4 Ingredient Guacamole – Creamy or Chunky!

By Editor On Apr 14, 2025

The BEST Homemade Guacamole Recipe is made with only 4 ingredients and takes only 10 minutes to whip up: creamy avocados, jalapeno peppers, garlic and lime.

4 Ingredient Guacamole

This 4 ingredient guacamole recipe (Receta de guacamole) contains only 4 ingredients to maximize flavor and minimize the prep work. The four ingredients include: creamy avocados, garlic, jalapeno peppers, lime and salt. Since everyone has salt as a basic staple ingredient, I don’t count it as one of the “4 ingredients.”

Favorite Mexican recipes to serve with this fresh guacamole recipe: Carne Asada Fries, Street Tacos, and Pollo Asado.

Clear mixing bowls with avocado, jalapeno, salt and garlic in them. A cut lime and white napkin are next to the bowls.

Variations

This homemade guacamole recipe is highly adaptable and a great “base” recipe to experiment with if you’re one who loves a ton of stuff in their guacamole dip. Instead of grabbing Trader Joe’s guacamole, Costco guacamole, or even a dreadful guacamole seasoning packet, learn how to make a healthy guacamole recipe to your exact specifications!

Here are a few ideas:

Guacamole Recipe Without Cilantro – many folks HATE cilantro and are looking for a recipe without it. This is it, baby! Of course if you like cilantro, add in some chopped leaves, to taste.
Guacamole Salsa Recipe – It’s hard to simplify this recipe, as it’s the bare bones (in a good way), but it can be done. Just add about 1/4 cup of your favorite restaurant style salsa or pico de gallo in place of the jalapeños, garlic, salt and lime. Add more to taste.
Diced Red or White Onions or Pickled Red Onions
Diced Fresh Tomatoes
Pickled Peppers or Pickled Banana Peppers
Spices – cumin, chili powder or coriander
Fruit – pomegranate seeds, diced mango, diced pineapple

If you own a molcajete, make sure to check out this Molcajete Guacamole.

How To Make Guacamole

Only a few steps and 10 minutes are required to make guacamole (como hacer guacamole) :

Prep The Ingredients – Dice the jalapeños and mince the garlic and add to a large mixing bowl.

Add The Rest of The Ingredients – Scoop out the flesh of the avocados and add them to the same mixing bowl along with the lime juice and salt.

Mash The Avocado Dip – Cut the mixture with a butter knife or smash with a fork until well combined. No need to chill – it’s best to ingest immediately!

Serve – Serve it with tortilla chips, smoked queso, Rotel Dip, and pico de gallo for a great Cinco de Mayo appetizer!

a large mixing bowl with avocado, jalapeno and garlic unmixed. Empty small mixing bowls and a lime are nearby.

Chunky vs Smooth

The difference between the two final textures depends on how the mixture is combined!

Chunky – For a chunky guacamole recipe, use a butter knife to “cut” through the avocado chunks and mix in the ingredients.

Smooth – For a smooth guacamole recipe use a fork, or traditional molcajete, to mash the avocados and ingredients together. If you’re not sure which one you prefer, start with chunky and continue to mash until your preferred consistency is reached.

Best Avocados For Guacamole

The best varietal to make 4 Ingredient guacamole is ripe Hass avocados. They’re rich, creamy and easy to find at all grocery stores across the US as 80% of avocados are of the Hass variety.

How To Tell When An Avocado Is Ripe

There are two ways to tell when an avocado is ripe and ready to use!

Gently squeeze the avocado in the palm of your hand. It is hard or mushy? If it is, put it back and find one that slightly yields to the pressure without leaving permanent indentions. Of course if you’re not using the avocado for 3-4 days you WANT the avocado that’s firm and doesn’t yield to pressure.
A ripe avocado will have dark green, almost black skin with ridges vs smooth and bright green. If you’re not using the avocado for 3-4 days opt for the bright green and smooth avocado.

a large mixing bowl with avocado, jalapeno and garlic being mixed with a butter knife. Empty small mixing bowls and a lime are nearby.

How To Keep Guacamole From Turning Brown

You can’t keep it from turning brown altogether, but you can do a few things to prevent it from browning as quickly as it naturally would.

Cover the 4 ingredient guacamole with plastic wrap. The plastic wrap should sit on the surface of the guacamole itself, not across the top of the bowl. You want as little air touching the guacamole as possible. This is my preferred method.
Another option we’ve seen is to add enough water to cover the surface of the guacamole before storing. It works, but I prefer not to have any excess moisture added for storage purposes.

Uses

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Eat Brown Guacamole?

Yep. The brown color is due to exposure to oxygen. It doesn’t affect the flavor, it’s just a bit unpleasant to look at vs the bright green color

Should You Refrigerate Avocados?

Refrigerating avocados will stunt the ripening process, so leave them on the counter to ripen vs storing them in the refrigerator. If the avocado is already ripe, I do stick it in the refrigerator to lengthen its shelf life.

Can You Freeze Avocados?

Yes, you can freeze avocados or guacamole, but don’t recommend. The texture and taste are altered after thawing so the traditional taste and creaminess you love will be missing. Of course many other websites don’t mind ingesting previously frozen avocados and recommend it, so it’s up to you.

How Long is Guacamole Good For?

When sealed in an air tight container, guacamole will last 3-4 days in the refrigerator.

Two glasses of Michelada next to sheet pan nachos with 4 ingredient guacamole, lime wedges and Corona bottles.

Drink Pairings

NOTHING beats a bowl of chips and guacamole with a Michelada, Mango Michelada or Margarita. Or Corona. Or Modelo. You get the idea.

This guacamole recipe was originally posted in Feb 2022, but was updated in April 2025 to include new information. The recipe itself has not been changed.

Clean bowl full of 4 ingredient guacamole. 3 empty small clear bowls and lime slices are next to the guacamole.

4 Ingredient Guacamole Recipe

This 4 ingredient guacamole recipe is the easiest guacamole recipe you can make. All you need to make this easy guacamole is ripe avocados, jalapeños, garlic, lime juice and salt.

Print
Pin
Share on Facebook

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 8 Servings

Calories: 165kcal

Author: Darcey Olson

Cost: $6.00

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

4 ripe avocados
2-3 cloves garlic, finely diced or grated (*Note 1)
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced (*Note 2)
1 fresh lime, juiced (*Note 3)
salt, to taste (*Note 4)

Instructions

Slice the avocados in half and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh and place into a large bowl. Discard the pits.
Add the garlic, jalapeno, lime and salt to the bowl. For Chunky Guacamole: Use a butter knife to cut through the chunks of avocado and mix the ingredients. For Smooth Guacamole: Smash the avocado with a knife until smooth and creamy.
Taste and adjust ingredients to suit your preference. Serve immediately for best flavor and texture.

Notes

Note 1- Start with 2 average size cloves and add an extra clove once combined and tasted. If you know you love garlic, go ahead and start with 3.
Note 2 – If you like spicy guacamole, use serrano peppers in place of jalapeno peppers.
Note 3 – Use fresh lime juice for best results. If using bottled juice, use 1 tbsp.
Note 4 – Salt level will depend on what you’re serving the guacamole with. Some tortilla chips are super salty so you don’t need as much salt in the guacamole. I start with 1/4 tsp and go up from there.

Nutrition

Source link