Teach me how to eat an avocado

[fairfarmhand]

I'm trying to eat better, including more fiber. I've read lots of good things about avocado, but I have no idea how to eat this.

I've only used it in a handful of things, like as a layer in my layered taco dip. What else can I do with it? 

Can I put it in a smoothie with blueberries?

Is an avocado a fruit or a vegetable?

[scbusf]

Make guacamole. Dice it and put it in a burrito or taco or on a salad. 

[Spryte]

In addition to the above:

Slice it in half, scoop a small well in each half, crack an egg into each well, sprinkle on cheese or spices, bake.  Yum.

Eat straight with a spoon and salt. Preferably outside (I don’t know why this is better, but it is).

Slice and serve on salad. 

Put it on a burger with other toppings. Or on a veggie burger.

I could eat avocado every day.

[wathe]

I like to eat it straight out of the half-shell with a spoon, drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

Botanically a fruit, culinarily a vegetable.

Learn how to remove the pit without cutting yourself.  Seriously, avocado is on the top three foods that land people in the ED for stitches list, along with frozen hamburger patties (trying to separate with a knife) and bagels.   Round foods are dangerous, apparently.

[Sneezyone]

I often eat avocado, tomato and eggs for breakfast with a single slice of toasted bread. Sometimes I rub my toast with a garlic clove and add a smear of fresh avocado mash (avocado, lime crystals, salt, fresh ground pepper) and top with smoked salmon.  I don’t enjoy it in smoothies but some people do. I make a spread with it and use it in place of Mayo on sandwiches too. I put it on green goddess salads, taco salads, even plain ol Caesar. 

Edited February 21, 2021 by Sneezyone

[EKS]

Cut it in half, take a spoon, and eat it as is.

Edited February 21, 2021 by EKS

[prairiewindmomma]

Pick an avocado that is green where the stem is. A good avocado is not mushy or grainy but has a creamy, buttery texture.

I eat avocados plain. They are also good smashed on toast with a teeny dash of salt. 
 

I like them on burgers.

You can use them mashed in place of Mayo.

If there is a great sale, I buy and freeze them (peeled and deseeded) and put them in smoothies later.

Tacos, of course, and guacamole.

[prairiewindmomma]

https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/avocado-chocolate-mousse-vegan-healthy/

[1234]

I like it diced and eaten with my scrambled eggs.

I like it spread on a piece of toast with some olive oil, salt, arugula, and tomato. Sometimes I will add an over medium egg.

I like it with nachos or Chipotle like bowls. I don’t need to make actual guacamole but just add it like I would sour cream.

I like it in place of Mayo on sandwiches. Or just added to sandwiches.

I like to make avocado egg rolls.

I also like it in smoothies.

I love avocados and always have several on hand and usually eat at least half of one every day.

ETA: I also really enjoy an avocado roll. I’m not a huge sushi fan like the rest of my family but I can enjoy eating with them this way.

Edited February 21, 2021 by Joker2

[mmasc]

I like it all the ways listed above! I love avocados. But my most common way to eat it is to toast a good slice of bread (I like Ezekiel flax), mash the avocado and spread on the toast, then top with Everything but the Bagel Seasoning. 
 

I also like it mashed with cilantro and garlic salt added, spread on two slices of bread, with a fried egg, bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes. So delicious and filling! I had this at a B&B for breakfast and it has long been a favorite now. 

[alisoncooks]

With salt and pepper and heated just enough to melt cheese on top. 

[Bootsie]

sliced on a salad

on a taco, on tortilla soup, in a bowl of pozole, on enchiladas, in a bowl of chilli

cut in two and used as a shell for a shrimp or chicken salad

[PeterPan]

I find the single serving guacamole cups at Walmart (in the produce section) quite convenient. They freeze nicely, so you don't have to worry about the date, and thaw quickly with a little water to throw on top of a burrito. I used to buy avocados and make my own guac, chop them onto salads, etc., but I was constantly losing avocados.The single servings are almost the same price per oz as the larger tubs, but this way there's no waste. No overeating that way either, since it's portioned.

I do not like Krogers guac btw. Trader Joes is ok, but actually I prefer walmarts. Go figure.

[Ali in OR]

But you need to know how to buy it first! I was always having the problem of going to use an avocado and it was either hard as a rock (underripe) or already had dark patches inside (overripe). I eventually learned to buy them underripe (still green rather than black) and let it live on my counter for several days. It's dark but not too mushy when ripe. You can either eat it when you think it's ripe or put it in the fridge for a few days and it will stay at that level of ripeness. I grocery shop on Wednesdays and my avocado is ready anytime between Saturday and Monday (it usually becomes part of Monday's taco night--guacamole!) My simple guac recipe is cut one avocado in half, scoop out flesh, mash with a fork in a bowl, add a little sea salt and a big spoonful of salsa. Yum!

[katilac]

14 minutes ago, Ali in OR said:

it usually becomes part of Monday's taco night 

you rebel, you . . . 

I never bothered with avocado until I licked my fingers after putting lemon on a cut one for dh, lol. Plain avocado is meh to me, add lemon and I love it!

