Homemade guacamole: the mortar and pestle recipe
The ingredients for four, the step-by-step recipe using a mortar, the choice of avocado and the techniques that prevent your guacamole from turning brown.
A successful homemade guacamole relies on six ingredients: ripe avocados, lime, onion, coriander, chili and salt, with a tomato if you like.
The difference lies in the texture. When mashed in a mortar, the avocado retains small pieces, and the aromatics, crushed first, flavor the entire preparation instead of remaining in raw cubes.
This is the original Mexican method, and it takes less than fifteen minutes. All the models mentioned are available in our mortar and pestle collection.
The essentials
- The ingredients: 3 ripe avocados, 1 lime, ½ red onion, ½ bunch of coriander, 1 small chili, 1 tomato, salt.
- The order: first crush the onion, chili, coriander and salt, then add the avocado.
- The texture: mash the avocado coarsely, without aiming for a smooth purée.
- Storage: place plastic wrap directly on the surface, and refrigerate for 24 hours at most.
Why make guacamole in a mortar?
The mortar crushes instead of cutting: it releases the juice and aroma of the onion, chili and coriander, then works the avocado without turning it into cream.
In Mexico, guacamole is prepared in a volcanic stone mortar and served in the same bowl.
The first advantage is aromatic. Crushed with a pinch of salt, the onion, chili and coriander form a moist paste that distributes throughout the avocado.
Cut with a knife and simply mixed, they remain in small raw cubes, spicier, which you bite into without their flavor spreading.
The second advantage is the texture. The pestle crushes the flesh with small presses: you decide when to stop, with tender pieces and a creamy part.
Finally, the mortar serves as a serving dish: no extra bowl to wash, and the guacamole arrives at the table just as it was prepared.
How to choose a ripe avocado?
An avocado ready for guacamole gives slightly when gently pressed in the palm, without sinking. Under the small stem, the flesh must be green.
Remove the stem with your fingernail. Light green underneath: the avocado is ripe.
Brown or black underneath: it is overripe and the flesh will be stringy in places. If it refuses to come off, the avocado is still too firm.
The Hass avocado, with its pebbly skin that darkens as it ripens, gives the creamiest guacamole. Smooth-skinned green varieties are more watery.
A hard avocado ripens in two to four days at room temperature, faster in a paper bag with an apple or a banana.
How to make homemade guacamole?
To make homemade guacamole, we first crush the aromatics with the salt, add the avocado flesh which we mash coarsely, then finish with the lime and the tomato. Here is the recipe for homemade guacamole for four people.
Ingredients for 4 people
- 3 ripe avocados, preferably Hass
- 1 lime
- ½ red or white onion
- ½ bunch of fresh coriander
- 1 small green chili, or a pinch of chili powder
- 1 firm tomato
- Fine salt, and a clove of garlic if you like
1. Crush the aromatics
Coarsely chop the onion, the deseeded chili and half of the coriander. Put them in the mortar with a good pinch of salt.
Crush while turning until you obtain a moist paste, in one to two minutes. The salt acts as an abrasive and brings out the juice.
2. Mash the avocado
Open the avocados, remove the pit and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Add it to the aromatic paste.
Press with the pestle with small vertical presses, then bring the flesh from the edges toward the center. Stop when there are pieces the size of a small pea left.
Crushed or blended too long, the avocado becomes a smooth cream that releases water and loses its hold on a chip.
3. Season
Squeeze half of the lime, mix and taste. Adjust the salt and acidity with the rest of the lime: the guacamole should be bright, not sour.
4. Finish with the tomato and coriander
Deseed the tomato and cut it into small cubes. Add it with the rest of the chopped coriander, just before serving, so that it does not water down the preparation.
Never crush the lime with the aromatics: poured at the beginning, it drowns the paste, the pestle slips and the onion no longer crushes. Added at the end, it stays fresh and you dose it exactly.
Mortar, fork or blender: which method?
