Avocados inspire passion. There’s no doubt about that. With their high monounsaturated fat content and low sugar levels, avocados also defy all the assumptions that we have about fruit. Finding ways to eat avocados isn’t difficult, most of us could list a dozen or so without any effort at all, but finding creative ways to enjoy the fruit? Doing that is more challenging.
As we’ve prepared content for this site, particularly pieces on creative keto foods and on nutrition, we’ve noticed that avocados are exceptionally good for you. They’re a powerful source of healthy fats, while also offering many interesting nutrients.
And, as it turns out, there are also plenty of ways to eat avocados, including some very unexpected ones. While we can’t cover every single option in this list, we’re endeavoring to provide many options for you to choose from. If nothing else, you’re certain to find a new favorite or three.
Ways To Eat Avocados
- With Seasonings
- With Salad Dressing
- Baked Avocado With Egg
- Stuffed Avocados
- Avocado On Toast
- In A Smoothie
- Grilled Avocado
- Instead Of A Burger Bun
- Guacamole
- Other Avocado Dips
- In Sandwiches
- Avocado Caprese Salad
- Sushi
- Chocolate Mousse
- In A Power Bowl
- In Salad Dressing
- Deviled Eggs
- Fat Bombs
- In Soup
- Avocado Fries
- Baked Avocado Chips
- Ice Cream Or Gelato
- Avocado Pasta
- Chocolate Fudge
- Avocado Chocolate Brownies
- Avocado Water
- Popsicles
- In Hummus
- Make A Cocktail
- Use It In Cake
- In Other Desserts
With Seasonings
The simplest way to eat an avocado is to enjoy it pretty much as-is. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top and then just enjoy the fruit with a spoon.
Honestly, it doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.
Salt and pepper are the easiest seasonings to use, but they’re far from the only options. You can use whatever you feel like. For example, garlic powder and cayenne pepper could be a good combination. What about just sprinkling your avocado with olive oil and lemon juice?
You could throw some seeds on top of there too. Black sesame seeds work well or perhaps an everything bagel seasoning mix. Let your imagination go wild. There is no shortage of possible flavor combinations.
With Salad Dressing
Another trick is to use salad dressing instead of seasonings (or, use both, if you feel so inclined). You could choose creamy salad dressing to complement the texture of your avocado, or a vinaigrette to provide a nice contrast.
This process doesn’t even need to get messy, as you can pour the salad dressing right in the hole of an avocado. It’s like a little bowl anyway, so why not?
Baked Avocado With Egg
While we’re on the topic, there are some fun things that you can do with the hole of the avocado. A popular approach is to crack an egg in there and then bake the whole thing.
The avocado will need around 15 to 20 minutes in the oven, until the egg white is set and the egg yolks have started to thicken. Once this has happened, you can take the avocado out and serve it.
The combination of egg and baked avocado is amazing, but you don’t need to stop there. Many people add extra ingredients to the dish, like sliced bacon or chopped chives. A little grated cheese might go well too.
Stuffed Avocados
An egg is just one thing that you can include in the hole of an avocado. Your options are only limited by your imagination. One trick is to include scrambled eggs of some kind or perhaps a deviled eggs mixture.
You could also try a miniature salad or perhaps salsa. For example, this recipe uses a pomegranate salsa verde in the hole of an uncooked avocado.
You don’t even need a specialized recipe. Just think about ingredient combinations that you might place on crackers or on toast. Most of those would be perfect in the hole of an avocado too.
Avocado On Toast
Avocado on toast has been derided as a millennial dish, one that represents the poor spending choices of millennials and our youth. Yet, avocado on toast isn’t even as expensive as it sounds, especially if you are making it at home. The dish it has some key advantages too.
If nothing else, avocado on toast is an easy breakfast, one that offers plenty of healthy fats and can be made quickly. Add a poached egg on top and you’re getting a decent amount of protein too.
