📘 How do you make guacamole that stays green?

What you’ll learn

1. Put the tub backChoose Kenji's pounded four-Hass guacamole over a supermarket tub, Bayless's tomato fold, or Pati's two-avocado mix, and scale a first batch.Put the tub back. Tonight is mashed Hass, a paste of onion and chile, cilantro, lime, and salt. An adult owns the knife. You mash and taste.
2. The avocado is the houseBuy Hass, press the stem end and the fat end for mashable-soft fruit, cut around the pit with a spoon, and skip watery Florida avocados.Hass. Stem-end give, then fat-end give. Five to seven days from hard. Spoon out the pit. Florida fruit is a salad slice.
3. Onion, chile, cilantro, limeRinse white onion, start with one serrano with the white ribs cut out, split cilantro into paste and fold, and use lime to finish the avocado, not to stop browning.White onion, rinsed. Heat is in the chile's pale ribs. Cilantro is half paste, half leaf. Lime completes the fruit. Tomato waits.
4. Pound first, then mashGrind the aromatics so cell walls break, mash with a pestle or whisk until lumpy, season salt then lime, and name oxygen plus polyphenol oxidase as the browning pair.Paste first. Whisk or pestle, not a blender. Salt, then lime. The pit does not save it. Wrap on the mash does.
5. Eat it while it's greenPress wrap onto leftover mash, follow the two-hour clock for up to three days cold, serve with a chip that can lift it, and name tomatillo guacamole as later work.Wrap on the surface. Two hours, then 3 days cold. Totopos tonight. Tomatillo verde is later. A watery bowl is information.

Questions this course answers

Grounded in trusted sources

• J. Kenji López-Alt and Daniel Gritzer, Classic Guacamole / Perfect Guacamole Recipe, Serious Eats, updated 14 September 2025, originally January 2012, Zarela Martinez: guacamole simply means pureed avocado sauce, from Nahuatl ahuacatl (avocado) plus molli (sauce), no official recipe, Aztecs mashed avocado with serrano or jalapeño and salt in basalt mortar, Hass preferred for buttery creamy flesh, press near stem end for ripeness, pound onion chile half the cilantro and salt into a paste then mash avocado with pestle or stiff whisk for uneven chunks, tomatoes diced and folded not mashed, lime does not prevent browning at edible amounts and can speed it, Harold McGee The Curious Cook pit-versus-light-bulb test both browned the same, only oxygen exclusion works, press double layer of plastic wrap on the surface, ingredients: 1/2 medium white onion about 4 ounces / 113 g, 1 serrano stemmed (seeds out for milder), 1/2 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems finely chopped divided, kosher salt, 4 ripe Hass avocados about 7 ounces / 200 g each, 2 to 3 tablespoons / 30-45 ml fresh lime juice from about 2 limes, 10 minutes, serves 8 as an appetizer, https://www.seriouseats.com/the-best-basic-guacamole-recipe
• J. Kenji López-Alt and Daniel Gritzer, We Tested Popular Avocado-Ripening Methods—Here's What Works, Serious Eats, updated 1 April 2026, avocados do not ripen on the tree, ethylene regulates ripening, supermarket fruit with no softness takes 3 to 5 days in a brown paper bag, 2 to 3 days with a banana, microwave or low oven cooks rather than ripens and tastes like re-warmed undercooked chicken, ripe fruit brown-spots in about 2 days at room temperature, refrigerate ripe fruit up to about 5 days, plastic wrap on cut halves about 8 hours before visible browning, water submersion for leftover chunks only a few hours before mush, mashed avocado best with wrap pressed on the surface, https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-ripen-and-store-avocados-11878763
• Rick Bayless, Guacamole, rickbayless.com, 3 medium mashable-soft avocados about 1 1/4 pounds, salt, 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, 1/4 to 1/2 cup finely chopped onion less than 1/4 inch, 1/3 to 2/3 cup chopped ripe tomato a little larger than 1/4 inch, 1 to 3 tablespoons very finely chopped fresh green chiles (1 or 2 serranos or a small to large jalapeño) seeds and veins removed if you want, 2 to 5 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, remove stem button, cut around the pit, twist, scoop pit with spoon or knife twist, mash with potato masher fork or back of spoon leaving distinctive unmashed pieces, season avocado with scant teaspoon salt and a tablespoon of lime first until it tastes like the best avocado, rinse onion under cold water, avocados held below 50°F then 5 to 7 days to soften, paper bag does not speed usefully, press bulbous end last to soften, sliceable versus mashable about 24 hours apart, https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/guacamole-2/
• Rick Bayless, A Master Class in Guacamoles, rickbayless.com, Season 10 Mexico—One Plate at a Time, classic guacamole about 3 cups from 3 ripe avocados 1 to 1 1/4 pounds, 1 large serrano or 1 small jalapeño, 1 small ripe tomato drained a few minutes or 1/4 cup soft sundried tomatoes, small handful cilantro sliced across leaves and tender stems, 1/2 small white onion rinsed 30 seconds to deflame then 1/3 cup, tablespoon or two lime, about 1 teaspoon salt, potato masher for meaty texture, Uruapan Michoacán avocados, also tomatillo guacamole: 3 mashed avocados plus 1 cup roasted tomatillo salsa and about 1/2 teaspoon extra salt, https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/a-master-class-in-guacamoles/
• Lan Lam, Classic Guacamole, America's Test Kitchen / Cook's Illustrated, published 2 April 2017, 15 minutes, serves 8, makes 2 cups, 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion, 1 serrano stemmed seeded and minced, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon grated lime zest plus 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons juice, 3 ripe avocados halved pitted cut into 1/2-inch pieces, 1 plum tomato cored seeded 1/8-inch dice, 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, chop onion chile salt and zest on a board until a juicy paste, kosher salt crystals break down the aromatics, whisk-mash leaving 1/4- to 1/2-inch chunks, Hass only, Florida or skinny avocados too watery for dips, molcajete optional, add ribs and seeds for more heat, https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/9627-classic-guacamole
• Pati Jinich, Chunky Guacamole, patijinich.com, 2 ripe Mexican avocados halved pitted and pulp cut into chunks or roughly mashed, 3 tablespoons finely chopped white onion, 1 chile serrano or jalapeño minced seeding optional, 2 tablespoons cilantro leaves roughly chopped, 3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice, 1 teaspoon salt more or less to taste, mix all the ingredients in a bowl and serve, https://patijinich.com/chunky-guacamole/
• USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, perishable food into the refrigerator within 2 hours or 1 hour if air is over 90°F, leftovers 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/leftovers-and-food-safety
• Michigan State University Extension, How to safely store and preserve avocados, 5 July 2023, citing USDA FoodData Central and the National Center for Home Food Preservation, do not refrigerate avocados before ripening, ripe whole fruit in the refrigerator at 40°F, cut avocado wrapped in the crisper 3 to 4 days, lime or lemon optional against browning, https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/how-to-safely-store-and-preserve-avocados

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