Roberto Santibañez' Classic Guacamole
And serve!
Begin with five simple ingredients: avocado, lime, cilantro, chile, and onion.
Finely chop the onion.
The cilantro.
And the chile.
Sprinkle with coarse salt.
And pulverize it into a bright green slurry -- here you can use a mortar and pestle, the side of a big knife, or even a fork.
Dice up the avocado.
Add it to the mix.
And mash just enough of it up with a fork to warrant it consideration as a dip rather than a salad. Leave the rest chunky and well-dressed.
Season to taste with lime juice (if you'd like) and additional chile and salt.
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Genius Recipes says: What Santibañez wants cooks to realize, he told me, is this: "There is a very important textural thing to guacamole -- we never really mush up the avocado. You want to feel everything." He crushes only enough of the avocado to warrant it consideration as a dip rather than a salad, but leaves the rest of the cubes intact, bathing them in the vividly flavored chile sauce, "a bit like salad properly dressed in vinaigrette," he writes. Recipe adapted slightly from Truly Mexican (Wiley, 2011).
Makes about 1 3/4 cups
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped white onion
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh serrano or jalapeno chile, including seeds, or more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, divided
- 1 large or 2 small ripe Mexican Hass avocados, halved and pitted
- A squeeze of lime, if desired
- Mash the onion, chile, salt (the coarseness of kosher salt helps you make the paste), and half of the cilantro to a paste in a molcajete or other mortar. You can also mince and mash the ingredients together on a cutting board with a large knife or a fork, and then transfer the paste to a bowl.
- Score the flesh in the avocado halves in a crosshatch pattern (not through the skin) with a knife and then scoop it with a spoon into the mortar or bowl. Toss well (it should be like salad properly dressed in vinaigrette), then add the rest of the cilantro and mash very coarsely with a pestle or a fork. Season to taste with lime juice (if you'd like) and additional chile and salt.
- This recipe is a Community Pick!






24 days ago LetaBee
Great idea to mash the salt, onion and lime juice together. That 'cooks' that strong bite right out of them.
24 days ago wendy hunt
Tried this today and it is tasty, though I had to make it without the cilantro as I didn't have any. Am I the only one surprised to see a guacamole recipe without garlic?
24 days ago JulieBee
For years I made guacamole with garlic (per Barefoot Contessa's Volume 1) until one tequila fueled evening at Rosa Mexicana, when a server whipped up the freshest guacamole tableside, and I noticed he added NO garlic, NO chopped tomato and NO lemon. Ina?! Being a little tipsy, I questioned him and he said authentic guac only contains avocado, onion, lime, salt and cilantro. It was the best I'd ever tasted and I've never looked back...fabuloso!
24 days ago Juliebell
This is a perfect recipe and great timing for Super Bowl parties. If you are lucky enough to have leftovers for breakfast...toast some good bread, spread with a thin layer of butter and then spread on the guacamole, a sprinkle of salt and pepper and enjoy!
4 months ago Adelucchi
Excellent!! So easy!
Now my go to guacamole. Thanks!
Adelucchi
7 months ago AmandaO
I doubled the recipe and three of us nearly ate all of it!
If I have to make it ahead, I nestle the pits in it and it prevents browning.
7 months ago SMSF
This is delicious! I made this twice in the past week. Second time, I left out the onion because I don't like it (and that batch was just for me!), and added extra lime juice. The biggish chunks of avocado make this so distinctive. If you're eating this with salty chips, you may want to use little to no salt in the guacamole. As others here have said, this is absolutely a keeper.
7 months ago MaureenOnTheCape
If you double the recipe, it still won't be enough. Consider yourselves warned. :)
7 months ago JulieBee
I made this Saturday night and let me tell you...FABULOUS and so easy. Super authentic tasting and it had a sublime texture. Everyone was raving.
This is a keeper.
7 months ago EPatti
Made this delicious guacamole tonight, exactly according to instructions and it was the best I have ever made. I am currently resisting eating the whole bowl by myself.
7 months ago Tatanka
As a Mexican I must say that adding broccoli or cauliflower to a guacamole is sacrilege. Not adding cilantro is equally bizarre, but if your guests don't like cilantro and say it tastes like soap, I recommend adding cilantro to the main guacamole bowl, and making a cilantro free version on the side. The majority of people will like the cilantro version.
8 months ago arete16
Should the amount of avocado be "1 large OR 2 small" rather than "of"?
7 months ago Kristen Miglore
Kristen is the Senior Editor of Food52
Yes, thank you for catching that! I just updated the recipe.
8 months ago carol.penn.romine
This guacamole--classic indeed!--was the centerpiece of our dinner last night. I used the red jalapeño I had on hand, which made it look truly festive. My sole regret was that I had only enough avocados to make a single batch. I can't wait to try it with the addition of broccoli and cauliflower, but even without them, this is some seriously good stuff. No more pulverized guac in this house!
Thanks!
Carol
8 months ago marla mazar carr
Don, do you mash up the cauliflower and broccoli or add them at the end?
8 months ago WileyP
Virtually identical to our house guac here at the ranch, and absolutely delicious. Might want to remind the fine folks here that a little lime juice will not only add a level of flavor, but also forestall the browning of the avocado a little. Also, if you absolutely must refrigerate the guac to serve later, be sure to cover it as you would a custard - with plastic wrap pushed down against the surface. That will also forestall the browning. If you do get a little surface browning, simply stir it up and it will be just fine!
8 months ago Don Roszel
I learned how to make good guacamole from my brother, who learned in Mexico. It's very similar to the one printed here, with the following exceptions: no cilantro (some people have a visceral negative reaction to it), add some chopped broccoli and some chopped cauliflower. That's what I said: add some broccoli and some cauliflower. It's a no fail way to astound your guests. Serve it to them and then tell them of those ingredients. They're astounded!
8 months ago cook4fun
wow, this looks/sounds fabulous. . .and with all of the ingredients on hand and even though it is only 9:30 in the morning, I'm about to enter the kitchen and make up a batch... thank you for these great recipes
8 months ago Margret Hefner
A potato masher has always been my favorite tool to get that combination of creamy and chunky that's described here... slightly quicker work than a fork, esp if you are making a larger quantity.