In This ArticleView AllIn This ArticleHow to Know If It’s RipeAvocado Recipe IdeasAvocado Ripening TimeTraditional RipeningFast Ripening TipsFast Softening Tips
In This ArticleView All
View All
In This Article
How to Know If It’s Ripe
Avocado Recipe Ideas
Avocado Ripening Time
Traditional Ripening
Fast Ripening Tips
Fast Softening Tips
We love avocados' creamy texture and taste, their versatility in recipes (especially recipes that are as easy as puttingavocados on toastor making guacamole) and all of the stellar health benefits. But finding a ripe avocado at the store is not a sure bet every time. Avocados don’t start to ripen until they’re off the tree, so sometimes, we have to wait for them to ripen before we use them. We tested various methods and hacks to ripen avocados and found what works best—and what doesn’t.
What Happens to Your Body When You Eat Avocado Every Day
How to Tell If an Avocado Is Ripe
Once your avocado is ripe, cut, slice and dice it. Or if you are not ready to use the avocado, transfer it to the refrigerator to slow the ripening process.
How to Store Avocados
What to Do with Ripe Avocados
There are somany ways to use a ripe avocadobesides the ever-popular avocado toast. Some favorites include slicing it up and including it smoothies, which will help make it nice and thick. Avocado slices are perfect in sandwiches, salads and fish tacos, and they make a delicious topping for baked potatoes, too. You can use it to make an avocado egg salad. Or you can try baking avocados into crispy fries using panko breadcrumbs. Some people like to use avocados in lieu of bread for sliders—maybe a little messy, but who said you can’t use a fork? And it’s easy to whip up a ripe avocado into a dressing to pour over a garden salad. For an on-the-go snack, you can simply add toppings to half of an avocado and spoon out the rich fruit.
How Long Do Avocados Take to Ripen?
If you’ve got an underripe avocado, it can ripen up anywhere between overnight or four to five days after you bring it home. How long it takes depends on how firm it is when you buy it. The harder it feels, the longer it will take. If you can only get avocados that are firm and not yet ripe, you can speed up the process.
How to Ripen Avocados
The best way to ripen an avocado is good old-fashioned time and patience. Letting an avocado sit in a warm, room-temperature spot out of direct sunlight is the most natural way for it to ripen. But sometimes you need a ripe avocado sooner than it would naturally be ready to eat.
How to Ripen an Avocado Quickly
Avocado-Ripening Hacks to Skip
Two other hacks to make avocados ripen faster didn’t have as much of an effect as using fruit in a paper bag:
Casey Barber
How to Soften Avocados
There are two other hacks that can soften (but not technically ripen) an avocado in minutes. Both of these methods will make the avocado usable to mash into guacamole, but the flavor of the avocado won’t be as pronounced, and the texture will not be quite as rich and creamy as it would be if it ripened naturally. It’s up to you—how desperate are you for an avocado?
How to “Ripen” an Avocado in the Oven
Preheat the oven to 200°F. Wrap an avocado in foil and bake, checking every 10 minutes, until the avocado is soft enough to use.
How to “Ripen” an Avocado in the Microwave
Cut an avocado in half and tightly wrap each half in plastic wrap. Microwave in 30-second bursts until soft enough to use. Submerge the wrapped avocado halves in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.
The Bottom Line
There is nothing tastier, or creamier, than a perfectly ripened avocado. However, sometimes the avocado doesn’t cooperate with your time-sensitive desire for guacamole. To get your avocado to ripen fast, add it to a brown paper bag with a banana, apple or kiwi, seal it and let nature do its thing.
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