[gardenmom5]

slice it on an omelet, or a turkey sandwich.  I eat them straight.

when they start getting over ripe - I make guacamole.  

it's a fruit - the pit is its seed.  

[Bootsie]

52 minutes ago, Ali in OR said:

But you need to know how to buy it first! I was always having the problem of going to use an avocado and it was either hard as a rock (underripe) or already had dark patches inside (overripe). I eventually learned to buy them underripe (still green rather than black) and let it live on my counter for several days. It's dark but not too mushy when ripe. You can either eat it when you think it's ripe or put it in the fridge for a few days and it will stay at that level of ripeness. I grocery shop on Wednesdays and my avocado is ready anytime between Saturday and Monday (it usually becomes part of Monday's taco night--guacamole!) My simple guac recipe is cut one avocado in half, scoop out flesh, mash with a fork in a bowl, add a little sea salt and a big spoonful of salsa. Yum!

different types of avocados have different shades as they ripen,  the Hass California avocado goes from green to black as it ripens, but some others remain green as they ripen.  If you push at the stem it should gently give when it is ripe.  Putting avocados in a paper bag will speed up the ripening process, and supposedly if you put them with a ripe banana it will speed it up more.  

[Pen]

2 hours ago, fairfarmhand said:

I'm trying to eat better, including more fiber. I've read lots of good things about avocado, but I have no idea how to eat this.

I've only used it in a handful of things, like as a layer in my layered taco dip. What else can I do with it? 

Can I put it in a smoothie with blueberries?

Is an avocado a fruit or a vegetable?

it’s a fruit, hangs from often very large trees, and I’ve lived places where it was an ice cream flavor

 

but I eat it as if it were a vegetable — such as cut it so that it forms two halves, flavor with vinegar or lime or lemon and sum salt and scoop with spoon. When I still ate bread I would spread it on toast . In salads is good too. Bacon lettuce tomato and avocado sandwich- yumm

[Laura Corin]

3 hours ago, EKS said:

Cut it in half, take a spoon, and eat is as is.

Yes, with a squeeze of lime and a grind of salt. 

[Tanaqui]

I have a great recipe for a fruit salad with avocado - avocado, banana, strawberries and/or cherries, and then you drizzle a little syrup made with orange juice and ginger over the mix.

[Corraleno]

I eat a lot of avocados, but I don't like them in smoothies — I think it's more of a texture thing than a taste thing. I either add them to salads, make guac to eat with chips, or toast a big slice of whole wheat sourdough and top mwith one of the following combinations:
Hummus (esp. roasted red pepper hummus!), sliced avocado, lemon juice, za'atar, and nigella seeds
Mashed avocado, sliced tomatoes, arugula, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, rosemary sea salt
Mashed avocado, lemon juice, hemp seeds, Everything but the Bagel seasoning

[Bambam]

I love avocado toast for breakfast! I do very lightly sprinkle just a little salt on it. I will start sprinkling a little lemon juice too. I have the Just Lemon dehydrated lemon - I wonder if it would work too?  My kids like egg avocado sandwiches too - they just use sliced avocados, where I prefer to mash mine. 

We make guacamole and slice them for sandwiches/burgers. 

We have a new chicken salad place that has an avocado chicken salad - they use avocado in place of the mayo. So yummy!

[Clemsondana]

In addition to the usual Mexican food uses (guac, tacos, taco salads) they are good as part of other salads (main dish salads with chicken or beef, BLT salads, etc).  We also like them on fish tacos and salmon burgers - either as guac or avocado slices.  

[J-rap]

I love avocados added to so many things, although I don't care for it baked so much.  A favorite lunch is a slice of really good hearty bread (either toasted or un-toasted) topped with avocado slices and drizzled with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.  But, I also like it added to nearly any kind of sandwich, salads, and alongside eggs or black beans. 

For picnics, we often bring good bread with sliced cheese, sometimes deli sliced meat, but always avocado.  Avocado brings the picnic up a level.  🙂  With avocado, you don't even need condiments.  And, you can slice it in half, pop out the pit, and then cut it into slices while the avocado half is still sitting in your hand with the skin on.

I generally make smoothies everyday, either for lunch or an afternoon snack.  Mine are mostly vegetables and water with just a touch of fruit to take the edge off.  If I have avocados that are a little beyond their peak, or leftover slices in the fridge, I'll often throw them into smoothies.  I don't notice any flavor difference, interestingly, just a smoother texture which I like.  Usually when I add an avocado to my smoothies I also add a squirt of lemon juice.  Maybe that's what balances out the flavor and I why I don't notice a strong avocado flavor?

 

 

[KrissiK]

Avocados are wonderful on everything. I put it in salads, on sandwiches, omelettes, quesadillas, burritoes. I buy about 3-4 every week and we eat them all.

[sassenach]

When we lived in Florida the avocados were terrible unless I paid an arm and a leg for California haas avocados. It made me realize why people from some regions completely reject them. I’m not sure what type of avocados those were but they were stringy and watery- YUCK. 

So my first suggestion is to buy CA haas avocados. You want it to *just* press in around the stem- not too mushy. 
 

