Cast Iron

Fried Avocado Tacos with Sesame and Lime

January 25, 2022
4.7
3 Ratings
Photo by James Ransom
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

I'm not sure about the rest of the country, but fried avocado tacos have taken Austin by storm. The delicious breading of crushed corn flakes, chile, and sesame seeds, was inspired by The Mighty Cone, a food truck on delightfully touristy South Congress. Get all the taco components together before you cut open your avocados- they fry up in a snap! I have included my favorite method of cooking pinto beans, but in a pinch you could certainly substitute canned.

Additionally, this recipe is gluten free provided that the corn flakes you buy are GF- the major brands aren't, so be careful! —arielleclementine

Test Kitchen Notes

WHO: arielleclementine is a mom, a home cook, and our very first Big Feast hostess.
WHAT: Tacos like you've never seen: creamy, crispy breaded avocado stands center stage, supported by a sesame cabbage slaw, cilantro-kissed crema, and salt pork-simmered pinto beans.
HOW: The different parts of the tacos stir together quickly and can be made ahead. Then it's just a matter of battering avocado wedges in corn flakes and frying away.
WHY WE LOVE IT: This is avocado like we've never seen: after a dip in hot oil, its simultaneously crunchy and soft textures had us in delicious disbelief. —The Editors

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Fried Avocado Tacos
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 2 limes
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
  • 1 serrano pepper with seeds, chopped
  • 1 bunch cilantro leaves and tender stems (about 2 cups)
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 small green cabbage, cored and shredded
  • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  • 3 tablespoons sesame seeds, divided
  • Pinch kosher salt
  • Canola oil for frying
  • 2 cups corn flakes
  • 1 teaspoon aleppo chile flakes
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 ripe but firm-ish avocados
  • Corn tortillas, warmed
  • 2 cups cooked pinto beans, recipe follows or substitute canned
  • 1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese, for serving
  • Lime wedges, for serving
  • Creamy Pinto Beans
  • 1 pound dried pinto beans, soaked overnight
  • 2 dried bay leaves
  • 3 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1 piece of salt pork, about 3 ounces
  • Kosher salt
Directions
  1. Fried Avocado Tacos
  2. Make the creamy cilantro sauce by combining the sour cream, canola oil, the juice of one of the limes, garlic, serrano, cilantro, and a teaspoon of kosher salt in a food processor. Process for 1-2 minutes, until the sauce is smooth and thin and a lovely shade of spring green.
  3. Make the cabbage slaw by combining the shredded cabbage with the juice of the second lime, the sesame oil, one tablespoon of sesame seeds, and a hefty pinch of kosher salt.
  4. Prepare the fried avocados. Pour enough canola oil into a cast iron skillet to come about an inch up the sides of the pan and heat over medium until the oil reaches around 375 degrees. Put the corn flakes in a zippered bag and crush with a rolling pin- you're looking for your largest flakes to be no bigger than panko bread crumbs. Combine the corn flakes with the chile flakes, the remaining two tablespoons of sesame seeds, sugar, and salt on a plate. Put the beaten egg in a shallow bowl. When your oil is hot, cut the avocados in half and remove the pits. Cut the halves in half again and pull the skin off the avocado quarters. One at a time, toss the avocado quarters in beaten egg and then in the corn flake mixture, and then drop gently into the hot oil. Fry, flipping once, until both sides of the avocados are golden brown and crispy, about 1-2 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
  5. Assemble the tacos. Top each corn tortilla with a handful of the cabbage slaw, a few spoon fulls of warm pinto beans, 1-2 pieces of fried avocado, the creamy cilantro sauce, and some crumbled cotija. Serve with extra lime wedges on the side.
  1. Creamy Pinto Beans
  2. Put the soaked beans in a large dutch oven and cover with two inches of cold water. Add the bay leaves, garlic, and salt pork, and then season the water with plenty of kosher salt (as much salt as you would use for pasta water- several tablespoons). Bring the pot to a boil over high heat and then lower the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the beans are done, 1-2 hours. Test your beans at the one hour mark by eating a few- they should be soft and creamy. When the beans are done, transfer two big ladles of beans and an extra ladle of broth to a blender and blend until smooth. Drain the rest of the liquid off the beans that are still in the pot, and then stir in the blended beans. This will make a creamy sauce for your beans.
Contest Entries

