Whether you are working with hass or "skinny" avocados, there are occasions when you have ripe fruit that you can’t use right away. We wondered if freezing was an option. To find out, we froze the ripe fruit two ways: whole unpeeled samples and avocados that we halved, pitted, peeled and then coated in lemon juice (to prevent oxidation) before sealing in zipper-lock bags.
Is It OK to Freeze Avocados?
We froze avocados whole as well as halved, pitted, peeled, and coated in lemon juice.
By Published Jan. 1, 2010.
After a couple of weeks, we defrosted the samples and tasted them sliced and mashed into guacamole.
When we froze avocados, none of the fruit turned brown. But whether we froze them whole with the skin on or in peeled slices, freezing destroyed the avocado’s signature creamy texture, making it watery and mushy. It turns out that in addition to having a high fat content, avocados also contain lots of water. When the sharp ice crystals that form during freezing slash the fruit’s cells, they burst, leaking water and creating mushiness when the avocado is defrosted.
The Best Way to Store Avocados
Instead of freezing, we generally recommend keeping ripe avocados refrigerated, which can extend their shelf life by days.
One Use for Frozen Avocados
We did find one (but only one) application where an avocado with compromised texture wasn’t noticeable: pureed into salad dressing. So unless you’re a big fan of avocado-based dressing, freezing the fruit won’t do you much good.
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