Guacamole recipes are everywhere and there are so many amazing ways to make this delightful taco accompaniment. We’ve tried them all and settled on the absolute best guacamole recipe out there, and now we offer you the Perfect Guacamole! It’s fresh, simple, flavorful, has amazing textures, and pairs wonderfully with almost anything!
The recipe is straightforward and probably feels familiar if you’ve ever made your own guacamole before. (If you haven’t made your own, remedy that immediately by mixing up a batch of the Perfect Guacamole!)
Ingredients for Perfect Guacamole
Avocados
You’ll need ripe avocados for this. They should be soft enough that you can dent them just a little bit with light pressure from your finger, but not so soft that they dent easily. Here are our fav avocado tips.
Choosing a Good Avocado
Purchase your avocados at least a day before you need them and choose avocados that are completely firm and bright to dark green. If you buy them in a bag, check every single one as best you can. Look for avocados that still have the little stem piece attached – it looks like a little brown nub on one end. Gently pry that off. If it’s anything but bright green underneath, don’t purchase it. (Don’t worry – you aren’t harming the avocado by removing this little piece, and you aren’t ruining it for other people!)
Ripening Your Avocados
Keep your avocados at room temperature. Place them in a brown paper bag to encourage faster ripening if you are in a hurry. Once they are ripe and just softening as described above, put them in the veggie drawer of your refrigerator. There, they will stay ripe for several days.
Tomatoes
Any tomato will work for this recipe. We have used them all! Roma tomatoes work especially well, as do cherry tomatoes and tomatoes on the vine. Choose your favorite!
Jalapeno
Remove the seeds for less heat, or keep them in for a spicier guac.
The lime juice, red onion, olive oil, salt, and cilantro round out all the flavors so you have the perfect balance when the guac is served. Adjust as you like to suit your own tastes.
Tools for Perfect Guacamole
You don’t need many tools for this, but a couple of things will come in handy here. (These are affiliate links and we may make a small commission on qualifying purchases. But we will never recommend anything that we don’t truly love!)
- A good chef’s knife – You won’t regret spending a bit more on an amazing chef’s knife. You will use it constantly and nicer knives really do hold up better than inexpensive versions. Believe it or not, if you have a sharper knife, it’s actually less likely that you will cut yourself! This is because the knife itself is doing more of the work and you don’t have to press down as hard to get nice cuts.
- A good cutting board – Wood is best because it’s easier on your knives and will prolong the life of that nice knife you now have. They do need some special care to keep them from absorbing flavors from things like onion and garlic, but it’s not hard and it’s very much worth the effort! Here is what Kristen is using now (and loving!).
Making Perfect Guacamole
Simply chop and combine your ingredients, then mash your avocados with a fork and stir them in with the other ingredients until fully combined. Choose a pretty bowl for serving and you’re done! It’s that simple!
Enjoy!
Perfect Guacamole
Ingredients
- ¾ cup diced tomato
- 2½ tablespoons jalapeno finely diced (1 large pepper, with or without seeds)
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons red onion finely diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 avocados
- ¼ cup cilantro roughly chopped
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine tomato, jalapeno, lime juice, red onion, oil, and salt. Mash the avocados and add to the bowl. Stir in the cilantro. Refrigerate, tightly covered, until ready to eat.
Notes
- Any type of tomato will work here, even cherry or grape tomatoes.
- Leave the seeds and ribs in your jalapeno for more spicy heat; remove them for a milder guacamole.
- To help forestall browning, press plastic wrap down onto the surface of the avocado before sealing the container and storing it in the refrigerator.
