The Game-Changing Hack for the Best Guacamole Ever
The Game-Changing Hack for the Best Guacamole Ever
When it comes to guacamole recipes, they don’t tend to differ too much, one from the other. Chop and assemble your avocados, onion, chile, cilantro, lime, salt and mash. But a molcajete changes all of that — and certainly for the better. Instead of simply dicing your ingredients, you begin by creating a coarse paste of the salt, onion, cilantro and chile (serrano, jalapeño — your choice). Grinding the ingredients helps release fragrant oils, unlock flavor and improve texture, all in one fell swoop. After mixing in your ripe avocados and seasoning with salt and lime, you’ll be left with a guacamole that’s nothing short of pitch perfect. Feel free to adjust to your own liking—throw some diced onions and/or tomatoes in for extra texture, reduce the heat level by removing the seeds from your chile (or increase it by adding more)—until you reach the guacamole that feels right to you.
This recipe is all about the molcajete method. Don't forget, guacamole is very much a choose-your-own-adventure kind of
dish. Have fun adjusting the amount of lime, salt, cilantro, and heat
until you find your own platonic ideal.
1 tablespoon minced fresh serrano or jalapeño chile, including seeds
1 teaspoon coarse salt or 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
Juice of 1 or 2 small limes
Equipment
Molcajete
Directions
Begin by grinding a coarse paste of onion, chile, salt and half of the cilantro in a molcajete. The salt will act as an abrasive, assisting you as you grind with the tejolote. (If you like the texture of diced onion, reserve half of the onion to mix in at the end.)
Carefully cut the avocados in half, removing the pits and scooping the flesh into the molcajete. Mix well with the paste and add the rest of the cilantro, giving it a rough mash.
Season to taste with lime juice, extra chile and salt. Garnish with a few totopos (chips) and serve.