How to Eat Avocado if You Don't Like It

Sneaking Avocado into Your Favorite Dishes

Try it in Mexican food. Nestle a couple slices of avocado in a corn or flour tortilla with your protein of choice and generous helpings of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, sour cream, cheese, pico de gallo, and any other fixin’s of choice. With so many bold, zesty ingredients melding together, chances are you won’t even know it’s there. Your newfound tolerance for avocado doesn’t have to stop at tacos. Make some room for the superfood in burritos, quesadillas, enchiladas, nachos, and zesty rice bowls. Mexican food and avocado go together like peanut butter and jelly. Even if you don’t usually dig the fruit on its own, you may find that you enjoy it with the right complementary flavors.

Smuggle a small serving into a tasty casserole. For many people, it’s not the flavor of avocado that’s objectionable, but the texture. Fortunately, you’ll never notice it once it’s cooked into an indiscernible mush with a bunch of other less suspect components. Liven up a dull midweek dinner by adding 1 or 2 avocados to a chicken, breakfast, or creamy tuna-noodle casserole (all loaded with cheese, of course).

Add manageable slices to sandwiches, salads, and other fresh foods. Halve an avocado, chuck the freakishly huge pit, and cut the soft fruit inside into thin strips. Use these strips to top a mixed salad, or tuck them away inside a light wrap or sandwich full of items you actually like. The oily green offender will literally melt into a grilled cheese or pressed panini, leaving only an Astroturf-colored smear to remind you of what you’re eating. Avocado also makes a great topping for a juicy cheeseburger, especially one prepared “California-style” with sliced ripe tomatoes, red onion rings, and sharp cheddar cheese.

Use avocado oil for all of your cooking needs. If you can’t even bear to be in the presence of an avocado but don’t want to deprive yourself of its beneficial fatty acids, cheat the system and pick up a bottle of avocado oil. You can fry with it, bake with it, drizzle it on pasta, or even use it as a base for homemade sauces, dips, and salad dressings—its uses are virtually endless! Avocado oil’s high smoke point makes it especially good for searing, pan-frying, and other cooking methods that rely on intense heat.Tip: Try substituting an equal amount of avocado oil in recipes that ordinarily call for olive, coconut, or canola oil.

Disguising the Flavor and Texture of Avocado

Turn it into guacamole. Lots of people who don’t like avocados on their own can’t get enough guacamole. Slice, pit, and mash 2-3 avocados, then add diced tomatoes, red onion, jalapeños, cilantro, and sea salt to taste. Finish with a spritz of lime juice. The avocado will really just serve as a delivery system for the other fresh ingredients, which are sure to astound and delight your taste buds. A dash of one or more potent spices like ground cumin, garlic, or cayenne pepper can make for a more complex guacamole in which that primadonna avocado doesn’t take center stage. Sadly, even the most delicious guac isn’t likely to help you overcome your distaste for avocados if it boils down to a textural thing.

Mix it into Greek yogurt. Mash a quarter of a ripe avocado and stir it directly into a 5 oz. (140 g) serving of yogurt. Top with a spoonful of sour wildflower honey, a sprinkle of sea salt, or a small handful of granola, mixed berries, or toasted nuts to dress up the creamy treat even more. Don’t be put off by the greenish hue. The strong, tangy yogurt will be more than enough to cover up what little taste the fruit adds. With the addition of a few simple ingredients like lime, cilantro, garlic, and jalapeño peppers, you can turn your simple snack into a light yet filling dip that pairs perfectly with pita chips.

Combine it with hummus. Toss 1 whole halved and pitted avocado in a food processor with a 15 oz. (125 g) can of chickpeas, 1 small bunch of cilantro, 1 clove of garlic, ⁄4 cup (59 mL) tahini, ⁄4 cup (59 mL) extra virgin olive oil, ⁄4 cup (59 mL) of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon (4 g) ground cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon (2 g) kosher salt. Blend the ingredients until they form a smooth, thick mixture, then grab a bag or tortilla chips or some naan bread and go to town! A squirt of spicy sriracha will further suppress the flavor of the fruit. If you’re not a big fan of regular hummus, or you’re looking to up your protein intake, you can also try making a savory black bean variation using canned black beans instead of chickpeas.

Swap out mayonnaise for avocado in tuna salad. The next time you whip up a batch of homemade tuna salad, hold the mayo and spoon in an equal quantity of mashed avocado in its place. It may not look like the sweet, innocent tuna salad you’re used to, but it will be better for you, and it’s doubtful that you’ll be able to tell a difference in flavor. You could also theoretically use avocado in place of mayo in just about any type of prepared salads, including chicken, potato, or egg salad.Tip: Start with your own from-scratch mayonnaise made with avocado oil. Extra green stuff is optional.

Enjoying Avocado for Dessert

Blend it into a smoothie or milkshake. Did you know that you can put avocado in a smoothie? Well, now you do. If you want proof, throw 1/2 of one into a blender with a banana, ⁄2 cup (120 mL) of Greek yogurt, 1 cup (240 mL) of milk, and some ice cubes and see what happens. Or try it in a milkshake with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream, 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder (8 g), and 2 teaspoons (10 mL) of honey. Either way, you’re welcome. A monounsaturated fat-packed smoothie or milkshake can make a great way to refuel your tired muscles post-workout. Don’t forget to dump in a scoop of protein powder to maximize your gains, bruh. The best part about adding avocado to a smoothie or milkshake isn't just the gleeful feeling you get watching it being obliterated in a whirlwind of spinning blades. It's also the fact that its mild flavor is almost completely undetectable in the finished product.

Bake it into a decadent chocolate cake. Break out grandma’s famous chocolate cake recipe, only limit the butter to about a quarter of what the recipe calls for and measure out an equal amount of avocado to make up the difference. It may just turn out to be the richest, most velvety cake you’ve ever eaten in your life, even with four times fewer calories. Just don’t tell grandma. Cake isn’t the only confection whose world avocado can rock. As a matter of fact, you can use it as a vegan, keto, gluten and guilt-free alternative to butter in just about any type of baked goods you can imagine, from cookies to truffles to banana bread.Tip: Baked goods made with avocado tend to brown quicker than those made the old-fashioned way. To avoid burning your cake, reduce the temperature of your oven by about 25% and increase your baking time accordingly.

Use it to make impossibly creamy pudding. Cram half a ripe avocado, ⁄4 cup (59 mL) of milk, 1 tablespoon (8 g) of cocoa powder, and 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of honey or maple syrup into a blender, then turn it on and let it do its thing until the mixture is smoother than a Patrick Dempsey pickup line. Transfer your secretly-healthy pudding to a large serving bowl or divvy it up into individual serving dishes and savor as an after-dinner indulgence. Garnish your pudding with toasted coconut flakes or a few curls of shaved chocolate like the culinary Mozart you are. Feel free to substitute unsweetened almond or coconut milk for regular milk if you’re trying to keep things dairy-free.

Blow your own mind with easy avocado popsicles. Take 2 avocados, 1 cup (240 mL) of milk, 2 tablespoons (30 mL) of honey or agave syrup, and the juice from half a lime and put them through the blender for 20-30 seconds. Distribute the mixture evenly between 5-6 popsicle molds and freeze them for 2-3 hours, or until solid. The resulting treat will be creamy, sweet, tangy, and totally unidentifiable as your arch nemesis avocado. Add a few chunks of fruit, such as strawberry, kiwi, pineapple, peach, or mango, to make chunky fruit-filled paletas perfect for a cookout, pool party, or casual summer get-together.