If you asked me what my favorite food in the world was, I’m pretty sure my answer would have to be this chunky guacamole. The funniest thing about it is that it’s SUPER easy to make-in fact, I’m not sure why I don’t make it more often. When you think about it, guacamole is one of those items that should be my favorite thing ever-I love avocados, tomatoes, onions… and lime most of all. Yet, I have a really hard time with nearly every guacamole you find in the store or at a restaurant. So many of them have weird additives that they put in it to keep it from going brown, but I can taste those additives and I don’t like them. They’re gross, and they make it taste kind of rotten-I don’t know how people at them.
So when my friend Julie brought over her homemade guacamole without any of that gunk in it, and without using one of those weird flavoring packets they sell for guacamole at the store, it’s easy to say I became quickly obsessed with it. She taught us to make it, decreed that you’re not allowed to make it without a shot of tequila (though I do often make it without drinking in it’s honor haha), and we’ve enjoyed it and many variations of it for years.
Chunky Guacamole Recipe
Today I want to share with you the recipe. It’s quick and easy, inexpensive (except that you almost need a loan to buy avocados most of the time), and has nothing in it to take away from the delicious flavors these ingredients naturally possess.
What You’ll Need
- 3-5 Avocados
- 1 Yellow Onion (or if you prefer, a sweet Vidalia would be good too)
- 2 Tomatoes (I prefer on the vine, but Roma’s hold up well for Guacamole too)
- Several Limes
- Salt
You’ll also want to make sure you have a good knife, cutting board, a fork, and bowl to mix it all in.
Step 1: Chop Up Your Onions and Tomatoes
You’ll want to chop up your onions and tomatoes according to your taste. I keep everything pretty big because I like a nice chunky bite where I can taste the onions and tomatoes because I love their flavors on their own too. However, if you prefer more Guacamole to your bite, you can chop them up even smaller or mince them pretty well. Or, if you love tomatoes and are meh on a big hot mouthful of onion, chop the tomatoes large and the onions smaller. It’s totally up to you.
Step 2: Avocados in the Bowl
As long as the avocados are ripe enough, I find the easiest way to get them in the bowl is to half them and then just squeeze the contents out of the peel. This helps them be already partially mashed, and makes it super easy so you don’t have to dig it out. If yours are a little underripe, you can slice them in half and then cut slices inside the peel, then use a spoon to scoop it all out.
How do you pick a ripe Avocado?
I’m glad you asked! The majority of the time I grope them in the store. Just a light squeeze to make sure they’re not too squishy (overripe) or too firm (underripe-and harder to make guacamole with). However, if you pop out the little knob where the stem was you can tell if it’s ripe by color. The brighter green it is, the less ripe the avocado is. The more brown it is, the more ripe. Ultimately you want that stem to be brown, but not black-but you can also combine checking color and the feel of the avocado to be sure.
Pit in or Pit out?
There is often some debate about whether leaving the avocado pit in the bowl helps the guacamole stay fresher longer or not. I’ve heard that it’s an old wives tale, but the pit doesn’t hurt anything so I tend to leave one in just in case. If I’m not gobbling it all up right away I want to make sure it’ll last an extra day in the fridge.
Step 3: Mix Them Together
Mix all your chopped onions and tomatoes in with the avocado. I find that using a fork is great for this, especially if your avocado is less ripe, because you can mash it down really easily. A Potato masher would probably work pretty well too, but it would also be more cumbersome.
Step 4: Add Fresh Lime
Don’t add lime juice or some weird lime flavoring, you want the full effect of a nice juicy fresh lime. To make your lime more juicy, before cutting it roll it between your hand and a hard surface like the counter. Really smash it down while you roll it so it breaks apart some of the pulp inside. Then simply cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl.
You’ll likely need to add more lime juice than you think at first-and that’s okay! Especially if you’re a lime lover than me. I added two limes to this batch, and I still found myself wondering if I didn’t want another half or even whole lime in there. I really enjoy the tang of the lime, and the acid in the lime helps keep the guacamole fresher longer also.
Step 5: Add Salt to Flavor
Then, just add salt to flavor to finish it off. You can add as much or as little to it as you like, but I recommend adding some and tasting it, then adding a bit more. There’s nothing worse than ruining your guacamole because you added too much salt. If you do add too much salt, and you have an extra avocado on hand, you can mash it up in there to help soak up some of the salty flavor and save your dish.
Step 6: Serve It Up and Enjoy
Seriously, enjoy. This is my favorite thing I’ve ever put in my mouth… I think I might have to go get more supplies and make more this weekend. It’s SO DANG GOOD.
You can also get creative. We’ve enjoyed this recipe with things like apple chunks or pomegranates in it and it’s DELICIOUS with those too.
Plus, if you want to be even healthier, skip the chips and dip cucumber chunks, carrot slices, celery, etc. in it.
