guacamole

recipe

Avocados star in this fresh, chunky dip. Scoop it up with chips or spoon it on top of your tacos or quesadillas.

Print Recipe

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Prepare Ingredients

ripe avocados

lime

½ teaspoon

salt

plum tomato, chopped

2 tablespoons

chopped fresh cilantro

scallion, sliced thin

Gather Cooking Equipment

Cutting board

Butter knife

Soupspoon

Medium bowl

Rasp grater (or box grater)

¼-teaspoon measuring spoon

Chef's knife

Whisk

Rubber spatula

Start Cooking!

ripe avocados

Use butter knife to cut avocado in half around pit. With your hands, twist both halves in opposite directions to separate. Use soupspoon to scoop out pit. Scoop avocado from skins into medium bowl; discard pits and skins.

Cutting Avocado for Guacamole - 1

Cutting Avocado for Guacamole - 2

lime

Use rasp grater or fine holes on box grater to remove ¼ teaspoon zest (the colored skin) from lime. Add zest to bowl with avocados.

½ teaspoon

salt

Use chef’s knife to cut lime in half and squeeze juice into bowl with avocados. Add salt to bowl.

Use sturdy whisk to break avocado into large pieces. Gently stir mixture to combine, leaving some large chunks of avocado. Gently tap whisk on rim of bowl to remove any stuck avocado pieces and remove whisk from bowl.

plum tomato, chopped

tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

scallion, sliced thin

Add tomato, cilantro, and scallion to avocado mixture and use rubber spatula to gently stir together. Serve.

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Food for Thought

Avocado Primer

Here’s what to know about shopping for and storing everyone’s favorite green fruit.

Buy small, rough-skinned Hass avocados. Their rich flavor and buttery texture are essential for guacamole. Large, bright-green avocados are fine for salads but aren’t rich enough for guacamole.

Avocado Photos

While Hass avocados start out green and get progressively more purple-black as they ripen, color alone isn’t an accurate indicator of ripeness. The most accurate test for ripeness is to place the fruit in the palm of your hand and gently squeeze: It should be a little soft.

Storing avocados in a paper bag at room temperature will speed up ripening by trapping ethylene, the gas that triggers ripening in many fruits and vegetables. Unless you plan to eat them immediately, keep ripe avocados in the refrigerator, which can extend their shelf life by days.