Chunky Guacamole with Veggie Dippers
Hand-mashed chunky guacamole with lime, jalapeño and cilantro, served with crisp cucumber, bell pepper, celery and radish for scooping. Done in 15 minutes.
- Prep15 min
- Cook0 min
- Total15 min
- Servings4
- Net carbs*7 g
- LevelEasy
Good guacamole should have texture: soft avocado with real chunks left in, bits of tomato and onion, and enough lime to wake it all up. Instead of chips, crunchy raw vegetables do the scooping. Cucumber rounds, bell pepper strips, celery sticks and halved radishes each bring a different crunch. Set it out for game day or eat it as an afternoon snack.
Mash the onion, jalapeño and salt together with the lime juice first, before the avocado goes in. The salt and acid soften the raw onion bite in a couple of minutes and pull flavor out of the chile. Then fold in the avocado with a fork and stop while there are still plenty of lumps. Overmashed guacamole turns into baby food.
Ingredients
Makes About 2 cups guacamole plus a platter of vegetables. Tap an item to check it off.
Equipment
- Medium mixing bowl
- Fork or potato masher
- Cutting board
- Chef's knife
- Serving platter
Instructions
- Put the onion, jalapeño, salt, cumin and lime juice in a mixing bowl and press them together with a fork for 30 seconds. Let it sit 3 minutes.
- Add the avocados and mash with the fork until about half is smooth and the rest stays in chunks the size of a grape.
- Fold in the tomato and cilantro. Taste and add more salt or lime if needed.
- Cut the cucumber into 1/2-inch rounds, the bell pepper into 1/2-inch strips, the celery into 3-inch sticks and the radishes in half.
- Spoon the guacamole into a serving bowl, set it in the middle of a platter and arrange the vegetables around it. Serve right away.
Estimated nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 200
- Total carbs
- 15.8 g
- Fiber
- 8.8 g
- Net carbs
- 7 g
- Protein
- 3.2 g
- Fat
- 16 g
*These are estimates, calculated from the ingredient weights above and USDA FoodData Central data, divided by 4 servings. Net carbs = total carbs minus fiber. Values vary with brands, quantities, ingredient swaps and how you portion the dish. How we estimate nutrition.
Kitchen tips
- Seed the tomato with a small spoon. The watery pulp makes guacamole loose and runny within the hour.
- Keep the jalapeño ribs in if you like more heat. That is where most of the spice sits.
Substitutions
- Red onion → green onions Use 3 thinly sliced. Milder, with a slightly lower carb estimate.
- Bell pepper → jicama sticks Same weight. Sweeter crunch, but it adds about 2 g net carbs per serving.
- Cilantro → fresh parsley Same amount, for anyone who finds cilantro soapy.
Swaps change the nutrition estimate shown above.
Storage and reheating
- Fridge
- Press plastic wrap directly onto the guacamole and refrigerate up to 1 day. Store cut vegetables separately in a container with a damp paper towel up to 3 days.
- Freezer
- Does not freeze well. Thawed avocado turns watery and the tomato goes mushy.
- Reheat
- Serve cold. Scrape off any darkened layer on top and stir in a squeeze of lime before serving.
Questions cooks ask
Does leaving the pit in stop browning?
Only where the pit touches. Plastic wrap pressed onto the surface works much better because it blocks the air.
