Cooking With Avocados: How to Choose, Ripen, Cut, Store, and Use Them
Avocados are technically fruits, but in the kitchen they usually play a savory role. Their creamy texture and mild, buttery flavor can add richness to guacamole, salads, sandwiches, soups, dressings and sauces.
The trick is using them at the right stage of ripeness. An underripe avocado can be hard and bland, while an overripe one can become stringy, watery or develop unpleasant dark areas.
How to Choose a Ripe Avocado
Instead of judging an avocado only by skin color, hold it in your palm and give it a very gentle squeeze. A ripe avocado should yield slightly without feeling mushy. Different varieties can have different skin colors when ripe, so firmness is usually the better clue.
If you need the avocado several days from now, choose a firmer one and let it ripen at room temperature. Once it reaches the texture you want, refrigeration can slow further ripening and give you a little more time to use it.
Wash an Avocado Before Cutting It
Even though you do not eat the peel, rinse the whole avocado under running water before cutting it. A knife can carry dirt or bacteria from the outside surface into the flesh as it passes through the peel.
How to Cut and Pit an Avocado Safely
Place the avocado on a cutting board rather than holding it in your hand. Cut lengthwise around the pit, rotate the fruit and twist the two halves apart.
For a home cook, there is no need to strike the pit with a knife while holding the avocado. A safer approach is to work on the cutting board and remove the pit without directing a blade toward your hand. Depending on how ripe the avocado is, you may be able to loosen the pit with a spoon or gently press the back of the avocado half so the pit releases.
Once the pit is removed, scoop the flesh from the peel with a spoon or slice it while it is still in the skin and then scoop it out.
How to Keep Cut Avocado From Browning
Avocado flesh begins browning after it is exposed to oxygen. Lemon or lime juice can slow that process, which is one reason citrus works so well in guacamole. Limiting contact with air also helps.
For a cut avocado, brush the exposed flesh with lemon or lime juice and cover it tightly before refrigerating. For guacamole, press food-safe wrap directly against the surface or store it in a tightly covered container with as little air space as practical.
Leaving the pit in only protects the small area underneath the pit; it does not prevent the rest of the exposed avocado from browning.
Guacamole
Guacamole is one of the best-known ways to use ripe avocado because the fruit provides both the body and richness of the dip. Lime, onion, cilantro, tomato and chile can all provide contrast without hiding the avocado itself.
Avocados in Salads
Avocado adds creamy texture to leafy, grain, corn and fruit-based salads. Add it near the end of mixing so ripe cubes or slices keep their shape.
Avocado Toast and Sandwiches
Mashed avocado makes a creamy base for toast, especially with eggs, tomatoes, herbs or cheese. On sandwiches, sliced avocado provides richness without needing to be mashed into a spread.
For a heartier example, avocado adds a cool, creamy layer to my Grilled Cheese Pastrami With Avocado, Shallots and Roasted Red Pepper.
Avocado in Soups
Diced avocado is best added to many hot soups at serving time rather than simmered for a long period. The contrast between cool avocado and a hot, chile-spiced broth is particularly good in tortilla soup.
Creamy Avocado Dressings and Sauces
Because ripe avocado blends into a thick, creamy puree, it can provide body for dressings and dipping sauces. Citrus juice, herbs and a little water or oil can adjust the flavor and consistency.
Can You Bake With Avocado?
Yes, mashed avocado can replace some fat in certain brownies, muffins, cakes and quick breads, but it should not be treated as a universal one-for-one substitute for butter or oil. Butter, liquid oil and avocado have different amounts of water and fat, and butter also contributes differently to aeration, spread and flavor.
If a recipe was not developed with avocado, replacing only part of the fat is a more cautious experiment than automatically replacing all of it. Expect the color, flavor and texture to change, and judge the substitution according to the particular recipe.
Storing Avocados
Keep firm avocados at room temperature while they ripen. Refrigerate ripe avocados when you need to slow further softening. Once cut, cover and refrigerate promptly. Pre-cut or packaged avocado products should also remain refrigerated according to their package directions.
Avocado can also be frozen for later use, although thawing changes its texture. Mashed or pureed frozen avocado is generally better suited to guacamole, dressings, sauces or blended preparations than to dishes where you want clean fresh slices.
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