Ever want to serve something that is always a guaranteed smashing success? Then may I suggest guacamole. If you make a good batch of guacamole, it is bound to please just about everyone who tries it. The best thing about guacamole is that you can go from basic to anything but basic and everything in between. If you choose to keep it simple, that’s great, but once you master a classic guacamole recipe, like the one we’ve included below, don’t be afraid to mash things up in a less-than-classic way.
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Usually, guacamole is served as an appetizer, on the side, or included as a topper in a meal, but who says that guacamole can’t be a meal in itself sometimes? Not us, which is why in addition to some basic guacs, we've rounded up some guacamole recipes that are basically a meal in and of themselves. Like what, you ask? Oh, like BLT guac, taco guac, enchilada guac, and more. Check out those recipes below, along with simpler, more traditional versions of the avocado dip that always makes any occasion feel a little extra.
Let's start with a classic molcajete guacamole.
If all you ever make is a classic molcajete guacamole, no one will ever be disappointed.
Ingredients:
2 avocados
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 cup onion
1 jalapeño, diced
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Instructions:
Put garlic, onion, jalapeño, and salt in molcajete and grind together. Add avocado pulp from 2 avocados to mixture in molcajete and grind them together. Add chopped tomato and fresh-squeezed lime juice to mixture and stir everything together.
Guacamole al pastor for al pastor lovers.
This recipe is inspired by tacos al pastor and is basically a pineapple bacon guac.
Ingredients:
6 to 8 strips of bacon
1/4 cup chipotle sauce
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 ripe avocados
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 jalapeño pepper, minced (optional)
1/4 minced onion
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons salt
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place bacon on a parchment or foil-lined baking sheet. Brush both sides of bacon with chipotle sauce and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool, then chop.
- Brush pineapple rings lightly with vegetable oil, grill them on each side until they are lightly charred. Let cool, then chop 'em up.
- Cut and pit avocados. Scoop out the flesh and chop it up on a cutting board and place in a big bowl.
- Add orange juice to avocados and mash with fork.
- Add pineapple, bacon, and everything else. Stir it all up.
Not guac for tacos, actual taco guac coming right up.
What if instead of putting guac on your tacos, you put tacos in your guac? You know it's going to taste good. For measurements on this one, go with your gut.
Ingredients:
Avocado oil
Ground beef
Taco seasoning
2 ripe avocados
Black beans
Shredded cheese
Diced tomato
Lemon juice
Salt
Instructions:
Cook ground beef sprinkled in avocado oil for 10 minutes, mix in taco seasoning. Cut and pit avocados, scoop out flesh of avocado and mash with a fork in a large bowl. Add fresh-squeezed lemon juice for flavor and to keep avocado from turning brown. Add a pinch of salt. Mix in cooked ground beef, black beans, shredded cheese, diced tomato. Serve on top of a bed of shredded lettuce. Use tortilla chips to eat.
BLT isn't just for sandwiches.
Ingredients:
12 slices bacon
Toasted bread of your choice
Shredded lettuce
1 tomato, diced
4 ripe mashed avocados
Instructions:
Cook the bacon until crispy. Let cool, crumble and mix in with mashed avocado. You can mix the shredded lettuce and tomatoes in as well and serve on toasted bread.
Or how about a sun-dried tomato with or without bacon guac?
Use the recipe in the video above or the one described below, if you want it with bacon.
For this one, you're going to cook up some diced jalapeño peppers in avocado oil for about eight minutes. While they are cooking, mash up two ripe avocados with a fork in a large bowl, add some fresh lemon juice to the mashed avocados, a pinch of salt, chopped cooked bacon, sun-dried tomatoes, diced onion, chopped cilantro, and your sautéed jalapeño peppers. Then mix it all together. This is one of those "trust your gut like your abuela does when it comes to measurements" recipes.
Have you ever had pomegranate guacamole?
It's good. Those little ruby red seeds just go great with avocado. You can follow the recipe in the video above or you can make a basic guacamole of your choosing and add the pomegranate seeds to it. Remember that pomegranate seeds stain, so cuidado.
Roasted corn guacamole is next-level good.
I love recipes that combine two recipes that I already love and that would go great together. Like this one that adds roasted corn to guacamole. It's the perfect combo.
