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How to Make Guacamole

Guacamole is one healthy side dish that is hard to find in good form at a local grocery store. Believe it or not, some brands of prepackaged guacamole don't even contain avocados.

It takes about 3 minutes to whip up a super healthy and tasty side of guacamole. All you need are ripe avocados, a red onion, half a lemon, and sea salt.

Here's how we do it...

Start by cutting a ripe avocado in half, taking the seed out, then cutting through the creamy flesh vertically and horizontally to create even chunks, just like this:

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Use a spoon to scoop out avocado chunks and deposit them into a bowl.

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Next, add some finely chopped red onion - we usually a good couple of tablespoons per avocado.

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Drizzle fresh lemon juice - enough to just touch all avocado chunks - and add a pinch of sea salt (about a quarter teaspoon per avocado works well for us).

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Now use a fork to mash things up until you reach your desired consistency. We like our guacamole chunky, so just a few gentle folds are all we need to make this:

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The lemon juice adds freshness to each mouthful, while the red onion bits impart sweetness and a bit of welcome texture. And of course, a bit of sea salt makes everything more flavorful.

As with most dishes, you can add any number of ingredients to guacamole to make it a new experience each time. Chives or green onions combine nicely with creamy avocado, as do cilantro and parsley.

Sometimes, we don't mash with a fork at all, leave everything in chunks, and add fresh, ripe mango and tomato chunks to the mix for a filling salsa-like guacamole.

Of course, it's best to enjoy guacamole with fresh vegetables like carrots, celery, and cucumber, but every once in a while, as a special treat, we have ours with the healthiest corn chips we can find at our local grocery store. Not a bad "cheat" in my book - I hope you agree.

If you're worried about the fat content of avocados, please know that all of the fatty acids in avocados are good for your health, and most importantly, are easily digested by and assimilated into your body.

Avocados are rich in vitamin E, vitamin C, and magnesium. They're also an excellent source of lutein and carotenoids, nutrients that are essential to maintaining healthy vision.

One final note for now: because avocados are low in sugar, they're an excellent food choice for type 1 or type 2 diabetics.

If you have any favorite guacamole-making ideas that you'd like to share with our community, please use the comments section below. Thank you.

Update on April 11, 2011

These days, I've been mincing purple onion a lot finer than it's shown above. I've also been adding finely minced garlic, about one small clove for every avocado.

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A sample of my latest batch with these modifications, sans cilantro:

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Our boys wolf this down with baked corn or rice chips - a great way to nourish the body with plenty of healthy fatty acids.

 
 

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Comments

Great post, thank you for that!! I love making fresh guacamole and one of my favorite things to add (in addition to everything you listed), is pieces of fresh mango!

Ben, this is a particularly nice version of gwok.

I love Guacamole with a clove of fresh garlic and a hint of jalepeno pepper minced in with all your other great ingredients. Great to help get over a cold.

If you add to this awesome recipe a little bit of garlic it will taste even better. I must say that I love garlic.

Thanks for posting these recipes with pictures. I never thought to slice an avacado that way! That is so much easier than the way I usually do it. Thank you for that!

Dr. Kim missed THE key ingredient to truly great guacamole, garlic.

Avocados 2-4 depending
2 cloves garlic pressed
1/2 to 1 whole onion finely minced
1/2-1 whole bunch cilantro
1/2-1 whole jalapeno finely minced
1 whole tomato diced
1 whole lime( squeeze all the juice in)
salt and a dash of pepper
for EXTRA GOOD Guac
add 1 whole atualfo mango (they're the best)
and 1 cup of strawberries

And tell everyone this is Faith from Austin's recipe ;)

Avocado's are some of the healthiest foods to eat. Add a crushed clove of garlic to the recipe above to make it a perfect 10! I also prefer the juice of one lime rather than lemon.

We discovered a recipe a couple years ago that we really like. It's not called "guacamole" but it is an avocado salad. Basically, it is made with corn, quartered grape tomatoes, red onion bits, avocado chunks (all the salad ingredient chunks are about the size of the corn)--seasoned with about a teaspoon of lime juice and a sprinkle of salt. Yummy!

Thanks so much for the illustrated recipes. They always make me want to go and make whatever-it-is right now!

Connie

If you leave the pit of the avocado in the guacamole it will keep it from turning brown don't ask me why it just does.

I made the guacamole last week and it was delicious! My husband was wary at first, thinking avocado tastes like soap. He and the chips kept diving into the bowl, all the while saying "Yum, this is really good, wow!" The 4 year-old in the family took a couple of bites, not as thrilled as mom and dad, but we'll keep encouraging him.

Thank you Dr. Kim for your super website and all the terrific information and recipes. Next on my list is the Hummus as well as several other recipes!

I enjoy this recipe for guacamole the most. I find the red onion adds an extra spicy kick. Thanks for posting it!

Did you know you can keep your guacamole from turning black and save it for days if you simply sit one of the pits from your avacado in the centre of your Guacamole before you store it in the fridge. i have had it last, green and fresh for up to a week.

This tip works only if the avocado pit is big enough to completely cover the bowl from edge to edge.

Check out <a href="http://www.kitchensavvy.com/journal/2007/04/how_to_stop_gua.html">How to Stop Guacamole from Turning Black</a>.

I like to add chopped sweet peppers along with tomato, garlic crushed, a bit of cilantro, and finally some salt and about a 1/2 teaspoon of cumin. The cumin is a really amazing addition to this. I know you will love it too. I use 3 medium avocados.
When refrigerating, I take a piece of plastic wrap and press it over the top of the guacamole to block out all the air, then fold the rest of it in on top and put the lid on the bowl and refrigerate for a couple hours before serving.
You can also serve over lettuce bed for a complete salad and dressing.
Yum!!!!

where is the fresh chilli? I add a bit of Turmeric for extra health benefit.