The all time favorite party dip is homemade guacamole. As easy dip recipes go, guacamole takes just a few ingredients, a little amount of time and is loved by almost everyone.
Our authentic homemade guacamole recipe is fun to serve for The Super Bowl, Cinco de Mayo, Fourth of July or anytime you want a healthy appetizer. This recipe beats any store-bought version hands down, you just can’t replicate the fresh flavor, well, without using fresh ingredients.
Guacamole is a Mexican dish that originated with the Aztecs. Most restaurant and homemade guacamole recipes include avocados (of course), salt, and onion. Modern variations have added lime for it’s preserving quality, cilantro and tomatoes, all of which are included in our homemade guacamole version.
How Do You Make Homemade Guacamole?
Start by buying the freshest ingredients you can. That would begin with choosing the right avocados. See below in this post how to choose the best avocados.
Cut the avocados in half, and then quartered. Scoop out the flesh and mash with a fork.
Cut the lime in half and stir into the avocado right away to keep from browning.
Mash avocados keeping it a bit chunky. Then immediately squeeze lime juice to keep the guacamole from browning.
Dice the onion and jalapeno and mince the garlic. Chop cilantro. Slice the tomatoes into ¼” slices and then scrape the seeds out. This is easily done with a grapefruit spoon just running it in between the tomato slice ribs to get rid of the wet pulp and seeds.
Add spices and mix together.
Gently stir in the remaining ingredients with a spoon to keep the avocado chunky. It makes for better texture.
How Do You Keep Homemade Guacamole From Turning Brown?
Ah, there are SO MANY tricks on the internet for this. I’ve tried several with one method being far superior to the others.
Cover the homemade guacamole with additional squeeze of lime and then with plastic wrap. Lay the wrap directly on top of the dip to keep all air out that you can. Then cover the dish with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
According to the California Avocado Commission you can also use fresh lemon juice or white vinegar instead of the lime.
If brown appears on the surface of the guacamole, just scrape it off and toss. You should have bright green guacamole dip below the thin brown surface. Don’t store for more than 48 hours, at that point most of the guac will have turned brown anyway.
But you should be able to keep your homemade guacamole green and delicious for up to 24 hours if you use my method above.
The other methods I’ve read about, like including the pit, adding onion, covering with water or oil. They either didn’t work or made the homemade guacamole a watery mess. I’ll stick with a fresh squeeze of lime and tightly wrapped plastic wrap placed directly on the guacamole dip.
How To Choose The Best Avocados For Homemade Guacamole
Check out our post on How To Cut An Avocado. (ADD LINK) We have all kinds of avocado information, more than you ever want to know! From how to cut an avocado, to how to tell if an avocado is ripe, how to speed up the ripening, how to slow down the ripening, how to store an avocado, it’s uses and the powerhouse of nutrition of avocados.
But if you just want the down and dirty of how to find the best avocados then read on.
Bright green, firm avocados have 4-5 days to ripen. Store at room temperature. To speed up the ripening process, put avocado along with an apple or banana in a paper bag.
Picture from loveonetoday.com, part of the Hass Avocado Board
If you are making your homemade guacamole recipe today, you’ll want to choose a perfectly ripe avocado.
Typically, a perfectly ripe avocado is starting to turn black. Check how firm the avocado is too. Lightly squeeze the avocado, you want a slight give to it.
If it feels mushy or you can tell that there is space between the avocado skin and the pulp inside, it’s probably overripe.
Picture of a perfectly ripe, ready to use today avocado. Picture from loveonetoday.com, part of the Hass Avocado Board.
How To Remove The Pit Of An Avocado
Ugh, please don’t do what is most commonly recommended on food tv shows and the internet. I’ve heard that emergency rooms see all kinds of injuries from halving an avocado, twisting and then whacking the pit with a knife.
On tv the pit always comes gently out and the knife releases easily. That’s rarely true for me. I’m sure I’m not the only cook to have difficulty getting the knife to release from the slimy pit. It’s just plain dangerous.
Again, see our post on How To Cut an Avocado (ADD LINK), we have detailed information for how to remove the pit safely.
How To Dice A Jalapeno For Homemade Guacamole Recipe
Cut off the stem end and then cut jalapeno in half lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds and remove the membrane that runs along the length of the inside of the jalapeno. It looks like a white line in the picture.
Wash the jalapeno and then slice off the stem end and discard. Cut jalapeno in half lengthwise. If you want to control the heat you’ll want to scrape out and discard the seeds. Don’t worry if a few seeds remain, it won’t make a difference.
The long membrane that runs the length of the inside of the jalapeno has heat in it too. I typically cut this membrane out.
Then slice the jalapeno in long thin strips, turn quarter wise and dice.
Use a fun vessel to serve your homemade guacamole like this marble mortar.
Can You Buy Guacamole Already Made?
Sure, you can buy just about anything premade these days. But homemade guacamole is hard to duplicate if it’s not fresh. There are some good brands out there. But if I buy premade guacamole then I typically use it in a dish like our Halloween 7-layer dip where the guacamole isn’t the star of the show.
In my opinion, if you are using as a dip, then homemade guacamole is imperative.
Homemade Guacamole Recipe Party Dip
Homemade guacamole is so much easier than you think. For just a little effort you’ll have all of your guests asking how to make it. Easy, inexpensive and delicious.
Ingredients
- 1/2 Medium Onion finely diced
- 1 Small Jalapeno finely diced
- 2 Medium Roma Tomatoes seeded and diced
- 1/4 Cup Fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 Clove Garlic minced
- 3 Hass Avocados mashed but kept chunky
- 1 Medium Lime cut in wedges and juiced
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground cumin, optional
Instructions
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Start by washing the vegetables and then dicing the onion and jalapeno. Chopping the cilantro, reserving some whole leaves for garnish. Slice the tomatoes into ¼” slices. Lay on their sides and scrape out the pulp and seeds to keep from making the guacamole from being watery. Lay tomato slices on top of each other and cut into 1/4″ dice. Mince garlic.
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Wash and then cut the avocados in half lengthwise through the stem until you reach the pit. Then cut in half lengthwise again through the piece that still has the pit in it. Remove the pit with a spoon and toss. Scoop the flesh out of the avocado into a bowl and mash lightly with a fork. Leave a little chunky.
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Wash the lime and the cut into 6 wedges. Squeeze into mashed avocado and stir to blend well, reserve one lime wedge. Now add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine with a spoon. Use the spoon to keep the guacamole chunky.
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Taste, add more salt if needed. Store in bowl, squeeze the last lime wedge over the entire surface. See notes for how to store the guacamole.
Serve in bowl topped with chopped red onion, jalapeno or feta cheese.
Recipe Notes
To store the homemade guacamole, put in container, smooth and flatten the surface. Squeeze extra lime juice over the entire surface. Cover with plastic wrap with the wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole to keep from coming in contact with air. Then cover container with additional plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator up to a day.
If browning still occurs on the surface don’t fret. Scrape the thin brown layer on top and toss in the garbage. You’ll have bright green, delicious guacamole underneath.
Eat within a day of making your homemade guacamole.
See post for other avocado tips and tricks like how to buy, store and cut avocados
Did you like our homemade guacamole recipe? Please leave a comment and star rating letting us know how you liked it and/or any comments to help improve the post for other readers. Please be kind….we try our best!
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Perfect guacamole!
It’s perfect for a party, so happy you tried it and like the guacamole.