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Guacamole

posted in Appetizers and Snacks, Vegetarian by Kathy Maister
Difficulty:
difficulty rating

Guacamole with corn chips is a great addition to any party menu!

The ingredients needed to make guacamole are:

When using avocados, planning ahead is essential. If you try to make guacamole with a hard, under-ripe avocado, both the texture and the taste will be all wrong. When buying avocados, buy the ones that yield to gentle pressure but are not soft or mushy. Fortunately, you can speed up the ripening process by placing hard avocados in a brown paper bag for a couple of days. (That’s why you need to plan ahead!)

Check out my previous posts on how to crush garlic, squeeze juice from a lemon or lime and how to clean and cut jalapeno peppers, because they are what we are gong to tackle first.

Be sure to use fresh limes (or lemons) and fresh garlic and fresh jalapenos for this recipe.

Let’s start cooking!

Crush 2 cloves of garlic.

Squeeze 1/2 of a fresh lime; we will need 2 teaspoons of the juice.

Seed 1 jalapeño pepper and dice it into about 1/8 inch bits. (I always wear disposable gloves when cutting hot chili peppers!)

Cut one tomato in half with the stem end to the right of the knife blade. It is not necessary to peel the tomato.

Squeeze out all the seeds.

Chop the tomato into about ¼ inch bits.

Cut two avocados lengthwise (rather than making the cut around the width.)

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Separate the two pieces.

Leave the avocado on the cutting board and give the pit a thwack with a big sharp knife.

Give the knife a twist and carefully remove the pit.

Pinch the pit off the knife with your thumb and forefinger and throw it away.

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With a spoon, scoop out the avocado.

It’s OK to put the skin down the garbage disposer, but I just throw the pit in the trash. (It’s sort of like throwing a golf ball in the disposer. You just wouldn’t do it!)

For this chunky guacamole, I like to use a fork to mash it. You could also use a potato masher if you like.

Now add the other prepared ingredients to the avocado. Don’t forget the hot pepper sauce!

With a spoon gently blend everything together.

Give it a taste and see if you need to add some salt and pepper.

It’s important to note that, once exposed to air, an avocado discolors very quickly. Adding lime or lemon juice helps to prevent discoloration. It is widely believed that an avocado pit left in guacamole will help to maintain the lush green color. Wrong! Stick with the lemon or lime juice.

By the way, avocados are almost always eaten raw. They actually turn bitter when they are cooked. Who knew?

Enjoy!

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23 Comments

Shaula Evans said:

Okay, you’ve got me craving guacamole now. (Granted, that’s not hard to do.)

When we lived in Texas, I used to use tomatillas instead of, or in addition to, tomatoes. I don’t know if you see them often in the stores in Boston (they only show up here in Virginia once in a blue moon), but they’re fun to cook with if you can get your hands on them. I find they’re not as acidic as tomatoes.

Do you ever try to grow the pit into a plant? I have fond childhood memories of avacado pits sprouting in jars of water. (Poor pits: I don’t remember what happened to them after that!)

Kathy Maister said:

Did you also make electricity out of a potato?

Shaula Evans said:

No, I can’t say that I have, Kathy.

But our favourite “kitchen science” trick was making volcanoes with vinegar and baking soda, and Neil is still fascinated with ooblick (cornstarch dissolved in water).

Kathy Maister said:

Everyone should “laugh out loud” at least once, every day. Shaula’s oolblick link is today’s winner!

Thanks Shaula!

neil said:

potatoes, no; but we used to get little pizzas that came in high-zinc-content foil (i think). To heat them up, you just smashed the foil into the tomato sauce, and they warmed themselves

Everaert Patrice said:

Hey Kathy! Guacamole is really the Appetizer to serve if you want to become popular in the neighborhood!

Sincere Greetings,

Everaert Patruce

Karin said:

Today I bought three avocados, unripe as usual. I live in Sweden and exotic fruits often are unripe when you buy them. I suppose I´ll have to wait a week or so before I can make my Guacamole.

Kathy Maister said:

Hi Karin, put your avocados in a paper bag with a Granny Smith apple. The apple will help them ripen in about 3 days. Let me know how your guacamole turns out! (How cold is it in Sweden today?)

Karin said:

I´ll try the apple-paper bag trick.

Sweden today: -3 Celsius (32 F). Not so bad. Spring will be in the air in a couple of months.

Blessy said:

Hi Kathy,

I tried the guacamole recipe today..It was very tasty..Thanx a lot..

Blessy

Vivien said:

I tried using onions instead of garlic to make guacamole once, and it didn’t come out that great.

Kathy Maister said:

That’s great Blessy!

Vivien, onions, particularly raw onions can be really over powering for many people. Generally speaking the flavor of the avocado and the onion works well together.

Big Kahunna said:

Remember to place a piece of suran wrap completely over, around and in contact with the guacamole, eleminating any air pockets to prevent it from turning brown, which guacamole will do very quickly. Also never put guacamole in a metal container because it will react to the metal and again turn brown and have a tinny flavor.

MERIEM said:

Thank you very very very much for this web site..

Meriem from U.S.A

wafa said:

Thanks! You are fast and show the recipes in a nice way , also they are easy to do!

Kathy Maister said:

Thanks!
I love guacamole and I’m delighted that you are enjoying my site.
Has anyone tried freezing guacamole? I just noticed that on the container of guacamole from Trader Joe’s it says “eat or freeze by…”
I never have any leftovers to freeze. If avocados go on sale, I’m thinking of making extra just to freeze. (But I’m going to hold off on adding the tomatoes until I’m ready to serve it.)
Does anyone have any tips on freezing guacamole?

amy said:

hi!

just a tip, when i don’t have fresh cilantro on hand, i grind coriander into the mix. it has a different flavor but is still very delicious!

Kathy Maister said:

Thanks Amy! I happen to really like the flavor of cilantro but many people think it tastes “soapy”. Consequently, when I’m serving it to company, I always serve it on the side.

Stacy said:

Kathy, any luck freezing the guac? I just bought avacados on sale :)

Kathy Maister said:

Given you can buy frozen Guacamole, there should be no problem freezing home made guacamole just skip the tomatoes for now.

Make sure there is no air trapped on the top of the freezer container. In fact you might want to put it in a freezer bag and squeeze out all the extra air.

Be sure to add the tomatoes just before you sever it.

randy said:

after making the guacamole how long can it be stored and how do I do this

Kathy Maister said:

Some people think that if you put the pit from the avocado in the guacamole it will keep it fresh and not turn brown. It is actually the lemon that will keep it from turning brown. BUT for how long was the question!

Freshly made guacamole should be eaten within about 24 hours of making it. Even with lemon it will begin to discolor.

Store bought guacamole is a different story. Once opened, the preservatives will keep it fresh for about 3-5 days.

linkslondon said:

Very cool everyone should “laugh out loud” at least once, every day. Shaula’s oolblick link is today’s winner!

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