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If you have saved the fat from a batch of homemade GAPS sausage, this is a good way to turn it into a salad dressing instead of leaving it in the skillet. Slightly warm rendered fat, two egg yolks, apple-cider vinegar, and an avocado blend into a thick mayonnaise with a gentle savory flavor. It is a four-ingredient recipe, and the avocado is the detail that helps the mixture come together.

In a busy GAPS kitchen, I like recipes that make use of something already cooked. When homemade sausage is part of breakfast, I can save its clean rendered fat for another meal. This dressing then gives a bowl of greens a different flavor from an olive-oil vinaigrette, without opening a commercial mayonnaise jar or adding a seasoning packet.

Use the fat from homemade additive-free sausage, not grease from a commercial sausage with sugar, starch, preservatives, or an unknown spice blend. The linked recipe gives you a GAPS-appropriate way to make sausage; collect and measure the fat from your own cooked batch. If you have less than a third cup, save it until you have enough.

Thick pale avocado mayonnaise made with rendered homemade sausage fat in a ceramic bowl

What This Mayonnaise Tastes and Feels Like

The avocado makes the mayonnaise pale green-beige and gives it body. Apple-cider vinegar brings a clear tang that keeps the fat from tasting heavy. The sausage fat contributes a savory note, but the exact flavor depends on the herbs and spices in the homemade sausage you cooked. There are no sausage pieces in the finished dressing.

A spoon should leave a soft ridge on the surface. The mayonnaise is thick enough to use as a dip, yet it can be spread or loosened over a salad with the back of a spoon. It should look cohesive, not like avocado floating in a puddle of fat. Tiny bubbles from blending are normal; visible yellow yolk streaks or oily rings mean it needs more blending.

This is a rich dressing, so begin with a small spoonful on a plate of greens and add more if you want it. If you prefer a lighter olive-oil and avocado dressing, our separate Tangy Avocado Mayo Dressing tastes different even though it also contains avocado.

The Four Measured Ingredients

Measure one-third cup of liquid rendered fat from homemade fresh GAPS sausage. It should be only slightly warm and pourable. Fat that is beginning to firm will not blend evenly; fat that is hot can cook the yolks before the mayonnaise forms. If you see steam rising from it, let it cool before it meets the eggs. That temperature difference helps the yolks and fat blend instead of scrambling.

Use two fresh egg yolks without the whites. Add two tablespoons additive-free raw apple-cider vinegar and one ripe avocado. The avocado should yield when pressed and scoop easily from its skin. Firm, hard chunks are harder to blend into a smooth dressing. Cut or scoop it into pieces that fit comfortably in your blender cup; the exact shape does not matter once it is blended.

Keep this version to those four ingredients. Extra oil, mustard, garlic, or salt would change its flavor. The savory fat already carries the character of the sausage you made.

Let the Sausage Fat Become Pourable

After cooking homemade sausage, strain or spoon the clear rendered fat away from meat pieces and measure one-third cup. Let it stand until it is fluid but no longer hot. If it cooled and turned solid, warm it gently just until it pours and then let it settle back to slight warmth. You want a moving liquid, not sizzling grease.

Put the yolks, vinegar, and avocado into a tall straight-sided container suited to a stick blender. Add the measured liquid fat. Before blending, you will see separate golden yolks, green avocado pieces, and a shallow layer of amber fat and vinegar at the bottom. That separated look is expected at this stage. The container should be large enough that the blender head can sit below the ingredients without splashing them over the rim.

Two egg yolks avocado pieces and a shallow measured layer of sausage fat and vinegar in a blending beaker — Before blending, the two yolks and avocado are still distinct above a shallow pool of pourable fat and vinegar.

Blend Until the Dressing Holds Together

Place the stick-blender head into the bottom of the container. Blend the four ingredients until the separate layers disappear and the color becomes even. Move the blender enough to catch avocado pieces along the side. Pause and look down the container: there should be no clear fat at the bottom and no large green chunks caught above the blade. Blend again briefly if you see either.

When it is ready, the mayonnaise will mound softly rather than pour like thin vinegar. Draw a spoon through it. The track should stay visible for a moment, then relax slowly. A few tiny bubbles are fine. If the top looks smooth but the bottom still has a clear amber layer, the mixture has not finished emulsifying; return the blender head to the bottom and continue until the full container looks uniform.