The general idea is that you’re mashing avocado flesh with a little lemon juice, seasoning with salt and pepper, then serving on toast. Other seasonings might be added too, such as red pepper flakes. There aren’t many ingredients, because the goal is to highlight the flavor of the avocado.
However, if you find avocado on toast to be too plain, you could add some toppings. Sliced tomato and sea salt is a classic example, as is the egg that we mentioned earlier. Smoked salmon is another good choice and brings the meal to another level entirely.
In A Smoothie
Avocados are surprisingly powerful in smoothies. They create a silky texture that is difficult to get any other way.
Plus, avocados only have a mild flavor in a smoothie. Your avocado won’t overwhelm the other ingredients at all. If some of your other ingredients have a strong flavor, you might not be able to taste the avocado at all.
There’s another advantage too – you can use frozen avocado in a smoothie (if you do so, it’s best to freeze the avocado without the skin, either chopped or mashed). Like most fruits, avocado freezes without a problem but ends up with a weird texture once it is thawed.
This means that freezing and thawing an avocado isn’t useful in most situations. However, the texture different doesn’t mean much in a smoothie. And, you can blend the avocado from frozen, without ever defrosting it.
Being able to use your avocados from frozen is seriously amazing. Avocados are well known for how quickly they become over-ripe. Freezing your avocado and using it in a smoothie is an ideal way to prevent waste.
Grilled Avocado
Grilling avocado is another fun trick. Doing so provides a layer of smokiness, while also making the avocado creamier.
This idea is perfect if your avocado is underripe. The grilling process warms the fat, which helps to make it tender and delicious. Don’t worry. You can grill ripe avocados too.
The easiest way is to simply slice avocados in half, remove the pit, and then cook them on the grill. You may want to use a little oil on the avocado too, just like you would when grilling other foods.
The goal is to grill the avocado for long enough to create grill marks. Doing so will give you the flavor you want without ruining the avocado. The process will normally take 5 minutes or so, although the time will vary depending on the heat of your grill and how ripe the avocado is.
Once the avocado is cooked and has cooled a little, you can slice it and use it much like you would if it hadn’t been grilled. Try grilled avocado in a sandwich and see what the flavor difference is.
Instead Of A Burger Bun
Low carb dieters often find creative alternatives to bread-based products. Using avocado halves instead of burger buns is just one example of the pattern – and it’s a particularly good example.
After all, avocados already complement the flavors of a burger with ease. Using avocado halves instead of bread provides you with much more delicious avocado than you would get otherwise.
The avocados can be sliced lengthwise or crosswise. While crosswise seems to be more common, slicing them lengthwise instead gives you a similar shape to a regular burger bun
You should be careful when choosing the avocado. You’re looking for an avocado that is still mostly firm, with just a little bit of give at the tip. A very soft avocado won’t do at all, as you need the fruit to look good once you have peeled it. Besides, soft avocados are difficult to peel.
As you can probably guess, this type of avocado burger tends to be messy. You can use lettuce as a wrap for your burger which will help a little. But, even then, expect to get your hands dirty (unless you use a knife and fork).
Guacamole
Guacamole is the classic avocado based dip. While there are countless variations, traditional guacamole tends to involve mashing the avocado with sea salt, then using ingredients like cilantro and lime juice.
Care needs to be taken when preparing and serving the dish to prevent the dip from turning brown. The brown color is the result of an enzymatic reaction with the air, so keeping guacamole in an air-tight container can help to make sure it still looks good.
Guacamole can still be eaten once it has turned brown, as the reaction doesn’t make the guacamole dangerous. As long as the dip is less than three days old, it is completely safe to eat. Still, there are some slight texture and flavor changes once the dip has turned brown, so many people prefer guacamole when it is still fresh.
Other Avocado Dips
Guacamole might be the most famous avocado dip out there, but it is hardly your only choice. Other types of dips can be made using avocado too, like a white bean avocado dip or an avocado goat cheese dip.
