A Simple Guacamole Without Tomatoes

The author pouring chickpeas from a colander.

I specifically developed this 4 ingredient guacamole recipe to be made with ingredients that are in season for me at that same time as European avocados – so no lime (which we can never get), no cilantro, and no tomatoes. The main ingredients are avocado, lemon, parsley, and red onion, plus salt, pepper, and optional hot pepper flakes.

Once or twice a year I get a big box of avocados directly from farmers in southern Europe and it’s always such a treat. We use most of the fruit to make this easy guacamole, where you can really taste the avocado, rather than blending it into smoothies or mixing it into other dishes. I’ve been making it for the past seven years or so, ever since I started getting fruit from Crowdfarming.

Apart from the occasional bulk purchase of fruit like this from European farmers a bit further south, we eat almost exclusively locally, so I wanted to develop an adapted recipe for guacamole that didn’t use limes or other ingredients that are either not available when avocados are (in wintertime) or don’t grow in Europe at all. If you live in North America you might also find this recipe useful.

Ingredients You’ll Need and Why

This is called 4 ingredient guacamole because salt and pepper are always on hand, and the hot pepper is optional. These are my notes from recipe testing but you can find the full recipe card below.

4 ingredient guacamole ingredients with labels.

Avocado: these should be fully ripe and ready to use. Pictured are three early season Bacon avocados, which are typically quite a bit larger than standard Hass, so the recipe calls for three to five fruits. I like the thin skin on early avocados and find it much easier to know when they’re ripe.
Lemon: to replace the lime in traditional guacamole. Lemon is a little milder than lime, less bitter, so there is a slightly different flavour profile. Lemon juice lets the avocado shine a little more strongly.
Red onion: this is fairly sharp but pleasant to eat raw. I don’t recommend subbing standard grocery store yellow onion, which has a high sulfur content. A sweet onion (sometimes called salad onion) or shallot are good substitutes for red. My personal favourite is rose des Cévennes – Roscoff onions are a more common similar variety, a sweet pink onion.
Parsley: note that parsley can be a bit tougher than fresh coriander (cilantro) so it should be very finely chopped. Seek out the softest leaves you can find for this recipe.
Spices: salt, pepper, and optional hot pepper flakes. The flakes are used because fresh hot pepper isn’t available at this time of year.

How to Make Simple Guacamole

It really couldn’t be easier. Finely chop some onion and parsley, scoop out the avocados, and mix with lemon juice and spices. The texture is up to you. If you like something very smooth, you might want to try this avocado aioli.

Guacamole steps 1 and 2, before and after mixing.

Step 1: add the onion, parsley, avocado, lemon, and spices to a mixing bowl. I recommend mixing in a different bowl than you plan to serve it (if for a group) because it always gets a bit messy.

Step 2: use a fork to mix and mash the avocado until it reaches your desired consistency. If you prefer larger pieces, dice the avocado instead and mix with a spoon.

Expert Tips for the Best Guacamole

Let it rest: for the best flavour, make the guacamole about 30 minutes before you plan on serving, and rest at room temperature. This will let the ingredients mingle and improve the overall taste.
Try pickled onions: if you find that raw onion is a little too sharp for you or it’s difficult to digest, pickled red onions might be a better option. Pickle them ahead of time before adding to the guacamole. Shallots are a good choice too.
Season to taste: this includes the spices, but also the amount of lemon juice and even the amount of onion added. The recipe as written is less spicy than I typically make it, but you should adjust it to suit your personal preference.
Ripen in a bag: avocados are a climacteric fruit, meaning they ripen after harvesting. To speed up the process a little bit, you can place them in a loose paper bag. Don’t try to microwave or heat avocados to ripen them – they’ll soften, but the flavour will be terribly bitter.
Refrigerate ripe fruit: once avocados have ripened at room temperature, they can be refrigerated for about a week and will stay at that perfectly ripe stage. No more missed chances to use them while they’re soft!

More Ways to Use Avocado

There’s so much more than avocado toast in the world, and since I only get avocados a couple times a year, I want the dishes I make with them to be fantastic.

Since they have a brief overlapping season, I often mix mangoes and avocados. This mango avocado salad is my personal favourite and I make it every year.
Sometimes they do get away from you and it’s best to blend avocados into something where the texture isn’t important. This creamy avocado dressing, banana avocado smoothie, and chocolate avocado fudgesicles are great ways to do that.
Of course they’re also good additions for salad – especially when you can’t eat cheese – in a bean salad, summer Greek chickpea salad, or mixed into a winter side like this kale salad.

If you make this 4 Ingredient Guacamole recipe or any other dips and sauces on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.

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4 Ingredient Guacamole

Author: Alexandra Daum

Prep Time: 10

Total Time: 10

Servings: people

Print Recipe

Description

A simple 4 ingredient guacamole recipe with just four main ingredients: avocado, lemon, parsley, and onion. This is adapted for wintertime use.

Ingredients

▢ ½ small red onion finely diced
▢ Handful fresh parsley leaves only, finely chopped
▢ 3 large avocados
▢ Juice of half a lemon 1 to 2 tablespoons
▢ ¼ teaspoon sea salt to taste
▢ ¼ teaspoon black pepper to taste
▢ ¼ teaspoon hot pepper flakes optional, to taste

Instructions

Finely dice the onion and chop the parsley. Add to a mixing bowl. Halve the avocados and remove the pits, then scoop out the flesh with a spoon and add to the bowl.
½ small red onion, Handful fresh parsley, 3 large avocados
Add the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and hot pepper flakes (if using). Use a fork to roughly mash the avocados and mix the guacamole until it reaches your desired texture.
Juice of half a lemon, ¼ teaspoon sea salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, ¼ teaspoon hot pepper flakes
Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. If you have time, let the guacamole rest, covered, for half an hour at room temperature before serving. This isn't mandatory but improves the flavour.

Notes

If your avocados are quite small, use up to five.

To store guacamole, keep it in a sealed container in the refrigerator for a day or two. It will start to brown after a while – to help prevent this, cover the top in a thin layer of lemon juice and pour it off before serving.

Nutrition

Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.

About Alexandra Daum

Alexandra Daum is a professional recipe developer, food photographer, and cookbook author. She started sharing carefully tested vegetarian recipes in 2014 and has since published hundreds of recipes with seasonal ingredients and whole grains as the focus. Her work has been featured on CTV, in House & Home and Chatelaine, on popular websites like Buzzfeed and Best Health, and in countless other publications.