A traditional guacamole recipe, with fresh, naturally vegan ingredients. Plus, some clever tips the pros use to do it right. It’s my #1, best vegan guacamole recipe ever!
Add the finely diced red onion, mined garlic and minced jalapeño pepper to a medium mixing bowl. Add the juice of 1 lime and a pinch of salt. Stir well to combine. Allow the ingredients to marinate (and the flavors to mellow) while you prepare the rest of the dip. See notes.
Slice each avocado in half by running a sharp knife around it lenghtwise in a circle. Carefully insert the blade edge of a sharp knife into the pit until it 'grabs' then twist to loosen and remove the pit.
Dice each avocado segment by carefully scoring it with the tip of your knifew hile holding it in the palm of your hand. Use only enough force to cut the avocado flesh and to avoid cutting through the avocado's skin (and your hand.) (Cover and protect the hand holding the avocado if you're not confident in your knife skills! See notes.)
Scoop out the diced pieces into the bowl, but don't mix yet--let the onion, garlic and pepper keep marinating in the lime juice. Be sure to scrape the avocado flesh closest to the skin, as this is the most nutritious part of the avocado.
Use a potato masher or large fork to mash the avocado in the bowl. Than, use a spoon to stir vigorously until you achieve your desired texture. (More stirring and mashing with give you a creamy guacamole, less will give you a chunky guacamole.)
Add the remaining ingredients (the cored, seeded, diced tomato--see pic above--and the minced cilantro) to the bowl, and stir gently to combine. DO NOT add the core/seeds/juice of the tomato or it will make the dip runny. (See notes.)
To serve, scoop into a serving bowl and serve with baked tortilla chips and/or cut veggies. For a fancy, Mexican restaurant style guacamole, garnish with pepita seeds and/or pomegranate seeds.
Notes
To make it faster.
Add the onion half, garlic cloves and cored/seeded jalepeño to a food processor, and process just until roughly minced (but not a pulp). Follow the rest of the recipe as written. If desired, you can toss in your cilantro leaves too, but don't put the tomatoes in the food processor.
Avocados.
Look for ripe, but not mushy, avocados. It pays to plan (and shop) ahead if you have a specific day you need to make the guacamole, as sometimes the store will have no ripe avocados.
I've found holding the avocado in my hand is by far the fastest, easiest way to do this, and I learned this technique in a knife skills class. However, you must be VERY CAREFUL when careful cutting the avocado in your hand. If you don't feel confident in your knife skills yet, wrap your hand in a towel or wear an oven mitt until you feel you can do this without cutting yourself. (See pics in the article above.)
This technique for scoring and cutting will only work well with a ripe avocado. If your avocados are on the firmer side, you may need to just peel them and chop them like you would any other vegetable.
Tomatoes.
I only use Roma or Plum tomatoes for this recipe, as I find they have firmer flesh and fewer seeds/less juice than other varieties. Plus, they tend to be just the right size for this dish.
Tomatoes can make guacamole runny if you don't core and seed them first. (The longer it's in the fridge, the runnier it will be.) If including tomatoes in this recipe, be sure only to use the firm flesh closest to the skin and the skin itself.
The easiest technique I've found for coring and seeding tomatoes quickly. I cut them into 8ths, the lay each piece on its side, and use the tip of my knife to cut away the core and seeds. (See pics in the article above.)
I use 2 small tomatoes when I make this guacamole for a party and it will all get eaten. If I know I'm going to need to store it for several days, I'll generally just use one.
Marinating the onion, garlic and jalepeño in lime juice.
You can skip this step, but I like to do this since it doesn't add extra prep time, and it helps the sharp flavors mellow and combine. The longer you let it sit (up to an hour if desired), the mellower the flavors will become.
Garlic.
This is a matter of personal preference, but to me, guacamole without at least a little garlic is just a creamy avocado dip! If you want a true Mexican restaurant style gauc, don't skip the garlic.
Jalepeño.
I've found the fastest, easiest way to core and seed jalepeño peppers is to cut them into fourths, then slide my knife tip under the membrane to remove it and the seeds. Fast and easy! (See pics in the article above.)
Heat. For extra heat, add a pinch of cayenne pepper, a dash of Mexican hot sauce (like Cholula) or some crushed red pepper flakesLime.
I can generally get away with 1 good size, juicy lime for this recipe. (It's always a good idea to buy an extra lime because some limes don't give much juice!) However, if my avocados are a little hard, I find a little extra lime helps with the flavor. If I don't have extra lime on hand, I'll zest the single lime, and reserve the zest to add for more flavor if I think it needs it.
Salt.
If you absolutely can't add salt, pleas omit. However, even a small amount of salt in this dish really brings out all of the flavors. So while I often skip salt in my cooking, I always use a little in this dip.