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Janine Keluche-Jordan
    Janine Keluche-Jordan
  • Bevi
    Bevi
  • phara
    phara
  • ariel a
    ariel a
  • Señora Hughes
    Señora Hughes
I have always loved food. My favorite books as a kid always featured food (eg. The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies- so much candy!) and I loved cooking shows like Yan Can Cook and The Frugal Gourmet. I started cooking the Thanksgiving dinner for my family when I was 13 years old. I have food52 to thank for inspiring me to come up with my own recipes, as well as for introducing me to a community of fantastic cooks and their amazing recipes. I try my best to cook locally and seasonally, and I tend to prefer straightforward, simple recipes where the ingredients get to shine. I live in wonderful Austin, Texas with my husband, Andy (a video game programmer) and my son, Henry (an 8-month-old who loves to eat).

79 Reviews

Darian April 28, 2021
This was a huge hit at our house and came together surprisingly fast on a weeknight. I used flour tortillas and Pablo instead of cornflakes for personal preference and because we do not have a gluten sensitivity. The combination of textures and flavors was very tasty and satisfying. We will definitely make this again!
 
Darian April 28, 2021
*panko
 
Janine K. May 18, 2017
Grilled lime shrimp sounds great easy to do with skewers you guys rock! Everything sounds awesome!
 
Chris G. May 16, 2017
I will admit that I've not read all the 76 comments, but I have a question/suggestion for arielleclementine & everyone else? Has anyone though about putting some medium sized grilled or sauteed Shrimp on these tacos? Or maybe some Carne Asada or pulled pork? It's my guess that any of those choices would go well with these tacos?
Chris
 
Michelle May 15, 2016
Made these last night and they were great! The sauce was good to slather on sandwiches after too. The only thing is that I found the corn flake batter didn't adhere very well to the avocado, falling off when I picked them up to put in the pan and when i would flip it in the pan. Still tasted good though!
 
Bevi May 3, 2016
Wow! This was a hit at our house! I started by shredding cabbage in the food processor and making the slaw. Second, I moved on to the cilantro crema, and then used a can of pinto beans to make the creamy beans. The corn flake crust was phenomenal! I could not find cotija so subbed plain old Monterrey jack, but it was still good. Thanks for a great recipe! It was not that time consuming - and the result was well worth the hour + or - it took to put everything together.
 
This is fantastic! Thank you so much, Bevi! <3 <3 <3
 
Janine K. April 30, 2016
I believe everyone when they say this recipe is phenomenal butt if a recipe has more than 10 to 15 ingredients it is way too complicated and time-consuming maybe there is an Abridged version...
 
This would be totally easy to streamline! Fry the avocado slices as described in step 3. Serve them with canned beans, sour cream, and a good salsa verde from the store. You can add lime and shredded cabbage too. Hope you like it if you get a chance to try it!
 
phara August 26, 2015
We're Austinites on a year's sabbatical. My husband moans about missing Torchy's tacos which merits nothing but an eye-roll and mumbling about your first-world traumas from me . . . but for his birthday (because otherwise he is the most splendid person in the universe) I made these tacos and they were AMAZING. This was a show-stopping dinner party with all the pale greens, and the big flavors of garlic, lime and cilantro were beyond addictive. Totally worth the effort, and this will now be on weekly rotation at our house.
 
thank you so much, phara! this makes me so happy!
 
skenny89 May 14, 2015
While i really liked this recipe & love the idea of making my own beans, the main thing in this recipe that really knocked it out of the park was the cilantro sour cream. That stuff is going on all my tacos from here on out. thanks for the recipe!
 
oh hooray! thank you!
 
MJ October 21, 2014
Avocado and black bean tacos are a staple in my house. I finally tried the fried avocados,used panko, that really stepped it up a few notches. Delicious!
 
thank you so much! thrilled you liked them.
 
ariel A. September 16, 2014
Me when I read "Fried Avocado" : http://nerdreactor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/rainbow-puke.png
 
hah!
 
