This is my favourite avocado salad. Cooling cucumber with creamy avocado, tangy lime juice, fresh herbs and my secret ingredient – a pinch of red pepper flakes which keeps things interesting!
Avocado Salad – most requested recipe 2023
This is just a great simple recipe for a salad that stars avocados. Actually, it’s the single most requested within my circle of friends in recent times because Australia’s been enjoying a terrific avocado season this year. Cheap, ripe, abundant, big!
So here’s my current favourite avocado salad. A combination of ingredients that just works together so well. I love how the avocado becomes sort of smeary when you toss it, essentially becoming a creamy dressing.
Ingredients in avocado salad
I call this an avocado salad though there’s actually more cucumber in it than avocado. It’s designed to hero avocados but we can’t really just make a salad using only avocados. Lacks texture, and too rich! It would be like having guacamole and calling it a salad. 🙂 (Not that I’m suggesting I have an issue with that!).
Avocados – big and ripe!
Cucumbers – I’m using regular cucumbers here (we call them Lebanese cucumbers), that are around 17cm/7″ long. If using the long telegraph / English cucumbers ~30cm/12″ long, use 1 1/2.
Red pepper flakes (chilli flakes) – Adds the tiniest hum of warmth which goes so well with the cooling cucumber. It’s my “secret ingredient”! But feel free to leave it out.
Red onion – Just a quarter, finely sliced, for freshness.
Fresh herbs – Dill and coriander/cilantro works so well here. One of my favourite herb combinations. Makes this salad even better, but I happily make it without. Put it this way – I wouldn’t make a special trip to the shops to get them unless I was making this for company!
Lime juice and extra virgin olive oil – For the dressing. No need to shake it up today, just pour it over and toss! Lemon can be used instead of lime.
How to make avocado salad
The instructions for this recipe as written in our working files says “chuck everything in and toss”. That’s completely accurate!!!
Chuck everything into a bowl – avocado, cucumber and red onion first, top with herbs, then drizzle/sprinkle all the dressing ingredients over. No need to make the dressing separately for this recipe!
Toss well using your hands, gently separating the avocado and cucumber slices. Tumble into a bowl and serve!
This is first and foremost intended to be a side salad. But don’t restrict yourself! Pile and smush onto toast, or stuff into flatbread to make wraps (you’ll see me add tuna and a squirt of sriracha in the recipe video).
Actually, if you dice the cucumber and avocado up a little smaller, it makes a different salsa for stuffing into tacos or scooping with corn chips. The possibilities! How else can we eat this? Share your suggestions below! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Avocado salad
Ingredients
Salad:
- 2 big ripe avocados , cut into quarters then 1 cm / 0.4″ slices
- 3 cucumbers ~17cm/7" long, sliced into 4mm / 1/6" rounds (Note 1)
- 1/4 red onion , finely sliced
- 2 tbsp dill , finely chopped, optional recommended (Note 2)
- 2 tbsp coriander/cilantro leaves ,roughly chopped, optional recommended (Note 2)
Dressing:
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp lime juice , or lemon juice (or more, adjust to taste!)
- 1/4 tsp chilli flakes / red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 3/4 tsp cooking / kosher salt
Instructions
- Put all the salad ingredients in large bowl. Drizzle over lime juice and oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and red chilli flakes.
- Toss gently using your hands, gently separating the avocado slices as you go. Taste and add more lime if you want.
- Tumble into a bowl and serve!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Today’s recipe is so simple there’s more Dozer than avocado salad in the recipe video. The right ratio, as far as I’m concerned!
This looks sooo yummy but my hubby dislikes cucumber. any suggestions to sub it? TIA
Mango instead of cucumber yumm
Zucchini, celery, fennel of thinly sliced choko would work.
Yes! They are great ideas Cherry 🙂 N x
Hi Doris
What your hubby dosn’t like cucumber, looks like it’s time for a new hubby
chopped fresh apples, celery, anything crisp and raw. I have also done this with fresh mango and added some hot pepper jelly instead of pepper flakes, but still evo and lime or lemon juice. then add some tiny cooked shrimp.
From another family of cucumber dislikers, I’d make the salad without and add cucumber to my portion or make 1 portion salad in 2 bowls and add cucumber to one so it’s precise. I like precision