Do not heat the finished mayonnaise. The slightly warm fat was only to make it liquid before blending. Once the yolks and avocado have joined it, this is a cool dressing or dip.

Thick pale avocado sausage-fat mayonnaise emulsified in the same blending beaker — After blending, the mixture is one thick pale emulsion with no oil ring or visible avocado chunks.

How to Serve It

Spoon the mayonnaise over a Full GAPS salad, or serve it in a small bowl for dipping cooked vegetables. It is thick, so tossing it through a large salad will coat leaves more evenly than dropping one big spoonful in the center. If you are serving it as a dip, use the back of a spoon to make a shallow swirl on top. That makes the texture easy to see without adding ingredients that are not in the recipe.

The dressing can also go beside a plate of the homemade sausage links whose fat you saved. The links are the cooked meat; the dressing uses the rendered fat with yolks, vinegar, and avocado.

Where It Fits on GAPS

This is a Full GAPS dressing. It uses rendered animal fat from homemade GAPS sausage, fresh egg yolks, raw apple-cider vinegar, and ripe avocado. It is not an Introduction Diet mayonnaise. Use the foods and preparation for your present Intro stage rather than borrowing this raw avocado-and-vinegar dressing early.

For a dairy-free version, make sure the collected sausage fat has not been mixed with butter or ghee in the cooking pan. The four measured dressing ingredients contain no dairy. The recipe does contain egg yolks; if your household needs an egg-free dressing, use the separate Tangy Avocado Mayo Dressing with its yolk omitted rather than leaving two yolks out of this formula and hoping it behaves the same way.

Commercial sausage grease is not an equivalent ingredient. Homemade sausage lets you control the meat, fat, salt, and pure seasonings that went into the pan. That is why the source of the rendered fat matters even though the finished mayonnaise shows no meat pieces.

Storage and Texture After Chilling

Transfer the mayonnaise to a covered glass container and refrigerate it promptly. Make only a small batch you plan to use soon. Animal fat can firm as it chills, so the dressing may be thicker straight from the refrigerator than it was when first blended. Stir a portion before serving to see whether it returns to a spreadable texture. Do not warm the whole jar to loosen it; the egg yolks are already blended through the dressing.

Use a clean spoon when taking some from the container. If you are dressing a salad for later, keep the salad and mayonnaise separate until serving so the leaves stay crisp and you can judge how much rich dressing the bowl needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will This Taste Like Sausage?

The rendered fat brings a savory note that reflects your homemade sausage. The dressing has no sausage meat in it. Avocado and vinegar are noticeable too, so it is milder than a spoonful of sausage filling.

Why Must the Fat Be Only Slightly Warm?

It must be liquid enough to blend. If it is hot, it can cook the yolks instead of joining them into mayonnaise. Let steaming or sizzling fat cool until it pours easily without heat rising from it.

Can I Replace the Sausage Fat With Olive Oil?

Olive oil makes a different dressing. Use our avocado-and-olive-oil dressing when that is the fat you want.

What if It Looks Separated?

Look at the bottom of the blending container. If a clear fat layer remains, lower the stick-blender head into that layer and blend until the color is even from top to bottom. The avocado should disappear into the dressing, leaving no large chunks.

Can I Use Bacon Fat?

Bacon fat brings a different flavor. For this mayonnaise, use fat rendered from homemade sausage.

Equipment for This Dressing

Use a measuring cup for the liquid fat, a small bowl to separate the egg yolks, and a tall straight-sided container that fits your stick blender. A spatula helps move the finished mayonnaise into a covered glass container. No whisk marathon or special heating pan is needed once you have measured the slightly warm rendered fat.

More Full GAPS Condiments

For a classic oil-and-yolk mayonnaise, use the separate Full GAPS Immersion-Blender Mayonnaise. For an avocado dressing with an egg-free route, try Tangy Avocado Mayo Dressing. The WFLI Sauces, Dressings & Condiments Cookbook is listed in the shop for more ways to make Full GAPS meals feel finished without relying on commercial bottles.

Sausage-Fat Avocado Mayonnaise Recipe