Appetizers/ Condiments/ healthy living/ Vegan/ vegetarian

Simple Guacamole Recipe

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Who doesn’t love guacamole? It can work alone as a great appetizer which pairs great with our Strawberry Daiquiris or our Strawberry and Thyme Margaritas. And, it also makes a great condiment. It goes great on tilapia fish tacos with mango salsa. Today we’ll show you our versatile, super easy, mildly spicy,  simple  guacamole recipe. Are you ready?

simple spicy guacamole recipe

THE PERFECT AVOCADOS FOR HOMEMADE GUACAMOLE

The first key to great guacamole is fresh avocados. Many people think of guacamole as a dip, but technically it’s a sauce as I learned from this cool site which delves into the history of guacamole. It may be because I’m a little nerdy, but I love learning about food origins.

Deriving from Aztec words ahuacatl and mulli that translate to “avocado sauce” you won’t get very far with impressing your guests with your guacamole if you start with sub-par avocados! But not to worry, if we can pull off great guacamole with our less than stellar local supermarkets, then you shouldn’t have any trouble.

Our strategy:

We buy avocados on a weekly basis. They are soooo good. We tend to pick the ones that aren’t completely ripe yet. You want them to be firm, but not rock-hard, and not super soft. I find that if you buy the just under-ripe ones, leave them on the counter for a day or two until they are almost perfect, then stick them in the fridge, they last for easily 3-5 days in the fridge. Then you have the perfect rotation of always having ripe avocados.

perfect avocados for simple guacamole

What about when you have half an avocado left, is there a way to save it without having it turn brown?

Great question, here are a few common strategies that people suggest:

1) Cover the avocado tightly with parchment or wax paper. The idea here is to limit the exposure to oxygen and thus slow the browning which occurs when an enzyme in the avocado oxidizes when exposed to air.

2) Squirt the avocado with lemon or lime juice. The acid is supposed to help slow the browning process.

3) Store the avocado in a water bath. I know, weird, but reportedly some chefs use this trick while preparing food. Whether that’s true or not, I have no idea, but I presume the idea is again reducing exposure to oxygen.

But, do any of the above methods work?

Well according to this avocado experiment, not really. But feel free to experiment on your own.

We often try a combo: lime juice and then sealing tightly with parchment paper…and it does help a little…but, yeah…the results aren’t great.

And then while researching for this post, I discovered a new possible avocado browning solution which suggests you should store the avocado with cut up onion. Has anyone tried this? I’ll have to try it, although I do worry about the onion taste/smell transferring over to the avocado.

But maybe the most obvious solution is right in front of us, eat the whole darn avocado! After all, avocados have a lot going for them:

-They have more potassium than bananas
-They’re loaded with fiber
-They may help lower cholesterol and relieve arthritis.

And that’s just the tip of the avocado. More on these and other great benefits of avocados. Good, more reasons to eat delicious guacamole.

Alright, you’re primed,  let’s make some guacamole!

simple guacamole recipe

Guacamole is easy to execute, it’s basically just mashing/chopping up your avocado to your desired level and then mixing in your other ingredients. One thing we do to make our guacamole to our liking is to add some garlic, cumin, and chili powder…just for a little kick…which we like. Experiment and figure out what works for you.

On to the simple guacamole recipe:

Guacamole

Print Rate
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 6 -8 servings

Ingredients

  • 3 avocados
  • 1/2 tsp . garlic granules
  • 1 1/2 tsp . chili powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp . cumin
  • juice from 1 lime
  • 1 plum tomato , chopped
  • cilantro
  • salt

Instructions

  • Smash up the avocados to your desired consistency (I like my guac chunky, so I go easy on this).
  • Add all other ingredients and stir just until combined (go easy if you like it chunky).

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12 Comments

  • Reply
    mydaughtercancook
    May 13, 2016 at 8:04 am

    Mmmm! Guacamole!! Reminds me of our trip to Mexico and eating guac with all those fresh ingredients…and margaritas!

  • Reply
    Lisa | Garlic + Zest
    May 13, 2016 at 9:35 am

    Guacamole reminds me of lazy afternoons by the pool – I don’t know why — but I think I know where I’ll be this weekend!

    • Reply
      mywifecancook
      May 16, 2016 at 8:50 am

      Nice! Hope you enjoyed your weekend (and spent time by the pool!)!

  • Reply
    Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche
    May 13, 2016 at 9:40 am

    LOVE guacamole, especially homemade! I’ll have to try the water method for storing cut avocados, as the other two methods don’t often work for me!

    • Reply
      mywifecancook
      May 16, 2016 at 8:51 am

      I think the best way to store them is to come back and eat them ASAP!

  • Reply
    Whitney @WhittyPaleo
    May 13, 2016 at 9:51 am

    Guac is everything! I used to have a major problem getting my avocados to be just right, they were mostly overripe! So upsetting but I think I’ve got the hang of it now! More guac for me haha

    • Reply
      mywifecancook
      May 16, 2016 at 8:52 am

      Guac is amazing! There is definitely a trick to getting it right, but once you figure out the trick, you’re set!

  • Reply
    Liz @ I Heart Vegetables
    May 13, 2016 at 9:56 am

    Is there anything better than guacamole?! I could eat it with a spoon! haha this recipe looks delicious 🙂

  • Reply
    April
    May 13, 2016 at 10:34 am

    I recently just starting loving guacamole. I think it was the green color that I was afraid of. Now I want to eat it all the time. Great recipe!

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