Cook it Fresh

Homemade Guacamole on the left, store bought on the right

Several people have suggested that I do a guacamole comparison on the blog, but I have to admit I don’t really like avocados in any form. Although I’ve started to eat them more lately, avocados are still one of those foods that I have to force myself to try. So, when a friend told me last week that she had tried an awesome recipe for homemade guacamole, I jumped at the chance to have someone else make the homemade version of guacamole and help me with a taste comparison. I had three guacamole fans to compare the guacamole and make up for my inexperience. All of that introduction is to make it clear that the opinions in this post are not really mine, but rather those of some helpful guacamole lovers! Also, I didn’t actually make the homemade guacamole pictured below, I was mostly a photographer and recorder of opinions during this comparison. I bought a store bought guacamole from the refrigerator section because it looked much fresher than the kind found in a jar or a mix. It had the mashed, seasoned avocado on the bottom of the container with a topping of fresh onions and tomato to be stirred in before serving. The recipe for the homemade guacamole pictured in this post can be found here. My friend decided to make this recipe because it was the most highly rated guacamole recipe on allrecipes.com and had tons of positive comments.

After tasting this homemade guacamole, I might just become a fan! This recipe had so much flavor and the texture wasn’t pasty or gloppy like other guacamole I’ve tried. It was fantastic! The store bought version, on the other hand, reminded me of everything I usually hate about guacamole. It was mushy with a sour, chemical flavor that masked the flavor of any of the other ingredients. It looked so fresh and appealing in the container, but the flavor was truly off-putting and the texture was, frankly, disgusting. The others agreed with me wholeheartedly. Even those who normally love guacamole could barely stand to eat the store bought variety which made me wonder, did I just buy a really bad brand, or would all store bought guacamole seem this gross when tasted right next to the fresh, homemade variety? Do any of you have a store bought brand of guacamole that would compare more favorably to homemade? Please let me know what you think in the comment section because I need all the help I can get with this one! I will definitely revisit this comparison if I find a store bought guacamole that comes highly recommended.

According to most of the recipes I’ve read, making homemade guacamole is not very time consuming or difficult.  Also the prices for homemade and store bought guacamole were pretty close, but the homemade version came out slightly cheaper.

Bottom Line: Although it takes a little more effort to prepare, homemade guacamole tastes way fresher than store bought and has a more appealing texture. It is also slightly cheaper than buying prepared guacamole so I would definitely recommend taking a few extra minutes to make guacamole from scratch.

The prices below are based on 2 cups of prepared guacamole. The homemade guacamole recipe makes about 4 cups total.