The Best Fresh & Easy Homemade Guacamole Recipe

Guacamole is a deceptively simple dish with a complex depth of flavors. We’ve got a go-to recipe that will “guac” your world! Our yummy recipe is perfect for tortilla chips or eating with veggies. You can even use it as a topping for tacos or taco salad.

This easy guacamole recipe is simple, quick, and customizable to your taste and dietary preferences. But beware: After you bring it once, you’ll be asked to bring it to family gatherings and get-togethers forever.

A Classic Addition to Any Mexican Dish

This guacamole comes together with just 8 ingredients (not including salt and pepper) in no time. It’s the perfect complement to Mexican-inspired dishes such as our One-Dish Fajita Bake, One-Pan Shrimp Fajita Bowls, or as an appetizer for holidays, parties, and last-minute get-togethers.

We thoroughly enjoy it as an afternoon snack when we need just a little something to get to dinner!

Health Benefits of Homemade Guacamole

Avocados, a very nutrient-dense food, are the main ingredient in guacamole. They’re packed with heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, high in fiber, low in carbohydrates, antioxidant-rich, and contain 20 different vitamins and minerals.

The creamy green single-seed fruits are also low on the glycemic index, making them great for people trying to control their blood sugar. In fact, a 12-week study in 2022 linked avocado consumption to improved glucose control and reduced biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk.

Ingredients To Make Tasty Guacamole

Our recipe is the chunky kind of guacamole, loaded with fresh ingredients and a Mexican spice combination. It’s a guacamole you can really sink your teeth into and get serious about. 

Take a moment to gather the ingredients because you’ll only need 10 minutes before this is ready to eat.

• Avocados — The best guacamole needs perfectly ripe avocados. We like to pick up our avocados as close to prep time as possible to avoid them being unripe or overripe.
• Aromatics — Minced garlic cloves and chopped onions are a must in guac. White onions are the sweetest raw and will have a milder flavor, while red onions offer more of a spicy onion bite. Grating the garlic with a microplane grater helps further diffuse that delicious garlicky flavor into every bite. 
• Bell pepper — Diced bell peppers provide an extra crunch and boost this recipe’s vitamin C and potassium.
• Spices — A simple combination of ground cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper is all you need to season good guacamole. 
• Fresh cilantro — Cilantro helps balance all the flavors and adds an extra layer of freshness to the dip.
• Fresh lime juice — A squeeze of lime juice brings a citrus twist to the recipe. You can use lemon juice in place of lime.

This recipe is entirely adjustable to your liking. You can add jalapeño along with or in place of the bell pepper. If you want it even spicier, try some chopped serrano pepper.

Feel free to throw in some extra mix-ins like diced Roma tomatoes, corn, or black beans. Authentic guacamole from Mexico tends to keep things simple, but that shouldn’t stop you from getting creative.

Find the ingredient list with exact measurements in the recipe card below.

Picking the Perfect Avocados

Unripe avocados tend to be a lighter shade of green than ripe avocados, but sometimes the skin can be deceiving. The best way to check the ripeness of an avocado is to give it a gentle squeeze.

Your avocado should have a little give but not too much. If the fruit is hard, it’s unripe and should be left at room temperature to soften up. Look for an avocado with a tiny stem, too. That little cap is a barrier that prevents oxidation. 

How To Make Guacamole

Making this recipe is quick and easy. After you’ve peeled and pitted your avocados, add them to a mixing bowl with the remaining ingredients. Mix well, and enjoy!

For serving size and the complete directions and ingredient amounts, scroll down to the recipe card below. All of our recipes include the nutrition analysis, listing calories (kcals), protein, carbohydrates, fiber, sugar, sodium, cholesterol, and more per serving.

How To Store Your Leftover Guacamole

Fresh, homemade guacamole lasts about 3-4 days in the fridge and can be stored for 3-4 months in the freezer. We’ve tried several ways to store our guac leftovers, and there are a couple of options we’ve found work great to prevent browning.

What is the best way to store guacamole? The best way to store guacamole is to seal your container with plastic wrap after covering the top of it with a thin layer of water. 

Covering the surface of the guacamole with plastic wrap prevents air from getting to the guacamole, which keeps it green. By smoothing out the leftover guac and covering the top with water, you’ll also prevent air from browning the avocado.

Keep in mind that you’ll need to drain the water before eating it again. We don’t recommend storing it like this for longer than 3 days. 

We don’t recommend adding extra lime or lemon juice, as this alters the flavor and doesn’t significantly prevent your yummy guacamole from turning brown. We’ve also tried leaving the pit in — this doesn’t work, either.

Does leaving the pit in guacamole keep it green? No, avocado pits don’t prevent guacamole from browning. The surface area under the pit might be protected from air, but you’d accomplish the same by using our water and plastic wrap tip (except you can protect all of your guac).

The Best Ways To Enjoy This Guacamole Recipe

There is no right or wrong way to enjoy this guacamole recipe. It pairs well with any Mexican-inspired cuisine. We love serving it with an enchilada dinner. We’ve even used it for a quick avocado toast spread.

It is also great just to be eaten with corn tortilla chips, blue corn chips, or plantain chips.

Guacamole isn’t just for chips. Yes, you heard us. There are plenty of healthy things to dip in guacamole because it doubles as a fantastic veggie dip. To make everyone happy, serve with both veggies and chips.

History of Guacamole

The avocado is native to South Central Mexico. Guacamole is a recipe believed to have been created by the Aztecs originally. The name “guacamole” comes from the Nahuatl term āhuacamōlli, which translates to “avocado sauce.” The word āhuacatl means avocado, and mōlli means sauce.

The origins of this dip were so long ago it is hard to define the “authentic recipe.” Some say that authentic guacamole doesn’t have much lime juice (or any at all) because that changes the flavor of the avocado too much. Others argue over tomatoes and tomatillos. 

We just know that our recipe is super tasty and will have you coming back for more!

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Photo Credit: The photos in this blog post were taken by Jess of Plays Well with Butter. 

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