Homemade yellow mustard is deceptively simple to make from mustard powder, vinegar, and a couple other basic pantry staples. You just may never go back to store-bought! Here's how to make it from scratch.
Place the 1 cup cold water, 3/4 cup yellow dry mustard powder, 3/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric, 1 teaspoon garlic purée, and 1/8 teaspoon paprika in a small nonreactive saucepan and whisk until smooth.
Cook the mixture over medium-low to low heat, stirring often, until it bubbles down to a thick paste, 30 to 45 minutes.☞ TESTER TIP: You’re definitely going to want to do this in a well-ventilated kitchen. Trust me. And that nonreactive saucepan is also essential or the mustard could take on an off color and hue.
Whisk the 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar into the mustard mixture and continue to cook until it’s thickened to the desired consistency—you know, the usual prepared mustard consistency—which can take anywhere from 7 to 15 minutes.
Let the mustard cool to room temperature before spooning the mustard into an airtight container. Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 months. ☞ TESTER TIP: The mustard will be quite pungent the first few days or even weeks, but will mellow with time.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 teaspoon
Calories: 11 kcal
Carbohydrates: 1 g
Protein: 1 g
Fat: 1 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Sodium: 37 mg
Sugar: 1 g
Reviews
Jean on 2025-11-02 (5 stars): This is delicious and I had all of the ingredients in the cupboard. Glad I ran out of mustard and was inspired to make this!
NoHorseInMyMustard on 2025-08-28 (5 stars): I made this mustard for my sister who has to be very picky in what ingredients she can put in her body, and this recipe didn't disappoint! A couple questions I have though is:
1. Why did mine taste like it had a bunch of horseradish in it?
2. Is there a way to lower the level of horse in this sauce?
For reference, I used Colman's mustard powder and did NOT add apple cider vinegar (ran out). I will be making this recipe again once I can figure out why mine turned out so horsey, as I would also like horseless mustard.
Susan Bingaman, LC Recipe Tester on 2023-08-23 (5 stars): I’ve always wanted to make my own homemade yellow mustard. I’ve heard it beats the pants off the stuff you buy—and it’s true! I’m not sure how else to describe the flavor of this homemade yellow mustard other than complex and mustardy, but trust me, you might not go back to the stuff in the squeeze bottle.
I whisked in the vinegar and let it bubble for 18 more minutes until the mustard was pretty thick. The resulting mustard is spreadable rather than squeezable. Delicious!
Karen Depp, LC Recipe Tester on 2023-05-13 (5 stars): Who would ever have dreamt we could make our own "hot dog" mustard and have it be so good! It's easier than easy and fun. One pot, no tricks and there it is. Bright yellow and sharp as a tack. In about 50 minutes you have almost a cup of goodness looking for a brat and a bun. 53 minutes from mise-en-place to container for fridge. Cooling is about the only time you can just walk away. I'd have thought I could leave it while it was bubbling away, but alas—yellow bubbles everywhere even a low heat, so it did take some monitoring.
My house smells like the ball park! Fan at full blast was really a great suggestion. I thought I was getting a sinus headache but it was just the mustard cooking away. After the fan, nothing to complain about.
Lee37683 on 2023-03-11 (5 stars): First time trying to make it. Definitely learned why you said, "Well ventilated"! hoooo boy! Onions rarely make my eyes water, but this had me standing outside for a few minutes.Very good! Got a very nice kick to it too! The only problem I had is it didn't last long enough.
2nd time I'm making it now. Doubled up so it will last me longer than a few days!
Peter Malacarne on 2023-01-29 (5 stars): Kudos to you for your tip about flung open windows and open doors! A most excellent base recipe for mustard. I did experiment a bit with subbing some one third orange juice for water, two tablespoons of honey, and one tablespoon of dried molasses. Now off to the supermarket for some hotdogs....
K. Fox, LC Recipe Tester on 2022-06-19 (5 stars): The mustard had a clean, sharp mustard flavor—proving homemade mustard is certainly worth the time and effort! While making this, I didn’t experience a strong, eye-watering fragrant aroma that the instructions and previous reviews warned me about. I remembered in Dorie Greenspan’s recipe for “Gerard’s Mustard Tart,” she warned, “if the mustard brings tears to your eyes, it’s fresh enough for this tart.”