Most often I eat avo with eggs, on sandwiches or burgers, in salads, or all by themselves (ultimate form of this is with Trader Joe’s everything but the bagel seasoning). 

[Spryte]

11 hours ago, Seasider too said:

I have seen pictures of this but haven’t tried it. Can you give more details of how you do it? I’d love to try. 
 

You can put avocado in guacamole, salads and smoothies, but the most common way we eat them is to simply half it, take out the pit, sprinkle it with a little salt and eat with a spoon, like the shell is a bowl. I do not enjoy peeling avocados to make those pretty restaurant slices, so this just seems the most efficient way to eat them. I’m another who could eat them every day. Yum. 

Like this, though I haven’t tried this exact recipe:  https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a45382/avocado-egg-boats-recipe/

I started doing a keto-inspired diet in early 2016, per my doc, and there hadn’t been the explosion of keto recipes online yet.  Avocado egg boats were just about the first thing I found!  Yum.

Our kid is now anaphylactic to avocados, so I have to be really careful when eating them - I’ve been resorting to the packaged “avocado mash” at Costco, but it’s not the same. It’s good on top of spinach, black beans, eggs...

Off to add some real avocados to the shopping list for the week...

[BlsdMama]

14 hours ago, fairfarmhand said:

I'm trying to eat better, including more fiber. I've read lots of good things about avocado, but I have no idea how to eat this.

I've only used it in a handful of things, like as a layer in my layered taco dip. What else can I do with it? 

Can I put it in a smoothie with blueberries?

Is an avocado a fruit or a vegetable?

Smoothie - yes, but I don’t like too much because of texture. 
 

I like avocado with everything - sandwiches, salad, meat, on eggs, with black olives oddly), at lunch with sardines and salad if you’re looking to go healthy. 😉

[Robin M]

I love avocados.  Most often, instead of a sandwich, I'll mash it up on a soft flour tortilla.   Add shredded cheese and any left over hamburger, chicken, or whatever meat we had the night before, or scrambled egg, Heat for 30 seconds and voila!  Yummy! 

Scrambled eggs and sliced avocado. Great combination.  

Sliced up in a salad.

On a sandwich.

Almost everything. Typically go through 3 to 4 avocados a week.  

[Robin M]

15 hours ago, Spryte said:

Slice it in half, scoop a small well in each half, crack an egg into each well, sprinkle on cheese or spices, bake.  Yum.

Oh my, that sounds good. How long do you bake for? 

[KungFuPanda]

Drizzle of lime just and a bit of salt . . . eat with a spoon 😁 I usually use it as a vegetable in salads or burritos, but I do get the avocado smoothie at the Vietnamese restaurant and it's definitely treated as a fruit there.  I've had them cooked a few times, but I really prefer them cold.

[Not_a_Number]

15 hours ago, EKS said:

Cut it in half, take a spoon, and eat is as is.

That's what I do. Usually I add salt. 

[Spryte]

16 minutes ago, Robin M said:

Oh my, that sounds good. How long do you bake for? 

I kind of eyeball it (read: stalk the oven with coffee in hand).  I’d say about 25 minutes at 350.  But I like eggs thoroughly cooked, and I bet it would be good cooked a bit less, too.

[math teacher]

Along with all the other suggestions, you can slice, batter, fry, and dip in ranch dressing. I just made taco soup, and I can't wait for my avocados to get ripe enough to slice into a bowl of soup.

I also use avocado spray instead of Pam, and avocado mayonnaise. We try to avoid vegetable oils as much as possible.

[cjzimmer1]

I like the cooling effect they have with spicy foods so aside from the usual Mexican things, i add them to chili.  Recently I made some fried rice and got too much spice in it so I added some avocado to tone it down and it was amazing.  I will start doing that on purpose now.

[Noreen Claire]

I scoop it into a bowl and mash with salt, pepper, and a splash of lemon juice. Spread it on good toast, top with sliced salted tomatoes and shaved parmesan. So good!

[Annie G]

6 hours ago, sassenach said:

When we lived in Florida the avocados were terrible unless I paid an arm and a leg for California haas avocados. It made me realize why people from some regions completely reject them. I’m not sure what type of avocados those were but they were stringy and watery- YUCK. 

 

Agree! The Florida avocados are such a disappointment. Watery, no flavor, just not good.  Sorry to those of you who prefer them to hass, not trying to be rude. 

[Bootsie]

Avocado Recipes | Healthy Meals with Avocado, Snacks & More | Avocados From Mexico

This site has a lot of recipes and ways to use avocados

[bibiche]

https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/385096/P-Aguacate-high.pdf
 

Now that you know how to eat them, here’s a poster that shows several varieties. They vary tremendously. Some have a pit so big there’s barely anything to eat (but it’s still worth it). There is one that has a white flesh (shown all the way to the left on the poster) that is really delicious until you eat nothing but for a few months. 😆

We should discuss mango varieties next!

[HS Mom in NC]

On 2/20/2021 at 11:59 PM, katilac said:

you rebel, you . . . 

 

I'm from the southwest where every day is a legitimate taco day. It's been that way for centuries.