You could also experiment by starting off with a guacamole recipe and changing some of the ingredients. Experimenting with recipes like this is a fun way to see how different ingredients affect the final flavor and texture of a dish. You might discover an interesting variation on guacamole or even a completely new dip.
In Sandwiches
Adding avocado to a sandwich is an easy way to make the sandwich creamier and more filling. You don’t need to think too hard about doing so either, as avocado complements most sandwich ingredients already.
Slicing avocados and sticking them straight in your sandwich is the simplest approach. You could also try mashing the avocado, much like you would for avocado toast. Grilling the avocado first is another option, as long as you don’t mind the extra work.
Avocado Caprese Salad
A caprese salad is traditionally very simple, as it is just made up of slices of fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, along with sweet basil. Olive oil and salt are used for seasoning.
More complex versions of the salad add in extra ingredients, creating a more interesting flavor profile. Avocado is one such addition. Doing so is often as simple as slicing or chopping up avocado and serving it with the other ingredients in a dish.
Other versions might add even more ingredients. For example, some caprese salad modifications add chicken and avocado at the same time. This combination creates a filling dish that could be a meal on its own, rather than just a side salad.
Sushi
Avocado is often found in sushi, often in conjunction with crunchy vegetables and smoked salmon. The pairing of avocado and salmon is especially appealing, as the flavors work together well and the ingredient choice feels decadent.
Vegetarian sushi may use avocado and vegetables – skipping the fish entirely. While the approaches end up tasting different, they are both good ways to enjoy avocado.
Buying sushi with avocado isn’t difficult, but sushi can get expensive. Many people choose to make their own instead. Making sushi at home can seem a little overwhelming at first and it does take some practice to get the process right. However, the ability to cut costs and choose your own ingredients means that making sushi yourself is well worth the effort.
Chocolate Mousse
Making chocolate mousse using avocado is a surprisingly common idea. The approach works well, as avocado gives you this wonderful creamy texture, while its flavor is easily overwhelmed by a little cocoa powder.
You end up with a creamy chocolaty dessert that doesn’t taste like avocado at all.
Avocado chocolate mousse recipes also tend to be simple. Many just rely on the avocados, cocoa powder, some type of sweetener, and possibly vanilla essence. The type of sweetener would depend on your dietary preferences. Keto dieters might look for a natural sweetener like stevia, while other people might be happy using a little bit of honey.
In A Power Bowl
Power bowls are fun ways to increase your nutrient and protein intake. While there are many different styles to choose from, the general idea is that you’re including a variety of superfoods, nutrient-packed ingredients, and fresh produce. Protein rich ingredients are especially popular in protein bowls, as these help to create a filling meal.
Sliced or mashed avocados are another obvious power bowl addition. Avocados mightn’t be amazing as a source of protein, but they have other advantages, including the large amount of healthy fats that they contain.
Avocados are also creamy, so they add a fantastic texture to your bowl. They complement many other ingredients perfectly too.
In Salad Dressing
The creaminess of avocado makes it a natural choice for salad dressings. Honestly, there are so many different avocado dressings out there that we could make a list based on them alone.
Many of these dressings are creamy and may rely on ingredients like Greek yogurt or sour cream to give the desired texture. Other ingredients, like lime juice and garlic, provide flavor notes instead. In fact, just mixing avocado together with plain yogurt creates a very easy salad dressing.
Deviled Eggs
You can easily spice up your deviled eggs by including some avocado in the mixture as well. Even just doing this, with no other changes to your deviled egg recipe, creates a delicious appetizer.
You can also take things a step further by changing some of the ingredients around. For example, some recipes take advantage of the flavors of guacamole, using ingredients like cilantro and a little lime juice.
Fat Bombs
As the name suggests, fat bombs are small treats that are mostly made up of fat. Many of them will be 80% fat, if not more. The fat content is so high because these bombs are designed for keto dieters, to help them maintain the macronutrient balance that they’re looking for.
