I’ve made this guacamole countless times since discovering the recipe over one year ago. I’ve made it for a bunch of teenage girls, a big group of boys, for my family, extended family, and for parties. Everyone has always said that it is either ‘super good’ or the ‘BEST guac.’ they’ve had.
Despite the simplicity of making a dish like guacamole there are 6 tricks to making it ‘the BEST’ guac ever…
Trick 1- Use perfectly RIPE avocados. To see if an avocado is ripe simply press the top part of the avocado near the stem. It should indent very easily and be soft to the touch. If it feels really hollow or overly squishy/juicy by the stem it is most likely browning and over-ripe. If it is hard to indent or push down it is under ripe. Something I’ve learned is that sometimes it is hard to find perfectly ripe avocados at the grocery store. I buy mine 3 days before. As soon as they are ripe I put them in the fridge and they stop ripening until I make the dish.
2-The second trick is to dice or mince all of the ingredients (according to the recipe below). This ensures that each bite has all of the flavors. Also having big chunks of tomatoes and onions can cause the tortilla chip to break on the way from the bowl to the mouth.
3-Let the guacamole sit in the fridge (covered tightly) for at least an hour or more. This allows the flavors time to really spread. I found that 3 hours was the best time frame to allow it to sit. You don’t have to do this if you don’t have time. It will still be good, just not as good.
4-The fourth trick is to cover the guacamole tight when it is not being eaten. Keeping it as air tight as possible will help it stay green.
5- Taste test. I’m a huge fan of taste testing everything before serving it (a tip I learned from culinary chefs while working in fine-dining restaurants). Sometimes a lime will not give as much juice as another lime. So I usually have extra ingredients on the side so I can make sure it tastes exactly the way I want it to.
6- Use good tortilla chips. The best chips I’ve ever used with this type of guacamole is Juanita’s. They are traditional Mexican tortilla chips and are very light and crispy and are salted. Any tortilla chip will do, but if you want to have the best, try Juanita’s. I’ve found Juanita’s chips at Smith’s/Kroger, Winco, Harmons, Walmart, and many other stores.
Although those tricks are easy to do, they really make a difference between a mediocre guacamole and the BEST.
The original recipe (I’ve linked to at the bottom) only feeds 3-4 so I always double it. Thus I’ve made this recipe doubled it serves 6-8.
Ingredients:
6 Avocados peeled, pitted, and mashed
2 Limes juiced
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 Cup diced red onion, minced
3 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced
4 Roma Tomatoes, diced (I squeeze the tomato juice out before adding them into the guac.)
a pinch of pepper or pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Mashed the avocados, lime juice, salt, pepper, and garlic powder together. Stir in onion, cilantro and tomatoes. Cover tightly and let sit for 1-4 hours.
I found the recipe on allrecipes.com here. It has almost 5 stars out of over 3,200 reviews! I made a few minor changes to the original. I use a red onion, halved the cilantro, omitted the cayenne pepper, and most importantly (in my opinion) is using garlic powder instead of minced garlic. Minced garlic didn’t spread out well. I got chunks of garlic in some bites and not others. Garlic powder spreads evenly throughout the dish. So check it out here and make your own changes if you desire. You won’t be disappointed!
- 6 Avocados peeled, pitted, and mashed
- 2 Limes juiced
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 Cup diced red onion, minced
- 3 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced
- 4 Roma Tomatoes, diced (I squeeze the tomato juice out before adding them into the guac.)
- a pinch of pepper or pepper to taste
- Mashed the avocados, lime juice, salt, pepper, and garlic powder together. Stir in onion, cilantro and tomatoes. Cover tightly and let sit for 1-4 hours.
For other ‘rich living’ tips and gourmet recipes please subscribe, like me on Facebook, and follow me on Pinterest.
Thanks, I never knew how easy homemade guac was until recently and I’ve been combining several recipes. I will have to try this. I love allrecipes and don’t think you can go wrong with highly rated dishes on there.
Selina- Yes allrecipes is awesome. I altered the recipe to suit my liking and I also took hundreds of reviewers advice as well. Let me know how it turns out 🙂
Just wanted to fix a mistake in the tips:
“The pit protects the guac simply because it shields a portion of the dip’s surface from exposure to air. You’d be just as well off plopping a few hard boiled eggs or some golf balls or an iPhone into your guacamole.”
http://m.livescience.com/33660-guacamole-avocado-pit-prevent-brown.html
Emily- Thanks I changed it to omit this and just added to keep it as ‘air tight’ as possible to avoid browning 🙂
Ugh this just doesn’t sound that good. Why use fresh ingredients then throw in garlic powder? Fresh is ALWAYS best. Letting it sit? Mashing everything together? Squeezing the juice out of the tomatoes?
Try this:
use FRESH garlic, minced in a garlic press
SEED the romas, just use the fleshy part… dice small
MASH half the avocadoes, dice the rest.. you will have a lovely mixture of smooth/chunky texture
add seasoning (garlic, s&p, lime juice) to the mashed garlic, then add the onion and tomatoes
ADD GREEN TOBASCO… you won’t be sorry and it maintains the color
fold in the diced avocado and mix thoroughly… if you mash it all you lose texture as the acid breaks down the avocado, it gets watery, and letting it sit isn’t necessary when all your ingredients are fresh
eat IMMEDIATELY after making… room temperature is the way to go
Sorry to be so critical… and each to his own… but I’m not buying this as the best guacamole.
You are entitled to your opinion. I don’t mind that you like a different recipe more even if you haven’t tried this. I understand that people have different taste buds. It does have over three thousand five star reviews so apparently I am not alone in thinking this is THE BEST GAUC either :D!
very good ! thanks
You are welcome Carrie, thanks for the review!
Thank you for this! I made guacamole tonight for the first time, for a group of 12 people I was having over for dinner (yikes, no pressure). It turned out perfectly and everybody raved about it! Great idea to use garlic powder instead of fresh. It really did disperse the flavor evenly throughout.
I’m so glad you liked it and so did your guests! You’re welcome!
I actually really like using garlic salt in my guac. Combines the needs of garlic and salt into one!
Great idea, thanks!