Christine April 3, 2014
Confession: I just *do not* like sour cream. At all. Yogurt either. Any suggestions on how to modify this to accommodate this silly aversion? Will the end result suffer if I just add the other ingredients without a cream?
 
arielleclementine April 3, 2014
If you are looking for a creamy sauce without dairy, you could substitute a cashew cream (like the cashew poblano crema in this recipe: http://www.loveandlemons.com/2012/05/04/vegan-enchiladas-cashew-poblano-crema/ ). But if you don't want to bother the avocado is plenty creamy- I might just throw some pickled jalapenos and a bit of cilantro on top and call it a day!
 
Christine April 4, 2014
I'm not anti-dairy, just anti-sour cream and yogurt (and cottage cheese and cream cheese, haha so maybe I just like milk and cheese). But regardless, that recipe you linked sounds yummy - I may give that a go even if the tacos do not need it! Thanks!
 
dc April 6, 2014
I make a sauce for shrimp tacos that is buttermilk (or milk with a little vinegar), mayo, garlic, and queso fresco...it's awesome!
 
Señora H. October 23, 2013
I made these last night, and didn't tell the hub they were veggie.... He said its the best taco I've made for him! That's one heck of a complement! These are so delicious. Congratulations on the recipe. A win.
 
arielleclementine April 3, 2014
thank you so much Senora Hughes! High praise indeed!
 
schulaura May 22, 2013
How about Panko bread crumbs instead of cornflakes? yes?
 
susan G. May 22, 2013
If you look at the video below, Lisa has a different breading that sounds good -- so why not panko?
 
arielleclementine May 23, 2013
absolutely yes! several places around town bread their fried avocados in panko and it is totally delicious.
 
Lisa H. May 21, 2013
this is one of the most delicious recipes I've discovered. I tweaked it a little and filmed it here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga0x8ZP_XSg
 
arielleclementine May 23, 2013
fun video! i liked your changes!
 
racespeeder January 20, 2013
I couldn't sleep last night so I decided to try ths recipie. It was one delicious breakfast -even better than I had imagined! Thank you so much! I do have a couple of questions, what is the best way to warm the tortillas in your opinion (I don't use microwave ovens) and I found the sauce to be thick so I added some milk which seemed to work well. Msybe I used too much cilantro? Also, do you toast your sesame seeds? Thank you so much for a new favorite! I am looking forward to trying variations.
I had leftovers since it was only myself, but when a friend came over to visit I just put the already fried avocado pieces in the toaster oven to warm them a bit and I must say the hold/reheat very well!
Scott
 
mathinator August 12, 2012
I doubled the recipe and made these last night for a group of 6. I've never deep fried before, but this was the recipe that convinced me to try. I hoped that avocado would be more forgiving than most with temp, timing, etc, and it was. It was so easy, everything turned out perfect, and it was a huge hit! I didn't have aleppo flakes on hand, so I used ancho chile powder with sweet paprika, and it tasted great. The sauce is incredible, and also doubled as an amazing salad dressing. THANKS!
 
susan G. July 16, 2012
What we had was a more bare bones version -- bowl of beans, layers of slaw, cilantro sauce, chunks of avocado, feta. That was plenty, and delicious! About the sauce: I used 1/2 cup plain yogurt for the sour cream, which seemed too hot alone but works beautifully to bring all the parts together. It also is terrific in an omelet, spooned on before folding, with toast and avocado: my new breakfast favorite. My 'fear of frying' will probably preclude making the fried avocado, but maybe a trip to Austin is called for.
 
arielleclementine July 17, 2012
your creation sounds just wonderful susan g! i agree that several of the components (slaw, sauce) seem aggressively seasoned until you taste them all together. what a cool idea about the omelet, too! would love to see you in austin :)
 
boulangere July 12, 2012
I just finished the menu for a charity dinner, and these in mini form are on the hors d'oeuvre plate. Thank you for a brilliant creation!
 
arielleclementine July 17, 2012
wow! thank you boulangere! you made my day! hope your event is a success!
 
Devangi R. July 8, 2012
Congrats. I knew this recipe was going to be one the finalist..I simply love the sesame on the fried avocado in the pic..lovely..
 
ShoeboxKitchen July 8, 2012
My wife and I just had fried avocados for the first time here in Atlanta about a month ago - they were so succulently perfect in every way. Now I see you throw them on a taco and I'm going crazy here - will have to try your recipe soon!! Congrats on being a finalist!
 
arielleclementine July 17, 2012
haha! thanks, ShoeboxKitchen!