Avocado Salad Recipe
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Fresh, simple, and ready in minutes, this easy Avocado Salad Recipe is packed with flavor and totally customizable. Make it classic or turn it into a protein-packed meal with chicken, shrimp, bacon, or more.
For more delicious salad recipes, check out my posts for Greek Avocado Salad, Avocado Corn Chicken Salad, Grilled Chicken Bacon Avocado Salad, and Strawberry Avocado Salad.
Why This Recipe Works
Perfect Blend of Textures — Every bite of this delicious easy avocado salad is a perfect mouth full of textures from the soft avocados, crunchy onion, firm tomatoes, and crisp cucumber.
Great for a picnic — Need to make a salad in a hurry for a picnic or warm-weather celebration? Simply cut up these four ingredients, blend up the dressing, and mix together upon arrival.
Easy — Did I mention there’s only four ingredients in this avocado salad recipe? And just a few more for the dressing! It doesn’t get much easier than that.
Citrus Dressing — Nothing tops a simple avocado salad like a freshly squeezed citrus dressing. Make this combo of olive oil, lemon juice, herbs, and a few other seasonings and pour over the salad ingredients for a zesty, citrusy combo you won’t be able to get enough of.
Ingredients
- Avocados — 2 ripe avocados are perfect for this recipe.
- Red onion — If you don’t like red onion, you can swap for any onion you prefer or leave it off.
- Cherry tomatoes — Cherry or grape tomatoes or any small tomatoes halved will work here.
- English cucumber — I love using English cucumber because the skin is thinner and the seeds are so small. You can just dice them up and put in the salad, no need to remove the skin or seeds.
Dressing Ingredients
- Olive oil — I use evoo as the base for this fresh avocado salad.
- Lemon or lime juice — Fresh is best!
- Garlic — I mince garlic myself or just add some from a jar, either works.
- Italian seasoning — Use Italian seasoning or Herbs de Provence.
- Red pepper flakes — These are optional as not everyone likes a little bit of heat but remember just a pinch goes a long way.
How to Make Avocado Salad
- The first step to this salad is to cut the avocados, cucumbers, tomatoes and onions up and add them to a medium bowl. Give a gentle toss.
- Next, add the dressing ingredients to a blender or food processor and pulse the dressing until smooth. If the dressing seems too thick, you can add a tablespoon of water at a time until it reaches desired thickness.
- Pour the citrus dressing over the avocado salad, toss it to combine, and serve.
Expert Tips and Tricks
- I prefer to use English cucumbers because the skin is thinner, softer, and less bitter than a traditional cucumber. They’re easy to slice and serve and contain less moisture. If you are using a traditional cucumber, I recommend you peel it and remove the seeds first.
- Need to make this salad ahead of time? I recommend waiting to cut the avocados and keeping the dressing separate and then slicing and adding the avocados and tossing the salad right before serving.
- Feeding a crew? This recipe easily doubles or triples.
FAQs
Avocado salad is at its most fresh in the first couple of hours after making it. The avocados will begin to brown and soften very quickly after being cut. If you don’t mind some browning on the avocado you will still be able to enjoy this salad the day after it’s made if kept in an airtight container in the fridge.
One of the best ways I’ve found to keep an avocado from browning is to toss the diced pieces in a tablespoon or two of lemon juice. I’ve also tried, with some success, tossing in olive oil as well.
You can try the “add-a-piece-of-onion” to the avocado in a dish trick but, depending on how long you leave it like this, you’ll run the risk of your pieces tasting slightly like onion.
You can also put plastic wrap right over the top of the diced or open avocado, making sure the plastic touches any open surfaces.
Yes, you can make this avocado salad ahead of time. What I recommend is putting together the cut onion, tomato, and cucumber in a bowl with a lid, then making the dressing and keeping that separate as well. Cut and add the avocados to the rest of the veggies and then toss with the dressing right before serving.
I love this citrus vinaigrette but you could also toss this salad with a balsamic, a poppyseed, or an apple cider vinegar dressing as well.
Any dressing that complements the avocado’s creamy, rich texture is a good bet. If you’re going store-bought try a lemon vinaigrette or even an avocado ranch dressing.
Yes! This avocado salad is really healthy. First off, avocados are a great source of heart-healthy fat, antioxidants, and fiber.
The fat in avocados also help your body absorb nutrients from the other ingredients in the salad, like, cholesterol-lowering quercetin, antioxidants, and vitamin C from the red onion; vitamin K, potassium, and more antioxidants from the cucumbers; and potassium, vitamin C, fiber, and lycopene from the cherry tomatoes.
More Recipes to Try
- Best Creamy Cucumber Salad Recipe – refreshing, velvety, and ready in minutes.
- Mediterranean Salad with Greek Salad Dressing – crisp, vibrant, and packed with authentic Mediterranean crunch.
- Best Broccoli Salad Recipe (Without Mayo) – a lighter, healthier twist on the classic crowd-pleaser.
When you make this recipe, snap a photo and tag me on social – I love connecting with you and seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Avocado Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large avocados, (firm, but ripe) cut into ½ inch pieces
- ¼ red onion, very thinly sliced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 english cucumber, thinly sliced (see note)
Dressing
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- juice of 1 lime, or ½ lemon (about 2-3 tbsp)
- large handful fresh cilantro, or 1-2 tbsp fresh dill
- 1 tsp minced garlic , or ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning , or Herbs de Provence
- ¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a medium or large bowl combine avocados, onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers.
- In a blender or food processor, pulse your dressing ingredients until smooth. You can add a little bit of water to thin it if you like.)
- Pour dressing over the avocado salad, toss to combine, and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Honestly one of the easiest and tastiest side salads you can ever make. I love how bright and fresh it is and just goes with everything. When I have arugula in my fridge I love to throw in a handful, and I’ve been known to turn this into an easy lunch by adding some leftover protein from last night’s dinner. You can’t go wrong here!