Avocado Recipes - Five Great Ideas!

Ready for some great avocado recipes? The avocado is pretty amazing. It’s a fruit, but it doesn’t taste like a fruit. It doesn’t taste like a vegetable, either. To me, it tastes sort of like a cross between a nut and a creamy dairy product. It’s funny, I used to hate this food when I was a kid. I guess the first time I really enjoyed eating it was on a trip to the Bahamas when I was fifteen. One night in a restaurant there, I had crab salad on avocado, and it was delicious. I began eating the fruit once in a while after that, but I didn’t become a big fan until hubby and I made friends with a Mexican couple who own a local restaurant. Oftentimes now, I crave the luxurious sensation of avocado flesh on my tongue, and I’ve experimented with numerous avocado recipes, including guacamole. In fact, I think I could eat it just about every day. And it’s not just the taste and texture that have me hooked. Avocados have lots of health benefits, too. I’m totally convinced they’ve helped with my weight loss efforts. I’m including five tasty avocado recipes in this article for you to peruse.

Try using this avocado spread on sandwiches and burgers. I often use it on my sandwich wraps I make with low carb tortillas instead of using a cream cheese spread. It’s also wonderful on fajitas. Before wrapping up a fajita, I like to smear the avocado spread on my soft flour tortilla. I usually use a Hass avocado here because they’re always available, and that variety is actually my favorite – for almost all my avocado recipes. Of course, you can use just about any type you like.

Ingredients:

1 ripe Hass avocado

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 tablespoon sour cream (regular, low fat, or fat free)

1 teaspoon parsley

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne (optional)

Directions: Blend all ingredients together until smooth and creamy.

I made this avocado salad recipe for lunch today, and it was awesome! The creamy avocado was marvelous with the crunchy apples and nuts and the tart tangerine sections. I used pecans in this recipe because that’s what I happened to have in the cabinet. Any type of nuts or seeds would work, so use your favorite. I think next time I might try walnuts or roasted pumpkin seeds.

Ingredients:

9-ounce bag mixed greens

1 Hass avocado, peeled and diced

1 Gala apple, cored and diced

1 cup pineapple chunks

2 tangerines, peeled, seeded, and divided into sections

¼ cup broken pecans

3 tablespoons chopped onion

1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro

¼ cup orange or tangerine juice

¼ cup olive oil

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 tablespoon brown sugar or Splenda

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 teaspoon minced garlic

½ teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon black pepper

Salt, to taste

Directions: Combine salad greens, apple, pineapple, tangerines, pecans, and onion in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients to make a dressing. If you prefer, use a ready-made raspberry vinaigrette. Drizzle avocado salad with dressing and serve immediately.

This avocado dip recipe is great with crackers, tortilla chips, pita chips, bagel chips, and potato chips. If you’re dieting, try avocado dip with raw veggies like celery, summer squash, broccoli, cucumbers, or cauliflower. You might also want to use low fat or fat free sour cream or plain yogurt in place of the regular sour cream. You can do this with just about any avocado dip recipes.

Ingredients:

2 Hass avocados, peeled and diced

½ cup sour cream

¼ cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons grated onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic

Salt, to taste

Directions: Place diced avocados in bowl and mash with a fork or a potato masher. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

I’ve often wondered how many guacamole recipes there are, since I don’t think I’ve ever tasted two that were exactly alike. Even Mexican restaurants each seem to have their own signature guacamole, and some are better than others. I use several different guacamole recipes, myself, depending on my mood, on who’s going to be eating it, and on what I happen to have in the kitchen at the time. Sometimes I use all fresh ingredients, but at other times, I might use canned tomatoes and canned green chilies.

Guacamole can be cool and creamy, hot and spicy, or anywhere in between. The texture can vary a lot, too. Some folks like guacamole super smooth, while others prefer theirs to be chunky. The most important ingredient in any guacamole recipe is the avocado itself. It needs to be completely ripe. If it’s not soft and ripe, it’s not going to cream well. With an under ripe avocado, you’ll wind up with firm chunks that will be next to impossible to mash.

I think this is my best guacamole recipe. It’s super quick and easy to make, and it has an amazing flavor, in my opinion. It has enough fresh ingredients to make it bright, and the canned tomatoes provide some richness. The guacamole recipe below is sort of a combination of Mexican guacamole and Guasacaca, a Venezuelan version.

2 ripe avocados, chunked or diced

½ can diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained

¼ cup finely diced fresh cilantro

3 tablespoons grated onion, with juice

2 tablespoons finely diced green bell pepper

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 teaspoon Lawry’s garlic salt with parsley

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon paprika

Directions: Place avocado chunks in a glass or plastic bowl and mash.

Add remaining ingredients and stir well.

For super smooth guacamole, process in a blender or food processor.

Unlike the avocado recipe above, this one is for fresh guacamole. In other words, instead of using canned tomatoes, I use fresh tomatoes and fresh peppers. I prefer to use Roma tomatoes, but if I don’t have any on hand when the guacamole mood strikes, I use regular tomatoes. This hot and spicy homemade guacamole has a wonderful kick to it! The secret that gives it such a great flavor is red curry powder. Yeah, I know – an Asian spice with a Mexican recipe. It might sound strange, but the flavors work well together. By the way, I often make this guacamole with a “chunky” texture.