The mortar gives the best texture and the best flavor, the fork is enough for one or two avocados, and the blender is only suitable for a smooth sauce. The choice depends mainly on the expected result.
With a fork, mash the avocado in a shallow plate, then mix the finely chopped aromatics. It is fast, but the onion remains in raw cubes.
With a blender, a few pulses are enough; beyond that, the purée becomes liquid. To chop the onion, tomato and coriander into small regular pieces without electricity, a manual crank chopper does the job in a few turns.
| Method | Texture obtained | Aromatics | To know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mortar and pestle | Pieces and creamy part | Crushed into a paste, flavor spread | Also serves as a serving dish |
| Fork | Coarse, a bit irregular | Raw cubes | For 1 or 2 avocados |
| Blender | Smooth, quickly liquid | Blended with the avocado | Only a few pulses |
| Manual chopper | For aromatics only | Small regular cubes | Onion and tomato without a knife |
Which mortar to choose for guacamole?
For guacamole, you need a bowl wide enough for three avocados and a surface that grips the aromatics. Heavy granite is ideal; bamboo and stainless steel are suitable for small quantities.
For a guacamole for four served in the mortar, the solid black granite mortar and pestle 16 cm has a bowl of 16 cm diameter and a pestle of 17.3 cm whose weight does the work.
To crush aromatics and spices daily, the gray granite mortar 11 cm weighs 1.67 kg and its unpolished interior grips the onion and the chili.
For a guacamole for two, light to handle, the bamboo mortar and pestle exists in 10 or 11 cm high; the 11 cm leaves more room for a guacamole, with a smooth pestle of 13 cm.
To crush without the bowl slipping, the 304 stainless steel mortar and pestle has a non-slip pad under the bowl and a lid to keep a small preparation.
For aromatics, the crank chopper 520 ml chops the onion and the tomato with its 3 stainless steel blades, and the curved lever garlic press reduces the clove of garlic to purée. Other models are gathered in the garlic press and garlic chopper collection.
How to store homemade guacamole?
Homemade guacamole is stored 24 hours in the refrigerator, in a closed box, with plastic wrap placed directly on contact with the surface. It is the air, and not time, that makes it brown.
Smooth the top with the back of a spoon, add a dash of lime, then apply the film by chasing out the air bubbles. A thin brown layer can appear: remove it, the bottom remains green.
The pit placed in the center only protects the flesh it touches. If the guacamole smells sour or changes taste, do not consume it.
Mistakes to avoid
These mistakes explain most of the bland, liquid or blackened guacamoles.
- Using avocados that are too firm: they mash poorly and remain tasteless.
- Putting the tomato with its seeds: it releases its water and waters down the preparation.
- Mixing or crushing the avocado too long: you get a smooth cream that liquefies.
- Salting only at the end: salt is first used to crush the aromatics.
- Preparing the guacamole several hours in advance without contact film: the surface browns.
Your questions about homemade guacamole
Can you freeze homemade guacamole?
Yes, in a small airtight box and without tomato or onion, which become mushy. Defrosted in the refrigerator, it is a little more liquid: mix it, add a dash of lime and the fresh aromatics.
What to eat guacamole with?
With corn chips or vegetable sticks at aperitif, in tacos, fajitas or wraps with chicken, and on a slice of toasted bread with an egg.
Should you put garlic in guacamole?
It is not mandatory: the classic Mexican recipe does without it. If you put some, a small crushed clove with the aromatics is enough for three avocados.
For more information
A successful homemade guacamole depends on three things: ripe avocados, aromatics crushed first and avocado crushed without excess.
The mortar does both gestures in the same bowl, and the lime added at the end keeps the preparation green and fresh.
Find all our models in the mortar and pestle collection.
- To choose the material of your mortar, read how to choose a mortar and pestle: granite, wood or ceramic.
- To cut the onion without tears, follow how to chop the onion without crying.
- To serve your guacamole, try our ground beef tacos.
To discover all our other appliances, go to hachoir-cuisine.fr.