Easy 4 Ingredient Guacamole Recipe

Why you'll love this recipe

• You only need 4 basic ingredients and 5 minutes to make this homemade guacamole, making it a great recipe for beginners.
• It's customizable! This is a base recipe that can be jazzed up with the addition of your other favorite add-ins like tomatoes or onions.
• It can easily be doubled or tripled to feed a large group, making it a great choice for parties, football season or any time you're serving guests.
• It's naturally vegan, gluten-free, low-carb, and keto! This healthy snack packs a ton of essential nutrients, like vitamin B6, healthy fats, and potassium.
• This delicious guacamole recipe is kid-friendly since it doesn’t have any tomatoes, spicy jalapeño or large chunks of onion.

Equipment

You don't need anything special, just the most basic kitchen tools that you definitely already have:

• Cutting Board
• Mixing Bowl 
• Chef's Knife: to cut, pit and cube the avocados
• Measuring Spoons

I use a fork to mash my avocados but a potato masher works, too!

Ingredients

• Avocados: because they are the main ingredient, you want to make sure you're using the best avocados. Make sure they're perfectly ripe, as it will give you the most flavorful guac. Read below for tips on how to pick the perfect avocado. I recommend using ripe Hass avocados because of their creamy flesh, rich flavor, and protective skin.
• Fresh lime juice: freshly squeezed lime juice for the best flavor! It will also help prevent your guac from browning as quickly.
• Garlic: Since we’re using so few ingredients, I love to use freshly minced garlic cloves. Granulated garlic powder would work in a pinch!
• Salt: Just a hint of salt helps bring all the flavors together. I prefer to use flaky sea salt, but iodized or kosher salt works perfectly too.

See recipe card below for a complete list of ingredients and measurements.

How to pick perfectly ripe avocados

Few things are better than opening up perfectly creamy avocados. The key to making the best guacamole recipe is finding avocados that are not hard and underripe, but also not too soft and overripe. Here are my tips on how to find the perfect avocados:

• Color: Look for avocados that have a rich, dark purplish-green color. Unripe avocados will be green, while black avocados are overripe.
• Firmness: Hold the avocado in the palm of your hand and gently squeeze. If it yields, it’s ripe! If it doesn't give at all, it needs a few more days to ripen. If it's very soft, it's overripe.
• Stem: Flick off the stem. If it does not come off easily, the avocado is not ripe. If it comes off easily and the flesh underneath is brown, the avocado is overripe but if it comes off easily and the flesh is green, the avocado is ripe!
• Bruising: If there are large bruises, breaks in the skin or areas that are super soft, it is likely overripe.
• Shape: this has nothing to do with ripeness, but choosing an avocado that is more oblong/oval in shape, as opposed to circular, will have a smaller pit, giving you more bang for buck!

Timing is also incredibly important! If you're making the guacamole today or within 1-2 days, follow the tips above. If you're planning to make the guacamole in 3-5 days, choose avocados that are green and hard with no give when pressure is applied.

Variations, Substitutions & Optional Add-ins

Whether you make this recipe as a game-day snack, a delicious delicious dip, a healthy appetizer or as a condiment to dollop on your tacos, there are countless ways to make it yours.

• Use garlic powder as an easy, pantry-ready substitute for fresh garlic.
• To make this low FODMAP friendly, omit the garlic completely.
• Don’t like the taste of limes? Use lemon juice instead! You'll still get that citrusy kick and slow the browning.
• Make an even more kid-friendly version by reducing or omitting the lime juice and garlic.

Optional Add-Ins

This is a great base guacamole recipe so you can easily add more ingredients to it and make it perfect for you. Simply chop them up and add them in with the rest of the original ingredients. Here are my favorite add-ins:

• Fresh herbs: I like to add cilantro, but I know it can be a hit or miss! Parsley is great too. Aside from adding flavor, they also spruce up the presentation a bit.
• Red onion or white onion: make this guac a bit more authentic with the addition of onions. This will add both crunch and a nice pungent flavor!
• Tomatoes or salsa: for more color, juicy texture, and a garden-fresh taste. Feel free to add some chopped plum tomatoes, jarred salsa, or fresh salsa (pico de gallo).
• Jalapeño or serrano peppers: for a spicy kick!
• Other veggies: like bell peppers or corn.
• Spices: for some depth, add a dash of ground cumin, paprika or chili powder.

This recipe has not been tested with any other substitutions or variations than the ones listed above. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!

Instructions

Step 1: Slice the avocados in half lengthwise (from top to bottom). Insert the knife until you feel the pit, then rotate the avocado around until it is cut into two halves. Rotate the two halves to separate the avocado, and pull apart.

Step 2: Insert your knife into the avocado pit and carefully lift it out and remove it from your knife. Either scoop the flesh of the avocado out with a spoon or score the inside of the avocado by cutting lines vertically and horizontally in order to create smaller cubes of avocados (as shown here).

Step 3: Add the avocado, lime juice garlic, and salt to mixing bowl.

Step 4: Mash to your desired consistency (I like mine slightly chunky) with the back of a fork or a potato masher.

Serving Suggestions

There are so many different ways you can serve this homemade guacamole without tomatoes. It doesn’t matter how you serve this 4 ingredient guacamole because it just makes everything better but here are my favorite ways:

• By itself: as a delicious dip paired with tortilla chips or raw veggies like celery, carrots, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes or cucumbers for a healthy snack.
• As a condiment: dollop this on top of tacos, quesadillas, burgers, nachos, burrito bowls or buddha bowls, chili or a fresh bean salad to take them all to next level! You could also spread it on top of these crispy smashed potatoes.
• Paired with margaritas and mexican elote!
• Use leftovers to make avocado toast.

Expert Tips

This 4 ingredient guacamole is super simple to make, but even easier with these pro tips. 

• Serve the guacamole at room temperature. It not only makes it easier to scoop, but ripe avocados have better flavor at room temp.
• Add all of the ingredients at the same time. Mashing the avocado first then adding the remaining ingredients and mixing again (aka overmixing!) will change the texture of your guac and may become too smooth for your liking! Your guac should have some chunks/texture.
• Use a citrus squeezer to get the most out of your limes. Sometimes they're hard to squeeze by hand!
• If you're customizing this guac with add-ins, store the base recipe as is and only mix in the add-ins when you're ready to serve. This will ensure your guacamole doesn't get watery.

Make Ahead & Storage Tips

Make Ahead: Make this 4 ingredient guacamole recipe 1 day in advance. Follow storage tips below for best results.

Refrigerator: Evenly spread the guacamole in an airtight container, smoothing it out with a spoon or rubber spatula to ensure there are no air bubbles. Next, cover the surface with thin layer of either lime juice, lemon juice or water. This will create a barrier between the air and the guac to help slowing the oxidation process (aka help to stop the guac from browning as quickly). Then, cover with a piece of plastic wrap, pressing the wrap flush against the surface of the guacamole. Seal the container and refrigerate for up to 2-3 days. When ready to eat, remove the liquid and give it a good stir.

Freezer: Unlike guacamole recipes with water-filled ingredients (think tomatoes, onions, and jalapenos) this simple recipe freezes perfectly. Transfer leftover guacamole into an airtight container, like freezer-friendly bags, and remove as much air as possible. Seal and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

FAQs