- Hey everyone, it's Natasha from natashaskitchen.com

and today, I'm gonna share with you

our ultimate guide to making epic guacamole.

If you spend any time at our house,

you know we are ridiculous about our guacamole.

It is on the weekly, sometimes biweekly rotation,

and these are our favorite three ways

to make just the best guacamole,

and I want some, so let's get started.

When you're picking avocados at the grocery store,

you can tell if they're ripe if you can push them

and they feel slightly soft but not mushy.

And when you pop off the stem, it will be green underneath.

To safely remove the pit from an avocado,

use a knife to slice it in half.

With the avocado half on the counter,

lunge the knife into the pit, then twist to remove it.

Now, using a paper towel, remove the pit from the knife.

It should pop right off. (chuckles)

To scrape the avocado out of its skin,

you can either use a fruit scoop

or just a regular soup spoon.

You'll need three, large avocados for this.

Transfer those to a large mixing bowl.

Next, use a potato masher

and coarsely mash up those avocados.

Remember, we're making a chunky guacamole,

so you don't wanna puree the avocados at this point.

There should still be some good texture.

Next, we'll add three tablespoons

of freshly squeezed lime juice.

That's one tablespoon of fresh lime juice

for every one large avocado.

Squeeze the fresh lime juice

right over your avocados to keep it from browning

while you prep the rest of your ingredients.

Chop half of a large white onion,

and white onion is classic for guacamole

because it has a clean and sharp flavor.

Next, dice up one medium tomato,

and you can seed the tomato

because tomatoes can be pretty juicy

and you don't want the extra juice in your guacamole,

or you can just dice it up

and then pat it dry with a paper towel

to get rid of the extra juice.

Roma tomatoes also work well,

and if you have them, garden-fresh tomatoes

will take your guacamole to the next level.

Next, chop up 1/3 bunch of cilantro or about half a cup,

and we love cilantro for guacamole

and it is hard to beat, so do not skip it.

Add your chopped ingredients

over your avocados as you prepare them.

We've got the cilantro with the white onion, tomatoes,

and last but not least, half a teaspoon of salt

and a quarter teaspoon of black pepper.

Stir that together just until the ingredients are combined.

You don't wanna overmix

because you don't wanna lose that lovely chunky consistency.

If you're not serving the guacamole right away,

here's a brilliant tip.

Take a sheet of plastic wrap

and place it directly over the surface of the guacamole.

Remember, air is the enemy of avocados,

so this will help prevent browning.

I'm gonna pop that in the refrigerator

while I show you how to make a super yummy corn guacamole.

Since I've already shown you how to peel those avocados,

we're not gonna lose any time.

Mash up another three large avocados.

And add three tablespoons of fresh lime juice.

I'm using two ears of corn on the cob that I've grilled,

and I have a super easy tutorial on my blog for this.

I will link to it in the notes.

I love that it has those charred sides

and it's sweet and smoky.

Once you've cut the corn off of the cobs,

coarsely break up the kernels with your hands.

And there's no need for perfection here.

I love big pieces of corn in my guacamole.

Add that to your bowl with your mashed avocados.

For this guacamole, we're using half of a red onion

for a little bit sweeter flavor.

Also add half a cup of cilantro, half a teaspoon of salt,

a quarter teaspoon of pepper,

and half a teaspoon of ground cumin

for a little bit of smoky flavor.

Again, stir just until it's combined,

then cover tightly with plastic wrap

to keep it from browning.

Even if you're storing this in Tupperware with a lid,

make sure you still put that plastic wrap

directly over the surface of the guacamole.

This one tip has kept many batches

of guacamole looking beautiful.

Now, last but certainly not least,

the third batch is a spicy guacamole,

and this is my husband's favorite.

Make sure to add that fresh lime juice,

and I bet you've already memorized these steps

because this is so easy.

Add half of a diced white onion,

one diced tomato, and half a cup of fresh cilantro.

And now, for the fun part,

because this is a spicy guacamole,

you'll need some spicy peppers.

If you're looking to keep it pretty mild,

you'll wanna use two jalapeno peppers.

