Salad Cream Vs. Mayo (What’s the Difference?)

Salad cream and mayonnaise are both popular creamy sauces that are sometimes associated with each other, but they’re actually pretty different when it comes to ingredients and nutrition.

So I wanted to compare these two condiments to find out the true difference between them when it comes to ingredients and whether one is better than the other for nutrition.

Read on to see my full comparison between salad cream and mayo to find out which is best for you nutritionally and you can vote in our poll to let us know which you like best.

Ingredients Comparision

The best way to find out the difference between two food products is by comparing the ingredients to see what’s inside.

For this comparison and throughout this article, I’ll be using data from popular brands; Heinz Salad Cream and Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise to keep the information consistent throughout.

The biggest difference between salad cream and mayonnaise is the main ingredients, with salad cream being predominately made from water, spirit vinegar, and 22% rapeseed oil. In contrast, the main ingredient of mayonnaise is 78% rapeseed oil.

Both kinds of sauce contain eggs, added sugar, and salt along with coloring and additional flavors.

From the ingredients, we can deduce that mayonnaise is going to be higher in fat and calories than salad cream and I’ll cover this in more detail in the next section.

Heinz Salad Cream Ingredients	Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise Ingredients
Water, Spirit Vinegar, Rapeseed Oil (22%), Sugar, Mustard Powder, Modified Cornflour, Pasteurised Egg Yolks (3%), Salt, Colour – Riboflavin	Rapeseed oil (78%), water, pasteurized EGG & EGG Yolk (7.9%), spirit vinegar, salt, sugar, flavorings, lemon juice concentrate, antioxidant (calcium disodium EDTA), paprika extract

Salad Cream Vs. Mayo Nutritional Comparison

Moving onto the nutritional comparison and I can confirm this will be done weight-for-weight per 100g to keep the data accurate.

I’ve also included the data per serving for information, however, please note that each sauce has a different recommended serving weight, so it doesn’t give a like for like comparison.

Calorie Comparison

There’s a big difference between the calorie content of full-fat salad cream compared to real mayonnaise, with mayonnaise having over double the calories of salad cream per weight.

Mayonnaise is higher in calories than salad cream because it’s predominately made from rapeseed oil, which is a high-calorie ingredient.

Sauce Type	Calories Per 100g	Calories Per Serving
Heinz Salad Cream	293kcal	45kcal (per 15g serving)
Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise	721kcal	90kcal (per 13g serving)

Nutritional Comparison

The main nutritional difference between salad cream and mayonnaise is the fat content with mayonnaise containing more than double the fat.

However, it’s worth noting the majority of the fat in mayonnaise and salad cream is polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat which are classed as good fats, compared to saturated and trans fats.

Although mayonnaise is higher in fat, it has no carbs or sugars per serving, making it a better option than salad cream if you’re on a low-carb diet.

Nutrition Type	Salad Cream (Per 15g Serving)	Mayonnaise (Per 13g Serving)
Carbohydrates	2.8g	0g
of Which are Sugars	2.6g	0g
Fat	3.6g	10g
of Which is Saturated Fat	0.3g	1.5g
Protein	0.2g	0g
Sodium/Salt	0.2g (Reference Intake 4%)	90mg (Reference Intake 4%)

Are Salad Cream and Mayonnaise the Same Thing?

Although they’re both creamy-looking sauces that are generally associated with salads, salad cream and mayonnaise are two different sauces.

Salad cream is generally used as a salad dressing because it’s looser than mayonnaise and can be drizzled over food for extra flavor and moisture. It can also be used as a sandwich dressing or as an alternative to mayo to mix with chopped egg or tuna as a lighter option.

In contrast, mayonnaise is generally used as a dip, as a sandwich or burger topping, or as a sauce base for dishes such as prawn cocktail, coleslaw, and potato salad.

Mayonnaise is the more popular condiment of the two, probably because it has more uses and a lighter flavor than salad cream.

Best for Flavor/Texture

When it comes to deciding the best taste between salad cream and mayonnaise this is something we can only decide if we have a wide range of opinions.

Salad cream and mayonnaise both taste pretty different and their textures are different too, with salad cream being a looser sauce that is sharper in taste when compared to mayonnaise which is thicker with a creamier more mellow flavor.

Please help by voting in our poll to tell us which you like best and once you vote, the winner so far will be revealed (no personal information is required to vote).

Summary

To summarise what we’ve learned about the differences between salad cream and mayonnaise:

• Full-fat mayonnaise contains more than double the calories of salad cream, making salad cream the lower calorie option of the two.
• Mayonnaise is higher in fat than salad cream but contains little to no carbs or sugar, whereas salad cream is higher in sugar.
• Mayonnaise has more uses than salad cream and is a more popular choice in most countries.
• Salad cream makes a better salad dressing and it can be used as a lighter alternative to mayo in some dishes.

Ultimately it all comes down to which one you like best, and hopefully, the data in this article can help you decide which one is best for you nutritionally.