your Heart Vegenaise Original | 1 tbsp (14g) | 90 | 9g | 0.5g | 70mg | 0g |
| JUST Mayo Original | 1 tbsp (~14g) | ~90–100 | ~10g | ~0.5g | ~105–110mg | ~0–1g |
| Sir Kensington's Fabanaise | 1 tbsp (15g) | 90 | 10g | 1g | 95mg | 0g |
| Hellmann's Vegan (Plant-Based) | 1 tbsp (14g) | 70 | 8g | 0.5g | 100mg | 0.5g |
Vegenaise comes out with the lowest sodium of the group and ties for the lowest saturated fat, which lines up with its canola-oil-and-soy-protein formula rather than the coconut or palm oil blends some competitors lean on. Hellmann's Vegan is the lowest-calorie option here, largely because it's formulated to be slightly less oil-dense than the others. None of these products offer meaningful protein, fiber, or micronutrients per serving — they're condiments, not a food group, and should be treated that way regardless of which jar you pick.
Taste and Texture
This is where Vegenaise has built its reputation, and largely earns it. The texture is thick and glossy, closer to a classic full-fat mayonnaise than to some of the looser, more "spreadable" vegan mayos on the market. It holds its shape on a knife rather than running, which matters if you're using it as a base for a dip or a deviled "egg" filling rather than just as a sandwich condiment.
On flavor, the tang comes through clearly thanks to the apple cider vinegar and lemon juice concentrate, and the mustard flour gives it a faint background sharpness rather than an obvious mustard taste. It reads less sweet than JUST Mayo, which some tasters pick up as slightly more "cooked" or neutral in flavor, and it's noticeably tangier and less bland than Hellmann's Vegan, which several reviewers describe as the mildest of the mainstream options. Compared to Sir Kensington's Fabanaise, which leans eggier and richer thanks to its aquafaba base, Vegenaise tastes a bit more straightforwardly like "vinegar and oil done right" — it doesn't try to mimic egg richness so much as nail the acidity and body that make mayo useful in the first place.
Where it can fall short: a few users note the soy protein base gives Vegenaise a very faint bean-like aftertaste if you eat it plain off a spoon, though it disappears once it's mixed into a sandwich, salad, or sauce. It's also on the thicker side, which is great for spreading but means it doesn't whisk into a thin vinaigrette quite as easily as a looser vegan mayo would.
How It Compares to Other Vegan Mayo Brands
| Brand | Base | Texture | Typical Price (12–16 oz) | Where to Find It |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegenaise Original | Canola oil + soy protein | Thick, glossy | ~$6–$8 | Whole Foods, Sprouts, most natural grocers, many mainstream chains |
| JUST Mayo | Canola oil + pea protein | Smooth, slightly looser | ~$5–$6 | Walmart, Target, Kroger, Amazon |
| Sir Kensington's Fabanaise | Aquafaba (chickpea brine) | Rich, eggier | ~$6–$7 | Whole Foods, Target, specialty grocers |
| Hellmann's Vegan | Rapeseed/canola oil blend | Mild, close to conventional mayo | ~$6–$7 (larger jars) | Most major supermarkets nationwide |
Prices fluctuate by region and retailer, so treat these as ballpark figures rather than guarantees. The practical differences that matter more than a dollar or two: Vegenaise is soy-based (a dealbreaker for soy-free households), Fabanaise is the closest to "egg-like" richness, and Hellmann's Vegan is the easiest to find if you're shopping at a regular supermarket rather than a natural foods store.
Who Should Buy Vegenaise Original?
Vegenaise Original makes the most sense if you want a mayo that behaves like a knife-spreadable classic mayo — thick, tangy, and sturdy enough to hold a sandwich together or bind a chickpea salad — and you don't need it to be soy-free. It's also a solid pick if you're cooking for a mixed household of vegans and non-vegans, since its flavor profile is closer to conventional mayo than some of the more distinctly "different" alternatives.
It's not the right choice if you're avoiding soy, in which case Follow Your Heart's own Soy-Free Vegenaise or a pea-protein-based option like JUST Mayo is the better fit. And if what you're actually chasing is an egg-like richness for things like vegan deviled eggs or egg salad, Fabanaise's aquafaba base gets closer to that specific texture.
How to Use It
Vegenaise works as a drop-in replacement anywhere a recipe calls for regular mayonnaise. It's sturdy enough to bind a chickpea "tuna" salad or a vegan potato salad without breaking, and it whisks smoothly into a quick aioli with garlic and lemon. Because the flavor is closer to tangy than sweet, it also holds up well in dressings — thin it with a splash of plant milk or vinegar if you want something pourable rather than spoonable. Once opened, Follow Your Heart recommends refrigerating and using it within about two months for best quality, similar to conventional mayo.
A Note on the Brand
Follow Your Heart isn't a venture-backed newcomer chasing the plant-based boom — it started as a vegetarian restaurant and natural foods store in Canoga Park, California, in 1970, and has been making Vegenaise since the 1970s as well, decades before "vegan mayo" was a competitive grocery category. That longevity shows up in small ways: the formula hasn't chased every ingredient trend, and the company has expanded into soy-free, avocado oil, and reduced-fat versions rather than replacing the original outright. For shoppers who care about supporting a company with a long, consistent vegan track record rather than a mainstream brand's plant-based line extension, that history is part of the appeal.
Final Verdict
Vegenaise Original earns its long-running reputation as the benchmark vegan mayo: it's thick, tangy, holds up in recipes, and has one of the shorter, more recognizable ingredient lists in the category. It's not the cheapest option on the shelf, and the soy protein base is a real limitation for some households, but on taste and texture alone it remains one of the most convincing "you probably can't tell the difference" vegan condiments available.
Rating: 8.3/10 — A reliable, well-distributed classic that still beats most of the newer competition on texture, even if it's not the cheapest or most allergen-flexible jar on the shelf.
