This homemade guacamole is so simple to make and is packed full of flavor! Roast garlic and red pepper along with lime is a refreshing punch perfect for topping nachos, burritos, tacos or just for dipping tortilla chips and veggies.
Avocados
Avocado is a super food and while it can be bought year round, it is best during the late summer season. My husband isn’t a big fan, but I try to incorporate avocado into a lot of dishes for myself.
Skin color will vary by type, but one thing stays the same. Give it a gentle squeeze, if it yields a little bit, it is ripe.
How do you ripen avocados fast?
If you have a bunch of ripe avocados and you need to make guacamole in a day or two for a big party, put them all in a paper bag. They emit a gas and the bag keeps it locked inside, speeding up the process. MAGIC!
Alternatively, if you some that are ripe and you are not ready to eat them yet, put them in the fridge. This will help keep them at optimal ripeness for a little longer.
Roast Garlic Guacamole
Roast Garlic Guacamole Dip is slightly different from most because it contains no tomatoes. Yes, you read correctly, NO TOMATOES. Can you believe it?
My mother’s idea of easy guacamole is avocado mixed with jarred salsa. Which when you think of it, it perfect because all the chopping is done for you. But growing up it never occured to me that it could be made without tomatoes.
Instead, this guacamole dip recipes blends avocado, an entire head of roasted garlic, fresh cilantro, roasted red pepper, fresh lime juice and a few other spices.
Roast Garlic & Roast Red Peppers
While I like to make my roasted garlic and red peppers from scratch, you can buy these pre-made at your grocery store to save time.
I will challenge you to roast your own red pepper and taste the difference between the bottled version. Homemade will also be less watery since it isn’t suspended in brine.
Make sure to dab jarred dry before adding so your guac stays nice and thick.
How to Roast Red Pepper
- Preheat oven broiler. Cut red bell pepper in half. Remove and discard the seeds, membranes and stem. Place a sheet of aluminum foil on a baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray. Place bell pepper halves, skin up, on the aluminum foil and smash down using the palm of your hand. Halves will be flat and spilt in places. Spray skin well with cooking spray.
- Place flattened bell peppers in the top half of the oven under the broiler. Watch very closely. You want the peppers skin to be blackened. When almost fully charred, remove from the oven.
- Immediately place the red pepper halves an airtight plastic bag. The bag will steam up, assisting the skin to separate from the pepper. Allow to sit in the bag for 10 minutes. Remove from the bag and peel off skin with the assistance of a fork.
Guacamole Fresh Ingredients
The list is quite simple and you can add a few other items should you wish.
- Garlic– this uses one whole head, but after roasting and mashing, it really isn’t that much.
- Olive Oil – for roasting the red pepper
- Red bell pepper– red pepper is sweet when roasted, you can also use a yellow bell pepper.
- Large avocado- or two small avocados
- Cilantro– cilantro can be a deal breaker for some, omit if you don’t care for it.
- Sour cream– this can be substituted with plain Greek yogurt.
- Lime- do yourself a favor and use fresh instead of bottled! The flavor is so much better! You can also use lemon juice.
- Fine sea salt & pepper– to taste.
This simple guacamole is also great with red onion or tomatoes. The rest is simple, just mash them together in a bowl!
How to Mash Avocado
Mashing avocado is best when the avocado is perfectly ripe. If not, it will be too hard to do by hand and the flavor won’t be fully developed.
Here are your options:
- Use a fork.
- Use a potato masher.
- Few pulses in a food processor.
- Hard boiled egg slicer.
Brown Guacamole
An age old questions, how do you prevent your guacamole from getting brown?
A tip for any guacamole recipe (or avocado recipe, really) is to add lemon or lime (something citrus and acidic). It prevents oxidation and preserves the color for at least 24 hours. It just isn’t appetizing when it goes brown.
Some of this isn’t preventable. For example, if you use an avocado that already has some brown, you can’t erase that.
If you do refrigerate it and it gets a little yucky, spoon off the top layer and what lies beneath should be green and fresh.
I do not recommend freezing guacamole.
More easy avocado recipes:
- Shrimp Salad Avocados
- Avocado Pesto Chicken Salad
- Maple Citrus Salmon with Orange-Avocado Salsa
- Avocado Ice Cream
Flourless Avocado Brownies
Creamy Avocado Pasta Sauce
Bacon Avocado Grilled Cheese Sandwich Recipe
Tools:
Wood cutting board – wood won’t dull your knives like plastic and if treated properly, has natural antimicrobial properties.
Good knife – Global is my favorite! They are worth the price, I promise. I am kind of obsessed with them and store them tucked away so no one else can use them. Including hubby. Hands off my good stuff!
Roast Garlic Guacamole Dip Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 large head of garlic* , roasted
- 1 roasted red bell pepper* minced
- Cooking Spray
- 1 large ripe avocado
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro , finely chopped
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 lime
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Slice avocado in half and remove the pit. While still in the skin, use a small knife and cut crisscross lines into each half. Using a large metal spoon, scoop out the halves. You should scoop out already diced avocado.
- Heat lime in microwave for 30 seconds. Heating will yield more juice. Juice both sides.
- Combine mashed garlic with avocado, lime, sour cream and cilantro.
- Fold in minced roasted red pepper. Season with fine sea salt and pepper, if desired.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- If you’ve tried this recipe, make sure to come back and let us know how it was!
Wow! Roasted garlic is a delicious addition to guac. This is delicious.
Ooo I’ve been needing some ideas on how to liven up my guacamole! Thank you for this!!