Avocado Salad

Crisp cucumbers and juicy cherry tomatoes are perfect partners for creamy, ripe avocados in this dreamy avocado salad recipe. This recipe is for when avocados are at their absolute best, and you really honestly just want to cut them open and gobble them up. Simple, elegant and a delicious way to treat your guests to healthy summertime luxury, this salad really shines with any dinner you’re cooking up. Fresh herbs and an easy, honey-kissed homemade dressing let the avocado do most of the talking. Pair it with all of your favorite simple grilled or BBQ dishes, and it just might unseat classics like Macaroni Salad and Broccoli Salad as everyone’s favorite summer side dish. 

How To Choose Ripe Avocados

California avocado season runs roughly from February to September, so all summer long, this salad with perfectly ripe avocados should be within reach. Fresh, ripe avocados should yield slightly when you (gently) squeeze the skin. It’s not just OK to pick up an avocado and check for ripeness in the store, it’s a must! Don’t damage the fruit, but do give it a very light squeeze. You want to feel a little yielding, but it shouldn’t feel smooshy. Overripeness is an issue, too. Overripe avocados can sometimes work fine for making Guacamole, but will not work for avocado salad because they’re often beginning to brown and they’ll fall to pieces if you try to toss them with the cucumbers and tomatoes. If the store only has firm, unripe avocados, you can bring them home and they will continue to ripen on the countertop because avocados do continue to ripen after being picked. Do not put avocados in the fridge unless you want to slow down their ripening process. 

How To Make This Salad

1. Chop everything: Assembling this salad is mostly prep work (that’s true of most salads, really). A little rinsing, peeling, slicing and dicing, and you’re nearly there. 
2. Let the onions soak in the vinegar for at least 15 minutes, and up to a few hours. 
3. Make the salad dressing: I broke out a few favorite tricks for making homemade dressing taste really really good. First, grate some fresh garlic into the dressing with a microplane grater. This almost liquifies the garlic clove so that it can really blend into the oil and vinegar. Second, marinate the onion in some vinegar doesn’t just mellow out the flavor of the onion, it also gives the vinegar a hint of oniony flavor. Yum! To pull the whole dressing together, just whisk together the oil, vinegar, honey, and garlic with salt and pepper. 
4. Gently toss the onion, avocado, tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs with the dressing until each bite of avocado is well-coated in the dressing. Don’t overmix the salad or you’ll bruise the avocado pieces. 
5. Serve right away. Note: This salad can’t be made entirely ahead of time, because the avocados will brown.

What To Serve It With 

Avocado salad is such a treat, it feels like luxury anytime, anywhere. We tend to serve it with simple grilled fare in the summertime. It’s a low-carb side dish that feels indulgent, which is really nice for when you’re trying to keep things healthy but want to feel like you’re living life! Here are a few faves: 

• Grilled Chicken
• Grilled Skirt Steak
• Beer Can Chicken

Need More Side Dish Ideas?

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