Classic Guacamole Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is traditional guacamole made of? ›

Here's all you need for traditional guacamole: ripe avocados, coriander/cilantro, red onions, jalapeño or Serrano chilli, lime and salt. Avoid unnecessary fillers such as sour cream and cream cheese. They only dilute flavour. Popular optional extras include: garlic, tomato, cumin powder.

Most people prefer to use sweet white onion in their guacamole recipe. Red or yellow onion tends to give the guacamole too strong of a garlic flavor.

Turns out, authentic guacamole doesn't have garlic. This is when Mark educated me on what goes into a proper guacamole (you should memorize this): avocados, lemon juice, red onion, a tomato, salt, pepper and two ingredients The Barefoot Contessa doesn't have in her recipe but which Mark considers essential....

“Each panned guac gets sealed airtight with Saran Wrap,” he said. “Then it gets lidded, labeled and stored for later use. This process ensures freshness and prevents browning,” he continued.

To keep the leftover guacamole from browning, the employee rips off a sheet of plastic wrap, then presses it all the way down to the surface of the guacamole, knocking out the air that would be in the container if it was just sealed with a lid.

And if you store the guacamole properly, you can easily make it a few hours ahead if you are preparing for a party. The trick to keeping guacamole green is to make sure air doesn't touch it! Transfer it to a container, cover with plastic wrap, and press down on the plastic wrap to squeeze out any air pockets.

THE WORD “GUACAMOLE”

The “tl” is pronounced “tay” in Nahuatl, the Aztec language, hence, ah-hua-CAH-tay. AhuacmOlli (ahowaka-Mole-ee) is a compound of ahuacatl (avocado) + mOlli (sauce). The chocolate based mole sauce comes from that same word, mOlli.

Let's break down the fundamental difference. GUACAMOLE (or “guac,” as the cool kids call it) is an avocado-based dip. SALSA, meanwhile, is (by its truest definition) a tomato-based sauce or dip. Avocado Salsa, then, is the best of both worlds — it's a dip with a base of avocado and tomato.

You can freeze guacamole for up to 3 months. So, if you have a good avo that's about to turn, mash it, mix it with guac ingredients (here's the full recipe), drizzle with oil and freeze for when you next need a creamy avo dip hit, or want to jazz up a mid-week Mexican dinner.

Although brown guacamole isn't the most appealing, it's completely safe to eat (as long as you've stored the guacamole in the refrigerator, and it isn't more than three days old).

What makes guacamole unhealthy? ›

Store-bought guacamole often contains sour cream, added sugar, artificial flavors, preservatives, and a lot of sodium.

You see, lime is a very strong acidic flavor and it can easily overpower the delicate flavor of the avocado. Instead, finely dice red onions and pickle them with lime juice for 15-30 minutes.

Guacamole is basically mashed, raw avocados mixed with other ingredients to taste. The avocados give guacamole the green base, and other ingredients, such as tomatoes and onions give it some textured flavor. Guacamole is especially popular on Super Bowl Sunday and Cinco de Mayo.

The strings might be a bit of a nuisance, but they're harmless! So what are they, exactly? These strings are actually vascular bundles, meaning they are responsible for bringing all those nutrients and water from the tree into the fruit (yes avocado is a fruit).

The “avocado sauce”, for that is what the name means, has avocado, cilantro (aka coriander), onion, jalapeño pepper, lime, salt and tomato. That's it. No cream, milk, wheat, additives or preservatives are needed.

Hass Avocados, Tomatoes, Onions, Cilantro, Contains 2% Or Less Of Lime Juice, Garlic, Salt, Serrano Peppers.