Homemade Guacamole

This easy homemade guacamole recipe is made with fresh, healthy ingredients and comes together in 10 minutes or less.

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Homemade guacamole is a must have recipe, whether it be for Taco Tuesday, any other Mexican cuisine night, or as another appetizer dip at your next game day party. No matter what the occasion is, a bowl of fresh, homemade guacamole can’t be beat. 

This easy homemade guacamole is a simple, traditional recipe that we believe to be the best variation there is. But, as we go into more detail on later in this post, there are many great ways to enjoy guacamole.

A bowl of fresh guacamole garnished with a lime wedge

Homemade Guacamole Ingredients

The secret to good homemade guacamole is high quality ingredients. As with any dish that centers around fresh produce, the better and fresher your ingredients the better your recipe will taste. 

Here are the ingredients you need to make fresh homemade guacamole:

  • Ripe avocado
  • Fresh lime juice
  • Roma tomato
  • Red onion
  • Jalapeno
  • Sea salt

Again, because we can’t stress this enough: using ripe, fresh produce makes all the difference. If you don’t trust us, feel free to test it yourself using under- or overripe avocados and bottled lime juice. We promise you’ll be able to tell the difference.

A ripe avocado will give slightly when you squeeze around the widest part, near the pit. If it’s rock hard, it’s under-ripe, which is great if you aren’t going to make guacamole for at least a few days. If you’re planning on making it that day or the next day, try to find a perfectly ripe avocado. If it gives too much, it’s overripe. Put it back on the shelf or buy it and make our cinnamon avocado muffins

Similarly, the juiciest limes will give very slightly when you squeeze them. If they’re rock hard, they’re likely under-ripe, and won’t produce much juice when you slice them open.

Tomatoes are more forgiving, but you generally want them to be slightly soft to the touch (again, a sign of juiciness) and a vibrant red color.

How To Make Easy Homemade Guacamole

Making this homemade Mexican guacamole recipe is very simple. All it takes is mashing the avocado, dicing the veggies, and combining everything in a bowl! 

It really is that easy. Here are the 3 simple steps for making your own guacamole at home:

  1. Slice the avocados open and remove the pits. Scoop the ripe avocado flesh into a bowl, add fresh lime juice, and mash with a fork until smooth.
  2. Dice the tomato, red onion, and jalapeno. Add to the bowl and stir well to combine.
  3. Stir in sea salt to taste and serve with tortilla chips!

The lime juice can help soften the avocado if it’s a little under-ripe, so it’ll be easier to mash. Just be careful when you start mashing that you don’t splash the juice out of the bowl and all over yourself (yes, this has happened to us one too many times!). 

If your avocado is a little less ripe than you thought it was before cutting it open, add a little sea salt along with the lime juice, too. The coarse texture of the salt helps pulverize even under-ripe avocados.

Since produce sizes can vary a lot, we recommend aiming for equal amounts of diced tomato and red onion. Use as much jalapeno as you can handle, as it will give your guacamole a nice kick, leaving the seeds in (hotter) or taking them out (less hot). As you make guacamole more often, you’ll start to learn the ratio of tomato, onion, and jalapeno that you like and can adjust in the future to suit your taste.

It’s easy to scale this recipe if you want to make guacamole for a crowd – just use about half an avocado per person.

Fresh guacamole in a mortar and pestle garnished with a lime

Serving Suggestions and Variations

Guacamole is best served with tortilla chips for a delicious and healthy appetizer or snack! But it’s also a great topping for meals like our shredded chicken tacos, burrito bowls, and chicken burritos ranchero.

One of the great things about guacamole is that as long as you use fresh ingredients, there are endless variations that taste amazing! Depending on how you serve your guac, and how you choose to eat it most (whether as a topping or an appetizer), there are some fun ways to change up our recipe. Here are a few of our favorites:

  • Make a basic “cheat guac” – use only mashed avocado, fresh lime juice, and sea salt
  • Add a little extra flavor – add cumin, cayenne pepper, chipotle powder, or paprika for some peppery heat and extra flavor
  • Try a bacon lover’s twist – add crispy bacon bits to your guac for an added savory and smokey flavor

No matter how you choose to serve and make your homemade guacamole, as long as you use good ingredients you’ll end up with a bowl scraped clean by the end of the night!

Storing Leftovers

If you find yourself with extra guac (it’s rare, but it does happen), use cling wrap to tightly seal the bowl, making sure to get the cling wrap as close to the top of the guac as possible. The less air in the container, the better it will stay. 

If you do find some browning on top of the guac when you’re ready to enjoy it next, you can gently scrape off the top layer to reveal some nice green guac beneath! It just turns brown as a result of oxidation – so it’s perfectly okay to scrape away and still eat the rest.

We hope that you enjoy this easy recipe as much as we do and that you will share your favorite homemade guacamole variations in the comments below. Please rate and share as well if you found this post helpful!


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5 from 2 votes

Homemade Guacamole

This easy homemade guacamole recipe is made with fresh, healthy ingredients and comes together in 10 minutes or less.
Servings 4 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 medium ripe avocados
  • ½ fresh lime juiced
  • 1 medium roma tomato diced
  • ¼ medium red onion diced
  • 1 medium jalapeno diced
  • Sea salt to taste

Instructions

  • Slice avocados open and remove pits. Scoop ripe avocado flesh into a bowl, add lime juice, and mash with a fork until smooth.
  • Add tomato, red onion, and jalapeno to the bowl and stir well to combine.
  • Stir in sea salt to taste, and serve with tortilla chips!

Notes

Adding tomato, red onion, and jalapeno: Produce sizes can vary a lot, so we suggest aiming for equal amounts of diced tomato and red onion. Use as much jalapeno as you can handle – it’ll give your guac a nice kick!
Fresh lime: Freshly squeezed lime juice makes all the difference in guacamole! It’s so flavorful and adds a zesty punch that brightens all the flavors.
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Author: Nicole & Alex
Calories: 168kcal
Course: Appetizer, Appetizers, Dip, Side Dish, Sides, Snack, Snacks
Cuisine: Mexican
Keyword: Avocado, jalapeno, lime juice, onion, tomatoes

Nutrition

Calories: 168kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Sodium: 8mg | Potassium: 547mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 316IU | Vitamin C: 18mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 1mg

If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.

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  1. Nancy Alloway says:

    I made it yesterday. Yum!

    1. So glad you enjoyed it!

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