Avocado Sauce is a creamy, green, 2-minute salsa made with ripe avocados and serrano peppers. It’s got just the right amount of kick for tacos, tostadas, beans, and burrito bowls.
When I shop for avocados, I grab a couple green serrano peppers and throw them in the cart, just to have for this sauce. It’s similar to Venezuelan guasacaca, but with only three ingredients, plus a little salt and pepper.
To make one batch, all you need is two ripe-and-ready-to-go avocados, the juice of one lime, and a roasted serrano pepper. I like one roasted pepper for every two avocados, but you can add more or less depending on your tolerance for spice.
What is a Serrano pepper?
A type of pepper widely used in Mexican cooking that grows in mountainous regions. It has heat and flavor, a little more “grassy” tasting than jalapeño peppers. The seeds are edible.
I prefer serranos for this recipe because they’re a little spicier, too—but you can use a jalapeño as a substitute, if that’s what you can find.
Serrano peppers are slightly smaller and straighter than jalapeño peppers, and usually sold in the same area at the grocery store.
Step-by-step instructions:
- First, you need to roast the peppers (or pepper, if you’re just making one batch of the recipe). Roasting peppers reduces the “green” taste of the pepper and replaces it with a smoky sweetness. Turn a gas stove on HIGH, then position the pepper directly over the flames, turning with tongs until the pepper’s skin is black and blistered.
- Once the pepper is roasted on all sides using the grill or the stove method, immediately put it in a small bowl and cover it with plastic wrap to “sweat” for about 10 minutes. The moist hot heat will loosen the pepper’s outer skin and make it easier to rub off.
- When cool enough to handle, then rub the skin off with a paper towel or clean kitchen towel. You can leave the stem and the seeds, if you like.
- To make the sauce, combine the lime juice, scooped out avocados, and the pepper to a blender.
- Blast it all together, then add salt and pepper to taste. If the sauce is too thick, add a little water to thin it out.
Recipe tips and variations:
- Make the peppers in batches. Roasted peppers take the most time, so I take advantage of the real estate of the grill by cooking them in advance. Then I simply freeze the extra peppers! Wrap them individually in plastic wrap and pop them into a freezer bag. Don’t forget to label and date, otherwise you’ll forget what they are and toss them when you’re cleaning out the freezer.
- Make it when you need it. Like all avocado recipes, this one should be eaten up the day you make it. But it’s so good, that probably won’t be a problem.
- Squeeze that juice! Nothing can replace the taste of freshly-squeezed lime juice.
- Storing. Store the leftovers in the refrigerator and eat the next day over eggs.
- Cut that avocado carefully. A safe way to remove an avocado pit is to cut the fruit all the way around top to bottom, then again around the middle to make four pieces of avocado. The pit will pop out easily, but if it’s difficult, you can nudge it free with a spoon.
- Keep it green. Oxidation causes avocado-based recipes to turn brown, so squeeze a little lime juice over the top to keep it vibrant.
More ways to love Avocado sauce:
- Steak. Grilled flank steak, tri-tip, or skirt steak.
- Beans. A simple bowl of beans, like pintos or black beans, made even more wonderful with green salsa.
- Mexican food. Bring out the green stuff as a creamy alternative to pico de gallo or hot salsa. Tacos, flautas, burrito bowls, all of it.
- Salmon. Avocado and salmon? Yes, please! Baked or smoked, on toast.
- Grain bowls. Any kind of cooked grain bowl or Buddha bowl will love this sauce.
Avocado Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 avocados halved, pitted, and peeled
- 1 serrano chile roasted
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice from 1 lime
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- To a blender, add avocados, roasted serrano chile, and lime juice. Blend until smooth (add water as needed to blend smoothly). Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Notes
- Peppers on the grill. If I can remember, I throw a few peppers on the hottest part of grill while I’m making something else. That way I have some when I need them. Grill the whole peppers until the skin is blistered and black in parts, but not white (ash).
- Roasting peppers on the stove. Turn a gas stove on HIGH, then position the pepper directly over the flames, turning with tongs until the pepper's skin is black and blistered.
Nutrition
Just to double check, is this recipe for serrano peppers or poblanos? The pepper being roasted in the pics above is a poblano. Thanks
Hi Michael, yes! The recipe calls for serrano peppers (or jalapeno if you would like to substitute serrano). The poblano is in the post to demonstrate how to roast a pepper. Sorry about the confusion! – Meggan
This sauce is absolutely delicious. I put it on everything. It’s perfect for someone who is a vegan. By the way I love all of your recipe.