The Best Guacamole You'll Ever Eat

When Tony and I first started dating he didn’t do much exploration with meals. In fact, I’m 99% sure most of his diet consisted of corn dogs, fries and frozen pizza. It was a scary time for me. Somewhat joking. Somewhat not.

As our relationship progressed, so did Tony’s taste buds and his discovery of new cuisines. I’ve tried both Thai food and sushi with him for the first time. He started eating refried beans. He’s now obsessed with chocolate and homemade Reese’s eggs. He enjoys sprouted bread and brown rice. He also thinks my banana bread is the best thing on this planet (admittedly, in the world of banana breads, it totally is).

But the one thing he had never had before I met him?

AN AVOCADO. Which means my husband had never had guacamole. Ummm what?

After that, I officially made it my mission to get him to try avocados and fall in love. First up: avocado on toast with hot sauce and an egg. Next, I shared this homemade guacamole recipe with him and he said it was straight out of heaven.

Soon after I made this recipe for him, he began asking me if he should make “his guacamole recipe” for dinner. Wait… HIS GUACAMOLE RECIPE?! He said it as if he had been crafting the recipe for years, or like it was a big family secret or something. Adorable, I know.

Today I’m sharing my very famous, easy guacamole recipe with you. Prepare to fall in love just like my Tony.

Everything you’ll need to make the best guacamole recipe

The best part about making homemade guacamole is that it’s EASY and uses all fresh ingredients. It’s truly the ultimate summertime appetizer or snack. My best guacamole recipe contains the perfect amount of avocados, heat, spice and herbs. Here’s what you’ll need for my version:

• Avocado
• Fresh lime juice
• Grape tomatoes
• Red onion
• Jalapeño
• Cilantro
• Salt and pepper

Choosing the right avocados for guacamole

Before we dive into the recipe, let’s chat about avocados! Because avocado makes up 99% of a guacamole recipe, it’s important to pick the right ones for the best texture and flavor. Here are my go-to tips for picking them:

• Check the color. The outside of your avocados should be very dark green, almost black in color. If they’re bright green that means it still needs to ripen a bit.
• Give it a gentle push. Press on the avocados to see how soft it is. Choose avocados that have a little bit of give but aren’t mushy. This will allow you to easily mash them. If your avocados are too hard, place them next to bananas or mangos on the counter to help ripen them up (it may take a day or two)! Alternatively, if your avocados are already ripe, you can place them in the fridge to help prevent any additional unwanted ripening. Ripe avocados should be used with 1-2 days.
• Remove the stem. Try taking the little nub of a stem off of the top of your avocado. If your avocado is ripe, the step should remove easily and it should be green underneath.

How to make guacamole

1. Start by cutting your avocadoes open and removing the seed. Use my tips & tricks here to safely do so! Add your peeled and de-seeded avocados to a bowl and use a fork to mash them just enough like the photo below. You want some nice chunky pieces.
2. Add in your lime juice, grape tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeño and a little salt and pepper.
3. Give it a stir with your fork to fold in all of the ingredients. Taste and add more salt and pepper to your liking, then serve!

Don’t forget these easy guacamole tips

Now, guacamole seems simple, right?! But when you’re trying to perfect something, then you really need to take the time to do it right and to do it really, really well. Here are some of my tried and true tips for making guacamole:

1. Leave some chunks. The perfect guacamole should be a cross between creamy and chunky. You’ll want a mix of avocado chunks and creamy mashed avocado. My tip is to use a fork to mash the avocado but avoid over-mixing the first time around, this will create too much creaminess and be more like avocado puree rather than guacamole. Plus you’ll be adding in other ingredients that you’ll need to fold in.
2. Use flavorful onion. I love using red onion for a little sharpness and additional flavor in my guacamole. Try it out! Don’t worry though, white onion will also work.
3. Add tomatoes. In my opinion, all guacamole should include tomato for texture and flavor. Regular tomatoes tend to be too watery, so go for grape tomatoes instead! You can quarter them and they’ll stay nice and firm.
4. Go easy on the lime. I really dislike when I go to restaurants and the guacamole tastes like lime juice rather than creamy avocado goodness. So I recommend using only 1/2 lime (or about 1 teaspoon lime juice per avocado).
5. Add freshness. I always recommend adding a good amount of cilantro. I don’t know about you, but cilantro is my favorite herb to create a fresh flavor and essential to a good guacamole. Do not skip it!
6. Finish with heat. If you can tolerate jalapeños, then go for it! Personally, I like to keep a few seeds in just to give it a little kick of heat, but it depends on your spice preference. It is important to finely dice the jalapeño.

Fun ways to customize guacamole

This recipe is for a more traditional, basic guacamole, but you can absolutely jazz it up with fun mix-ins if you’d like! Try adding:

• Your favorite regular salsa or fruit salsa
• A little crunch from pepitas or even sunflower seeds
• Extra heat with your favorite hot sauce
• Savory goodness from crumbled cotija cheese and/or minced garlic
• Creaminess from greek yogurt

How to store guacamole

The best way to store fresh homemade guacamole is to reduce the amount of air exposure since guacamole turns brown when exposed to air. If you’re not going to serve your guacamole right away:

1. Place it in a bowl and press the guacamole into the bowl with a spoon to compact it. This helps to get out the additional air within the guacamole itself.
2. Immediately cover with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap into the top of the guacamole and sealing on the edges.
3. Another option is to add a small amount of water on top of the guacamole. Once ready to serve, you can dump out the water, give it a stir and serve!

Once made, guacamole should be consumed within 1-2 days. I say the quicker you can eat it, the better it is!

Ways to serve homemade guacamole

This recipe is for the real deal guacamole lovers out there. Serve it with:

More appetizers you’ll love

Get all of our appetizer recipes here!

I know you’re going to love this easy guacamole recipe, please let me know if you make it by leaving a comment and rating the recipe below. I’d love to hear from you and it helps encourage others to make the recipe too!

Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats

This post was originally published on March 16th, 2017, republished on April 25th, 2019, and republished on June 13th, 2023.