How to cook avocado

Cooking with Avocado

Avocados are most often eaten raw, chopped up in a salad, spread on toast or made into guacamole. This is because they can very quickly become bitter once heated. Don’t be afraid to cook avocados, however, as they are delicious when cooked ‘just right.’

The flesh of the avocado is the part of the fruit that we eat. The seed is large and hard and the skin of most avocados is bitter and inedible, – though there are a few rare varieties of small avocados which have a thinner, softer and edible skin. However, the flesh just next to the skin is the most nutritious part of the fruit.

Roasting Avocados

Roasting avocados is more of an art than a science. They should be roasted until just beginning to sizzle and turning brown at the edges. If your oven is is preset to 200°C (400°F) , roasting half an avocado will only take about 15 minutes.

Seasoning avocado slices with oil, pepper, Herbamare^® seasoning salt, garlic or chilli powder helps to draw out the flavour of the avocado. Roasted avocado slices can be eaten on their own as a healthy snack or served with salad or couscous. It is also popular to fill the hole in the avocado half left by the seed with, for example, egg, shrimp or salsa, before roasting.

Grilling Avocados

Grilling avocados is becoming more and more popular, and they are beginning to feature as an ingredient in burgers or in ALT (avocado, lettuce and tomato) sandwiches.

To grill avocados, it is best to cut the avocados in half, remove the seed and drizzle with oil and lemon juice. Place the flesh of the avocado onto the grill for 2-5 minutes, before seasoning with Herbamare^® seasoning salt and pepper.

Avocado soup

The creamy texture of avocados lends themselves well to soup, and the strong flavour allows them to be coupled well with stronger herbs and spices, such as basil, cardamom, cayenne or garlic. Avocado soup can be served hot, and is a comforting meal for a cold winter’s day, or chilled for those rare hot summer days.

As well as being used as the base of a soup, avocados can also make an effective and tasty topping for soup or other dishes.  They can be used to thicken other types of soup, or as a replacement for yoghurt or cream when cooling down spicy food.