While the idea might sound odd, fat bombs generally rely on healthy fats. And, if you’re following a low carb diet, high amounts of fat aren’t a bad thing anyway.
Most fat bombs are sweet and avocado only features as an occasional ingredient sweet fat bombs. These Chocolate Avocado Fudge Fat Bombs are one example of using avocado in a sweet fat bomb.
Avocado features in savory fat bombs much more frequently, such as these Bacon & Guacamole Fat Bombs or these Bacon Egg and Avocado Fat Bombs. You don’t need to follow a specific recipe either. You could easily take a look at a few of the fat bombs out there and get ideas to try out yourself.
In Soup
If you want to highlight the flavors of avocado, then cream of avocado soup is the way to go. This type of soup uses a cream base and ends up with the same light green color of avocados.
The flavor profile of the soup can vary dramatically. Some recipes focus on familiar ingredients, like cilantro and lime juice, while others add in more unusual entries, like jalapenos, crab meat, or carrots.
Creamy avocado soup doesn’t even need to be hot. There are some chilled versions too. These often skip out the dairy, relying on the creaminess of the avocado instead.
Avocado can also be included in a soup or as a garnish. This is often the case with Mexican soups. When used in this way, the avocado provides extra flavors to the soup, along with an interesting variation in texture.
Avocado Fries
While avocado is often eaten raw, it can be baked too. Baked avocado fries are one example of this pattern. The idea is simple. You create small wedges with the avocado, which can be splashed with some lime juice to help them keep their flavor.
Then, the avocado pieces can be seasoned, dipped in flour and egg, then coated with breadcrumbs. Once this has been done, the avocado fries can then be baked in the oven for roughly 15 minutes. They can be eaten as-is or with a dipping sauce of your choice.
There are also low carb versions of this dish. Many use almond flour or almond meal to coat the avocado, rather than bread crumbs. Ground pork rinds are another appealing approach.
Other cooking approaches can be used too. Air frying is another healthy approach, while some people choose to pan fry or even deep fry the avocados instead. The fries turn out delicious regardless, so you can choose the manner of cooking that suits you best.
Baked Avocado Chips
Baked avocado chips are a different style. This time you’re trying to make a crispy chip, which normally involves mashing the avocado, adding some other ingredients, and spreading the mixture thinly before baking it.
Parmesan cheese is often a critical ingredient. Parmesan becomes crispy when it bakes, which is what gives you crispy avocado chips. If you don’t have enough parmesan in the mixture, then you’ll get soft chips instead.
Ice Cream Or Gelato
The creaminess of avocado means that it works well in ice cream too. It gives you the chance to make ice cream without using any dairy at all, if you want to.
For example, some recipes rely on coconut milk and avocados as the main ingredients. A frozen banana might be present too to help with the texture, while other recipes will skip out the banana.
If you’re not worried about dairy, you could use ingredients like milk, whole cream, and sweetened condensed milk to make the ice cream. There are many variations to the recipe out there, giving you the chance to choose your favorite style.
Avocado doesn’t need to be the main flavor either. You could add some cocoa to create chocolate avocado ice cream. Doing so would give you the nutrients and the creaminess that avocado offers, while almost completely hiding the flavor.
Avocado Pasta
Here’s another interesting idea – using avocado as an ingredient in pasta sauce. Once again, the creaminess of the avocado is a major advantage here. In fact, avocado is a great way to create a creamy pasta sauce without using any dairy.
You can even use avocado as part of recipes that use cheese, such as making avocado mac and cheese. Doing so is as simple as adding mashed avocado to your dish at the same time as the cheese.
Avocado can be used in the same way for dishes that use pasta alternatives, like zucchini noodles.
Chocolate Fudge
Avocado might be a surprising fudge ingredient, but it happens to be a powerful one too. Once again, avocado adds a creamy texture to the treat, creating something that tastes and feels decadent. The cocoa flavor almost completely drowns out the avocado, so many people wouldn’t even know that they were eating avocado.
