Avocado mashed with lime, onion and cilantro, with hard-boiled egg and a spoonful of mayonnaise stirred through. That last part is where this parts company with what most people mean by guacamole.
This is not Mexican guacamole
Worth saying at the top, because the two share a name and very little else.
- Mexican guacamole: avocado, lime, onion, cilantro, chilli. Sometimes tomato. Nothing else, and adding anything else is a matter of some seriousness there.
- Colombian guacamole: all of the above plus hard-boiled egg and mayonnaise, which makes it richer, heavier and paler.
Neither is wrong. But if you are making this for a bowl of tortilla chips at a party, the egg and mayonnaise will surprise people, and it is better to know beforehand.
What it is eaten with
Not with tortilla chips, generally. In Colombia this goes alongside patacones, with empanadas, spooned onto a plate next to grilled meat, or spread on bread.
It is thicker and more substantial than the Mexican version, and it behaves more like a salad than a dip.
Boil the eggs first
The original recipe mashes the avocado in step two and then boils the eggs for ten minutes in step three, which leaves the avocado sitting in a bowl going brown while you wait.
Put the eggs on before anything else. Ten minutes covers everything else in the recipe.
Lime at the moment you mash
Cut avocado browns because an enzyme in the flesh meets oxygen, and acid slows that reaction. The juice needs to be there when the surfaces are created, not squeezed over the finished bowl.
Even then it buys hours, not days. Guacamole is made and eaten.
More avocado
- Avocado sauce — thinner, for pouring over things.
- Avocado salad — in strips, with corn and tomato.
- Stuffed avocados — filled with tuna.
- Colombian vegetables — how avocado is eaten there.
Colombian Guacamole FAQ
Because it is the Colombian version, which includes hard-boiled egg and mayonnaise. Mexican guacamole is avocado, lime, onion, cilantro and chilli, and nothing else. The Colombian one is richer and behaves more like a salad.
It was a mistranslation of huevos duros, hard-boiled eggs. Step three boils them for ten minutes, peels them and dices them, so the ingredient list should have said hard-boiled.
Patacones, empanadas, bread, or alongside grilled meat on the plate. Not usually with tortilla chips, which is the Mexican habit.
Squeeze the lime over the avocado the moment you mash it, not at the end. Acid slows the enzyme responsible. Pressing cling film directly onto the surface helps too, since it is contact with air that causes it.
Yes, and you will end up somewhere between the two versions. The egg alone still makes it distinctly Colombian, and the mixture holds together well enough without it.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 ripe avocados
- Juice of one lemon (goes on early: it is what keeps the avocado green)
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
- 3 hard-boiled eggs (boiled and diced; not in Mexican guacamole, standard in the Colombian one)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Mayonnaise, to taste
- Chilli, optional
Notas
Instructions
- Put the eggs on to boil first, for 10 minutes, since everything else waits on them. Once cooked, cool them, peel them and dice them.
- Halve the avocados, remove the stone and the skin.
- Put them in a bowl and mash them to a purée with a fork, and squeeze the lemon juice over straight away.
- Add the diced egg, the chopped onion, the cilantro, the mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and stir.
- Add chilli to taste if you want it, and stir again.
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