For a spicier guacamole, we love these serrano peppers,

which are twice as hot as the jalapenos.

And if you're really serious about your heat,

you might go for a habanero,

but you might regret your decisions in the morning.

Serrano peppers are our happy medium,

but they are still spicy

so I do recommend using some gloves when dicing them up.

I will link to the gloves I'm using in the notes.

To dice up serrano peppers, first, cut off the tops,

then slice them each in half the long ways.

Use a teaspoon to scrape out the seeds in the center.

Leaving the seeds in

will make for an even spicier guacamole.

Hoo, and I can already feel the heat from these

in my eyes and in my throat.

Wow, it's gonna be good.

To chop up the spicy peppers,

first, slice them into thin strips.

Then finely chop them up into small, even dice.

And I do like to make sure they are finely chopped up

so they blend well into the guacamole

and no one gets that surprising big bite

of spicy hot pepper on their chip.

Add those to your bowl of guacamole.

And if you don't already have one,

the food scraper makes prep work so much easier and faster.

I will link to this in the notes.

I have my favorite garlic press here.

I'm gonna press in two medium cloves of fresh garlic.

The garlic adds another little spicy kick of flavor.

To finish it off, season the guacamole

with half a teaspoon of salt,

a quarter teaspoon of black pepper,

and half a teaspoon of ground cumin.

The cumin is like a secret ingredient

that we've discovered over the years

as we perfected our guacamoles.

Try it and you will fall in love.

All right, all of my guacamole dreams

are coming true right now.

I'm gonna go get the other two batches

and we are gonna do this taste test.

It's party time. (giggles)

All right. (laughs)

I am ridiculously so excited right now

because this is what I get to look at right now. (laughs)

Okay.

All right, I'm gonna bring it down.

I'm gonna bring it down so I can do this taste test.

We're gonna start with the classic chunky guacamole.

Ah, and I love the texture in all of these.

I love it when there are some guacamole chunks on the chip.

So good.

I actually look for the bigger chunks.

Okay, here we go.

Mmm.

Mmm.

Wow.

That, my friends, is a slam dunk.

Authentic guacamole.

It's simple and perfect just the way it is.

And that ratio of avocados to lime juice is perfect.

Limes are classic for guacamole,

but if you don't have limes in the fridge,

you can substitute with fresh lemon juice

but make sure, make sure it's fresh.

It makes all the difference.

Ah, it's so, so delicious.

I love this as an appetizer or a topping.

Wow.

Okay, moving on to guacamole number two

which is our roasted corn.

I should say grilled corn guacamole.

Oh my goodness, look at that.

This not only has big pieces of avocado,

it has big pieces of grilled corn. (laughs)

This is one of my all-time favorites.

It is so good.

Okay, here we go.

Mmm, mmm.

Mmm.

Again, so fresh with the lime juice.

And I love the notes of sweet from the corn,

and smoky because it was grilled.

And because it has that little bit of cumin in there,

makes all the difference.

Don't skip that cumin.

Creamy, chunky corn guacamole.

And then last but certainly not least,

the one we probably make the most often

because we love spicy guacamole.

And it's a really nice thing to do

to put a little bit of sliced peppers on top

to let people know that it's gonna be spicy, okay?

Don't be vicious. (laughs)

Give them warning.

All right, here we go.

Okay, I don't know, maybe I should get some water

for these (laughs) serranos.

And you can also use jalapeno, which is more mild,

sometimes a little too mild for me, but okay, here we go.

Mm, I'm ready, brace myself. (laughs)

Mmm.

Wow.

It's spicy and a little bit fiery

but it's not overwhelming, it is just right.

And if you really wanna go crazy, use the habanero.

Just let people know that you did.

This just made my day

and I cannot wait to eat the rest of this.

And also the cumin in this one too,

it makes it taste like authentic guacamole

that you got out of a really good Mexican restaurant.

It's hard to pick a favorite.

It really is.

Make them once and you'll make them over and over.

You are now a guacamole boss. (laughs)

Thanks for watching and we'll see you in our next video.