To make it, you're going to mash two ripe avocados and mix in fresh lemon juice, a pinch of salt and black pepper, roasted corn, cotija cheese, diced tomato, minced garlic, diced onion, and some chili powder.
Add some goat cheese to the mix.
If you like goat cheese, you're gonna wanna try this recipe.
Ingredients:
3 ripe avocados
1/3 cup goat cheese
1/4 cup chopped chives
1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
Salt to taste
Fresh lemon juice
Instructions:
Mix everything together, mash with a fork, and enjoy! That's it.
Roasted tomatillo guacamole with crunchy chicharrón is a winner!
You could make the guacamole and serve with chicharrón instead of chips for scooping. Or you can chop the chicharrón and put it on top of the guac.
Ingredients:
3 large avocados
1/2 cup roasted tomatillo salsa (homemade or store-bought)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Salt
Crispy chicharrón (best if freshly made, you can find at a Mexican grocery store)
2 tablespoons Mexican hot sauce of your choice
1/4 cup grated Mexican queso añejo
Instructions:
Cut avocados, pit, and scoop out the flesh into a large bowl. Add tomatillo salsa and chopped cilantro, then mash together with avocados. Add chopped chicharrón, hot sauce, and queso to the top of the guac.
Shrimp guacamole that's perfect for ceviche lovers.
The shrimp in this recipe is "cooked" in lemon, so it's like a shrimp ceviche guac.
Ingredients:
1 pound raw shrimp
4 medium avocados
15 limes or your choice of citrus
1 serrano pepper
1 jalapeño
1 peeled small cucumber (save the seeds for the sauce)
1/4 chopped onion
Cilantro to taste
Tomatillo (optional)
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
Watch the video for the full recipe, and don't be intimidated by the shrimp—you can totally handle it!
Make guacamole with chiles toreados.
Chiles toreados is one of those things that doesn't really translate into English all that well, but let's just say that preparing chiles in this way brings them up a notch.
Ingredients:
2 jalapeños
4 scallions
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 ripe avocados
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions:
Char the jalapeños on a comal or skillet over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Make sure to flip them often as they get totally charred.
Once you've charred them and they are cool enough to handle, slice them and the scallions, and put both in a medium-sized bowl along with the soy sauce and lime juice. Let them marinate for a minimum of 10 minutes.
Mash the flesh of the avocados and everything else in.
Do you like Chipotle's signature guac?
If you do, you can make it at home. It's a pretty basic recipe, and you can use it as a guac foundation to build on as well.
Ingredients:
3 ripe avocados
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped jalapeño
Chopped fresh cilantro
Fresh lime juice
Salt to taste
Instructions:
Mash the flesh of the avocados in a large bowl. Fold in all the other ingredients.
You're gonna like this bean enchilada guac!
Basically, it looks like a party in a bowl before it becomes a party in your mouth.
Ingredients:
2 flour tortillas cut in half
Shredded cheddar cheese
2 ripe avocados
Fresh lemon juice
Black beans
Salt to taste
Enchilada sauce
Instructions:
You are going to cut two flour tortillas in half and melt some cheddar cheese on them, either in your microwave or on a comal. Then you are going to use them to line the inside of a serving bowl.
In a medium-size bowl, mash the flesh of two avocados with a fork, add fresh lime juice, black beans from a can, and salt to taste, then mix everything together.
Place the guac in the bowl lined with the tortillas with melted cheese. You can garnish with enchilada sauce drizzled over the top and sour cream, if you like.
Some people like their guac spicy.
And there is nothing wrong with that at all. Bobby Flay's recipe is basically a classic guac recipe with jalapeño. If jalapeños aren't spicy enough for you, swap for a spicier chile.
Ingredients:
2 avocados, halved, pitted, and diced in shell
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 jalapeño, finely diced
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions:
Mash the avocados with a fork and mix in the red onion, jalapeño, cilantro, lime juice, and salt and pepper.
Turn that hummus into guac or that guac into hummus.
Hummus and guac go great together.
Ingredients:
1 can garbanzo beans
2 to 4 ripe avocados
2 cloves of garlic
Cilantro
Fresh lime juice
Tahini sauce
Hot sauce (optional)
Instructions:
Blend everything together in a food processor and wow your friends and family.
