Avocado Salad

Avocado salad is creamy, healthy, and refreshing, and it’s all you need for a quick lunch or light dinner during the hot summer months.

If you like easy summer recipes, you might also enjoy our watermelon salad, panzanella, Greek salad, and pineapple cucumber salad.

• Avocado: Ripe diced avocado is the main ingredient. If you are unsure how to pick perfectly ripe avocados, check out our tips chapter below.

• Tomatoes: Use ripe tomatoes that are firm to the touch. Most tomato varieties are okay to make this avocado salad recipe. Try cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, Heirloom tomatoes, Yellow Cherry, and San Marzano tomatoes.

• Cucumber: You can use English cucumber, American garden cucumber, or Persian cucumber. If the cucumber is seedy, you can cut off some of the seeds and discard them.

• Onion: We recommend red onion. You can substitute shallots, scallions, or spring onions for the red onion.

• Extra-virgin olive oil: Would be the best choice to add a fruity flavor and tie together the other ingredients.

• Lemon juice: You can substitute balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or red wine vinegar for lemon juice.

• Parsley: Substitute fresh basil.

Add ins:

• crispy air fryer chickpeas or spicy roasted chickpeas
• feta
• air fryer croutons or oven-baked croutons
• chopped lettuce or arugula
• corn kernels

Important before you start! If you are making the salad beforehand, add the avocado at the last minute, just before eating the salad. This way, it won’t go brown.

Cut the red onion into thin slices, then pinch it to separate the layers.

Soak the sliced red onion in a bowl with cold water for 10 minutes before adding it to the salad.

Dice the tomatoes and cucumber into bite-size pieces.

Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, then score it with a knife to create small squares and scoop it out.

Finely chop the parsley.

Add the chopped veggies to a large bowl, then season with freshly squeezed lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt, and black pepper.

Toss gently until the vegetables are coated in the condiments and slightly creamy from the avocado. Taste and adjust for salt before serving.

Variations

Avocado Pasta Salad

Our favorite variation is avocado pasta salad, which you can make by adding a short pasta type to this recipe.

Cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water until al dente. It’s important that you salt the pasta water.

Drain the pasta, run it under cold water for 15 seconds, then add it to the other ingredients. For example, you might need to add more olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Make ahead: it’s best to add the avocado last minute before serving the salad so that it doesn’t turn brown.

Refrigerator: store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Some juices might float around from the cucumber and tomatoes; you can drain those and add fresh olive oil and parsley.

Freezer: this recipe is not suitable for freezing.

Tips

How to choose ripe avocado at the store?

First: look for the stem. It’s generally better if the avocado has it still on. This way, it will stay fresh for longer after buying it.

Second: look at the color. Ripe avocados are generally darker than unripe ones. So try to find ones with a dark green, almost black color.

Third: avoid shiny ones. Ripe avocadoes generally have a dull, matte peel. Shiny avocados usually are unripe.

Fourth: avoid indentations or bruise spots. If you see evident bruises that are soft to the touch, that’s not good. I wouldn’t recommend buying those, even if they are on offer. There’s not much you can do with bruised, overripe avocado.

Fifth: feel it. If the avocado yields to firm, gentle pressure, you know it’s ready to eat. To feel the avocado, pick it up in the palm of your hand, and apply gentle pressure with the whole hand. Do not squeeze with your fingertips, as you might damage the avocado.

• Avocado spread
• Guacamole
• Tofu salad
• Black bean salad
• Quinoa chickpea salad

If you tried this Avocado Salad or any other recipe on our blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it goes in the comments. We love hearing from you!