This led me to grinding high-quality mustard seeds to a powder and making a second batch with the freshly ground powder. I immediately experienced the eye-watering aroma the instructions warned me about! While the second batch was a lot more pungent, I thought both batches tasted a lot fresher than store-bought, and I thoroughly enjoyed having the smell of mustard permeate my entire house for a day.
Ringo's Mom on 2021-10-27 (5 stars): I'm one of "those people" who can't tolerate garlic. Mustard, being one of my favorite foods, has garlic as one of the basic ingredients so I turned to Chef Google, searching for mustard recipes I could make on my own and adapt as needed. Well, this recipe, and Leite's whole grain mustard recipe, are my newfound faves! Easy to make? You bet! Easy to adapt to your liking? Yup! Delicious??? OH HECK YES! I've played with the liquid ingredients, using beer in place of water, soaking the seeds longer than intended while still having it turn out creamy and yummy, and toyed with various spices and herbs, changing the flavor profile to match what we were in the mood for. No longer will I need to buy mustard, and no longer will I need to search for another mustard recipe. Thank you, Leite's!!
Joan Osborne, LC Recipe Tester on 2021-07-13 (5 stars): What a fun project. Delicious, too. So far I've used the homemade mustard on a meatloaf sandwich and a BBQ sandwich, and it was perfect. I had my son-in-law, who adores mustard, try it, and he ate it on some Ritz crackers and gave it his seal of approval.
John Collins on 2020-09-04 (5 stars): I'm American and living in Indonesia. Unfortunately, there is only one brand of mustard here and it is expensive. 4 US dollars for one cup. Mustard powder, however, is pretty easy to achieve inexpensively so I tried this recipe and it's all good so far, very potent, very creamy and I can't wait to eat it on my hot dog.
Margaret Stares on 2020-05-25 (4 stars): This recipe is very, very easy. The finished mustard is in a league of it's own, so much better than commercially prepared mustards you buy. I found it cooked down much quicker than the recipe said. When something this good is so easy to make it seems a shame not to!
Stuart D., LC Recipe Tester on 2020-04-10 (5 stars): Pretty darn good. It made about 3/4 cup of pale yellow mustard. It was a little vinegary on first taste but that subsided after a day or two in the fridge and a smooth mustard flavor came through.
Nimmy on 2019-05-03 (5 stars): I made this mustard, along with another version, and this is the best one. The other called for Wondra flour (quick desolving flour to thicken) which caused the mustard to be come lumpy as it sat in the fridge. I loved this recipe, because vinegar was added later during cooking process. Quick note for anyone making this, Turn on your stove top exhaust fan to help reduce the order!! I didn't do that and my house smelled like mustard and vinegar for days ☺
Sita Krishnaswamy, LC Recipe Tester on 2018-03-03 (5 stars): I loved making this yellow mustard. It's a recipe you can throw together while multitasking in the kitchen. Comes together really easily and in half an hour you have an amazing yellow mustard that packs a mean punch. Perfect for BBQ season and the store bought stuff is no comparison.
I've always wanted to make my own yellow mustard. Never buying the stuff in the bottle, ever again. The variations to this mustard are endless. Definitely a versatile recipe.
Stella Bella on 2017-08-15 (5 stars): Fabulous tasting mustard. This was a great recipe, quick and easy to follow. The color was not quite as bright as the picture but still a vibrant yellow. The flavor was punchy but not too much so. This recipe was quick and easy to follow. It is also easily adaptable and from experience I know the water can be substituted with cider, beer, or wine, and different types of vinegars could be used. I did not find it too spicy. The spiciness can always be tweaked by adding a teaspoon of honey towards the end of the cooking.
The flavor mellowed after 3 days and the color seems to have intensified a little. It only took 20 minutes for the mustard to turn into a paste. This might be because I used a pan with a large surface area. I used homemade garlic paste instead of garlic powder. It only took another 15 minutes after adding the vinegar for the mixture to have the correct consistency, although I thought it was a little on the thick side. I could probably have taken it off the heat after 10 minutes. This recipe produced about 180 ml of mustard.
