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Dino’s Guacamole – Restaurant-Style Guac in Just 5 Minutes!

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Restaurant-style guacamole is super simple to make at home! Just 2 ripe avocados, a handful of ingredients, and 5 minutes and you have the perfect Mexican appetizer!

I did a demo of this recipe in the middle of a Facebook LIVE while my mashed potatoes were cooking in the Instant Pot. I’ve embedded the video, which should jump to the start of the guacamole portion, but if not, feel free to fast forward to 20:57.

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Have you ever been to a Mexican restaurant and ordered the kind of guacamole that they make tableside?

It’s so fun to see the fresh ingredients all come together in a Molcajete (a large, stone mortar and pestle that’s used in traditional Mexican cooking). It’s such a treat, but depending on the price of avocados, it can be quite pricey to buy when you’re dining out.

But restaurant-style guacamole is seriously simple to make at home!

Freshly made guacamole with tortilla chips, cilantro, and margaritas alongside.

Tips for Making Guacamole

You don’t need a Molcajete to make restaurant-style guacamole at home, but a mortar and pestle is pretty key. The rough edges of the mortar are perfect for grinding your garlic and spices into a beautifully fragrant paste.

If you need your guacamole fix but don’t have a mortar and pestle, you could chop your garlic, then smash it together with the salt into a paste on your cutting board using the back of your knife. Use a potato masher, pastry cutter, or a fork to mash up the other ingredients until they reach the consistency you like.

No limes? No problem! Use a bit of vinegar instead. I made this guacamole yesterday to use up some avocados that were super ripe, and I realized I was out of lime juice. I used 1 1/2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar instead, and it worked out beautifully! (If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my excitement over that very fact)

Freshly made guacamole with a mortar and pestle.

Don’t like cilantro? Leave it out! Feel free to substitute parsley if you still want some fresh herb flavor.

Raw onion a bit too strong for you? Use some green onion instead. Alternately, you could soak your red onion in cold water for 5-10 minutes before you mix it into your guac. Just drain it and add it in. Soaking it will mellow the sharpness of the flavor quite a bit. You could do the same with shallots.

If you prefer smaller bits of cilantro in your finished guacamole, you can add it in with the garlic and spices and smash it into that paste. The pieces will be smaller, and the flavor will still be there.

Like it spicy? Add some fresh minced jalapeño or serrano peppers. Use as little or as much as you like!

Overhead view of the ingredients for freshly made guacamole with a mortar and pestle.

Keep smashing the avocados until they reach the texture that you prefer. My family enjoys it fairly chunky, but sometimes we want it nice and smooth. There’s no wrong way to do it!

Guacamole is always a hit at my house. Whenever I make it, I tend to go a little heavier on the tomatoes than my husband does. If you don’t happen to have any tomatoes at home, feel free to omit them completely.

If you’re making this for a crowd, you can scale the ingredients up as much as you like. I’d suggest making all of the paste first, then moving it to a bowl and smashing your avocados in batches. Then just stir everything together for one big vat-o-guac!

Dipping a chip into freshly made guacamole.

Serve your guacamole as an appetizer, or use it as a condiment! It’s great on burgers, burritos, quesadillas, salads, and nachos!

Homemade guacamole is a must for any Taco Tuesday or Fajita Friday! We serve it up whenever we make chicken or steak fajitas.

It’s also great with a salty margarita whenever happy hour is involved!

Freshly made guacamole with tortilla chips, cilantro, and margaritas alongside.

Looking for more ways to celebrate Taco Tuesday? Check out some of our favorite recipes:

Recipe for Dino’s Guacamole

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Dipping a chip into freshly made guacamole.

Dino’s Guacamole

★★★★★ 5 from 12 reviews
  • Author: Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen - Dino & Ashley Covelli
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: 4 Servings 1x
  • Category: Appetizers
  • Method: No Cook
  • Cuisine: Mexican
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Description

Restaurant-style guacamole is super simple to make at home – just 2 ripe avocados and a handful of ingredients and you have the perfect Mexican appetizer!

Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 2 medium-sized ripe Haas avocados, pitted and peeled
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice (about 1/2 lime)
  • 4–6 grape tomatoes, quartered
  • 2 tablespoons minced red onion (about 1/4 of a small red onion)

Special equipment:

  • Mortar & pestle

Instructions

  1. In a mortar, add the garlic, salt, cumin, and coriander. Use the pestle to smash and crush the garlic and mix everything together to form a paste.
  2. Add the avocados, cilantro, lime juice, tomatoes, and red onion and mix until well combined. Taste for seasoning and add more salt or lime juice if needed.

Notes

You can add the cilantro in with the garlic and spices if you prefer smaller pieces of cilantro in your guacamole.

If you don’t have limes, 1 1/2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar can be substituted.

Keywords: mortar and pestle, Mexican, guacamole

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