How to compliment any Mexican meal with Jonathan’s Go-To Chunky Guacamole

One of the most versatile recipes I’ve used over and over again when we make Mexican cuisine, need a topping for a burger, or want something to accompany chips and salsa is quick and easy guacamole.  The key to good guac is fresh ingredients. While it only lasts in the fridge a couple days, this recipe is so delicious you’ll probably finish it well before it turns brown.

How to rock at making guac:

This is such a quick and easy guacamole recipe, and I make it so often that I have it memorized.  You only need a bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients, a knife and a big spoon to mash it all together.  I’ve found these tips make it come out consistently good time and again:

• Buy ripe avocados or plan to rapidly ripen them with the paper bag trick. 

• Use a citrus squeezer to get the freshest lime juice and avoid phytophotodermatitis or use gloves. 

• Use sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper liberally and taste. 

• Experiment with your favorite hot sauce

Ingredients:

• 3 avocados
• Juice of ½ of a lime (or up to 1 lime if wanted)
• 1 Tbs chopped cilantro
• ½ red onion, diced finely
• Hot sauce to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste

Step 1: Pick out your avocados

Avocados can go from hard as a rock to mush in no time flat. You want an avocado that’s brown. Not green (hard) or black (mushy), but brown. It should feel somewhat soft when you squeeze it gently.  

If you’re fortunate enough to find 3 ripe avocados at the store you can skip to step 2.

How do I make guacamole when there aren’t any ripe avocados at the store?

You can take green unripe Haas avocados and get them to the proper ripeness in a predictable time using the brown paper lunch bag and flour trick.  

1. Take a lunch bag, put at least ½ cup all-purpose flour in the bottom of the bag
2. Place the avocados on top of the flour and fold the top of the bag down. This traps the ethylene gases inside and the flour helps speed up the emissions and ripening time.

This typically works within 48 hours so you can gather the rest of the ingredients and plan to eat your guacamole about two days out from purchase.  If something comes up, no problem, you can store your ripened avocados for a few more days in the fridge. For other tips and tricks to plan ahead for recipes, read our post on setting yourself up for success in the kitchen.

Step 2: Prep your ingredients in a large bowl

Using a large bowl gives you plenty of surface area to mash the avocado and prevents it from getting pushed outside of the bowl.  

Cut the avocados in half, then cut a grid on each half. This will allow your chunkiness to be consistent. Scoop out each half with your spoon into the bowl. 

Cut a lime in half and squeeze into the bowl, preferably using a handheld citrus squeezer or food safe gloves if hand squeezing.  We recommend doing this because the juice when combined with sunlight on your skin can cause a burn called phytophotodermatitis that may not appear for days after and which can take a couple months to go away. 

Add in the onion, cilantro, hot sauce, salt and pepper.  

Step 3: Combine the ingredients

To make this quick and easy guacamole recipe, mash all the ingredients into the side of the bowl with a big spoon until it’s well combined and to the level of chunkiness you prefer. 

Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes and serve. This tastes great with tortilla chips, or you can get creative and use it as a topping for open faced turkey burgers with chili.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this article. As always, comments are welcome and encouraged!

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