Avocado also gives you the chance to make chocolate fudge that is much lower in sugar than traditional options. This is perfect for keto dieters. It’s also easy to use mostly dairy free ingredients, as recipes often rely on options like almond milk and cocoa powder.
Avocado Chocolate Brownies
While we’re on the topic of desserts, chocolate brownies are another style to try. Some avocado chocolate brownies add avocado in as an extra ingredient, while keeping the rest of the recipe similar, others use a completely different combination of ingredients.
Avocado brownies might not taste as good as regular brownies, but they can be pretty close. They also have some key advantages, as the avocado allows you to make tasty brownies that are dairy free and may even be free from flour.
The ability to omit common brownie ingredients allows you to create allergen-friendly brownies. Some avocado brownie recipes could work well for people on a keto diet too.
Avocado Water
Avocado water is somewhere between juice and a smoothie. You’re basically blending the flesh of the avocado together with water and a few ingredients for flavoring, like lime juice and perhaps sugar.
Some versions use coconut water instead of regular water. The change creates a slight coconut flavor in your drink and also provides you with some extra nutrients. In fact, coconut water contains electrolytes, so using coconut water in this type of recipe could be good for keeping you hydrated.
Blending avocado and water in this way might sound odd, but the drink is very popular. It ends up having a delicious balance of flavors, while the water prevents the drink from feeling as heavy as an avocado smoothie.
Popsicles
An avocado popsicle is easy to make and is ideal for summer. Most recipes use coconut milk as a key ingredient. Some type of juice may be included too, like lime juice or grapefruit juice.
In most cases, you’ll want some type of sweetener as well. Sugar is the simplest approach, although agave syrup is sometimes used as well.
You might include extra ingredients for flavoring, such as cocoa to create chocolate avocado popsicles or perhaps berries. The end result is a creamy popsicle that is ideal for warm days.
In Hummus
Avocado can be added to many popular recipes, including hummus. The avocado adds extra creaminess to the hummus, while making the flavor profile more interesting as well.
However, avocado does become brown after it has been exposed to oxygen for a while. This happens with avocado hummus too. You can often keep the hummus for roughly two days before it turns slightly brown.
The brown color doesn’t have a large impact on the flavor. If you don’t mind the color change, then you can keep avocado hummus for about a week without any problems.
Freezing is another limitation to consider. While regular hummus can be frozen and thawed, avocado hummus does not survive freezing well. As such, it’s best to just make as much hummus as you’re likely to need.
Make A Cocktail
Avocado is a surprisingly delicious addition to some cocktails. Once again, the fruit offers an appealing creaminess that creates a decadent drink.
Some recipes rely on coconut milk and avocado. Tropical flavors may be featured too, including pineapple juice and lime juice. Rum or tequila are common spirits to use with an avocado cocktail.
Use It In Cake
Avocado also makes its way into cake. Chocolate avocado cake is the most obvious approach as, once again, you don’t end up tasting the avocado in the finished cake.
Other recipes aim to highlight the flavor of avocado instead. Such cakes use ingredients that don’t have dramatic flavors of their own, like almond flour, eggs, and lime juice. There are many variations out there, including some that are dairy free and others that avoid conventional flour.
There are even paleo and keto friendly avocado cakes. These tend to follow the chocolate theme and are often quite fudgy. While such cakes end up quite different than a ‘normal’ chocolate cake, the ability to have cake in any form on a keto or a paleo diet is pretty stunning.
In Other Desserts
Avocado can make its way into many other desserts too. Avocado cheesecake is probably the most well-known example, but you can also find other examples, such as avocado pudding and avocado tarts.
You can also add avocado into recipes that you already make. You might need to tweak some of the other ingredients, but if it seems like the flavor of avocado would complement a dessert, why not try a little avocado in the recipe and see what happens?
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