If you have made your own guacamole, or you have bought some from the store, and you have not been able to finish it, you are probably wondering what kind of storage options you have to make it, so you do not have to throw it away.
If you have had your guacamole for a while you are probably considering if freezing it is an option?
Freezing food like guacamole is a great idea since it means that next time you need it you can just defrost it instead of having to go through the effort of buying more or making it again. But does it freeze well?
The answer is yes! You can freeze guacamole, and it should be able to last for up to 3 months when it is frozen.
However, there are some steps you should take when freezing your guacamole, so it freezes as best as possible and does not get ruined.
Guacamole has become more and more popular in recent years and is seen as super nutritional. This is because of its nutty and creamy flavors as well as how nutritious it is featuring plenty of healthy fats.
One of the most common ways people enjoy avocados is by turning it into an even more delicious guacamole. This dip is super versatile and can be enjoyed in many different ways, for example, some people even use it as a salad dressing for its unique flavor, or as a spread to add to bread.
Guacamole is also super popular for how easy it is to customize. Almost everyone has their own specific way of preparing guacamole, so they can make it taste as good as possible.
Having your own special ingredients to add to make your guacamole delicious is part of why this dip is so beloved.
But because guacamole is so loved, this is why people want it to last as long as possible. This makes even more sense when considering that avocados are not one of the more affordable fruits and can even sometimes be pretty expensive.
If you do not want to be freezing your guacamole, a great idea is to buy avocados in bulk, so you get them for a better price, and then freeze these.
Avocados freeze pretty well compared to some other fruits, so this is a great way to make them more affordable.
When freezing guacamole, you should keep in mind that the texture will not be as good as it was once it was fresh, but there are some additions you can make to fix this issue, and if the slightly different texture does not bother you, the taste is still identical.
While guacamole can be frozen to extend its shelf life, it’s worth noting that fruits that start with “z” are quite rare, with “zucchini” being one of the few examples.
If you want all the information you can get when it comes to properly knowing how to freeze guacamole, and make it last as long as possible, you have come to the right place!
How To Make A Guacamole Which Is Perfect For Freezing
While most guacamole is perfectly fine to be frozen, there are certain guacamole recipes that will freeze a lot better than others, and this recipe will show you the best recipe for making guacamole if you know that you will have to freeze it.
This specific recipe will make quite a sizeable batch of guacamole, so you can of course freeze some of it right away, so it will last as long as possible, or you can scale down the recipe to make a much easier to work with sized batch of guacamole.
One of the most important steps when you are making guacamole is to ensure that the avocados you are working with are perfectly ripe, this will be obvious when the skin of the avocado is pretty much completely black.
You can further test this when they feel a little soft if you are squeezing them, however if they are completely squishy, there is a good chance that they are overripe.
If your avocados are not ripe enough, a tip for speeding up the ripening, is to seal them inside a paper bag and leave them in there for a few hours and this should make them much more ripe.
After you are sure that your avocados are ready you will want to wash them, pit them, and dice them and then put this into a big bowl.
To this you should add about 6 finely chopped cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of salt, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and 3 tablespoons of lime juice.
Then you want to mix all of this together with the best tool available, use a potato masher if you have one, but a fork will work well too, it just may need more effort.
This can take as long or as fast as you want it to, depending on the end texture you want for your guacamole, some people prefer chunky, others prefer smooth.
This recipe has been designed to specifically exclude the ingredients which will not freeze well, for example tomatoes or onion as these will get watery when frozen and ruin the texture when defrosting.
The best way to resolve this is to add these ingredients into the guacamole when it has defrosted, so they will add some freshness and a better texture to the guacamole.
How To Freeze Guacamole
Before knowing how to freeze guacamole, there are a couple of things you should keep in mind to get the best results.
Make sure that you are portioning your guacamole into serving sizes, so you do not have to defrost your whole batch, this will also make the thawing time significantly quicker.
Method 1
The first method to try for freezing your guacamole is to store it in freezer friendly bags, zip lock is usually the best option.
Before sealing the bag, you want to squeeze out as much of the air inside the bag as possible, since guacamole can oxygenate quite easily, this is the most important step in the process.
Then you want to flatten your bags of guacamole. This means they take up less room when in your freezer, and when you eventually want to defrost them, they will take less time to thaw because of the increased surface area.
The only real downside to this method is that it is very difficult to reuse zip lock bags once they have been used like this, so if you are trying to cut down on your waste, there are other methods to try.
Method 2
For this method you will want to store your guacamole in mason jars.
When you are putting your guacamole in these jars, you will want to make sure that there are absolutely no air bubbles forming inside the jar. These will lead to the guacamole oxygenating prematurely and not freezing as well.
When you are filling the jars, on top of avoiding air bubbles, you will also need to leave about an inch of space at the top of the jar. This is because when the guacamole freezes, it will expand slightly, and you want it to have room to do this properly.
When doing this method, there is a great tip to try where you put some olive oil at the top of the guacamole on its surface. This will make sure that the guacamole does not brown as this part is exposed to air.
This method is preferable to the other method as it does not create waste as the mason jars are easily reusable. However, there is a clear downside.
The guacamole will take a lot longer to defrost maybe taking a day or two depending on the size of the jar to defrost properly. These jars also take up way more room in a freezer than zip lock bags do.
How Long Will Guacamole Last In The Freezer
The reason why freezing is one of the best ways to store your guacamole is because it will start to brown quite rapidly when it is in extended exposure to oxygen.
That is why we recommend freezing to make it last as long as possible. If you do this properly it should be able to last in your freezer for around 3 months.
How To Thaw Frozen Guacamole
If you have used the zip lock bag method, just leave the bag on your counter for a couple of hours, and it should be able to defrost quite easily.
But if you used mason jars, to make sure that they defrost more evenly, you will need to give them a day or two in your fridge. However, if you want this to be faster you can just leave the jars, fully sealed, in some room temperature water.
Takeaway
Hopefully this guide has made it clear how easy it is to freeze your guacamole. The best advice to follow is, to add fresh ingredients that will not freeze well after defrosting.
Cooking is great for your mental, physical, and emotional health. What’s the worst that could happen? Find a recipe that you like the sound of and cook it along with me. You might even unlock a new passion!
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