8 Chefs Share Their Best Tips for Picking a Perfect Avocado

Although we adore their buttery texture, heart-healthy fats and versatility in recipes ranging from dips to desserts, it can feel like you’re gambling when you’re investing in avocados.

“Attempting to find the perfect avocado is basically the produce aisle version of playing the lottery,” laughs George Duran, a celebrity chef in New York City. “Even fruit that seems perfect on the outside can be mushy and brown on the inside. Plus, avocados have this tiny window of perfect ripeness, and if you blink, you miss it. And since no two avocados are exactly the same, it can feel like a guessing game.”

So much so that when MacKenzie Smith, a New Smyrna Beach, Florida-based food blogger and author of Grilled Cheese Social, scores a good one, she says, “I feel like I need to shout it from the rooftops.” Unlike strawberries or bananas, she says, “You can’t always tell from the outside which ones are going to ripen beautifully and which are hiding a sad and stringy flesh. Avocados are the true drama queens of the produce aisle.”

Still, it’s not impossible to increase your odds of reaching for a just-right avocado that will shine in your next avocado recipe. 

How to Choose a Ripe Avocado

Duran, who confirms that “avocados are consumed daily in my home,” has one “don’t” to share before we dive into the “dos”—or the clues that an avocado is worthy of a space in your cart and on your menu. You may have heard about a trick where you pop off the stem to see if it slips off easily and reveals green flesh underneath. But Duran says, “I don’t believe in that too much. You have to know exactly how easily it should come off, and if it doesn’t [come off easily], then the next person has no nub to pop off!”

Instead, all eight of the culinary pros that we spoke with agree that you should analyze the following features as you shop for avocados:

• Color. As Smith enters “full avocado detective mode,” the first detail she inspects is the peel. “A ripe avocado usually has a darker, thinner, almost black-green skin,” she explains. Avoid avocados with light green skin (too firm) and black skin (too mushy), suggests Casey Elsass, a Brooklyn, New York–based recipe developer and the author of What Can I Bring? (where you’ll find his recipe for “Golden Ratio Guac”). Instead, look for skin that’s a rich, very dark green (just right). True, they look a bit like what you may have imagined dinosaur eggs looking like when you were in grade school. But when it comes to avocados, Erin Clarke, a Milwaukee-based recipe developer and the author of Well Plated Everyday, notes, “Ugly is good!”
• Skin texture. According to Richard Sandoval, the Denver-based chef and restaurateur behind Toro Toro inside The Worthington Renaissance Fort Worth in Texas, “The skin should be firm but not hard, and free from cracks.” Look for a smooth or slightly bumpy or pebbled texture. “Avoid ones with large indentations, which can be a sign of bruising inside,” Clarke adds.
• Amount of give. If you’re aiming to use your avocados within the next couple days, the fruit should give slightly under pressure, especially near the stem. “If it has a little give but isn’t mushy, that’s the sweet spot. Too firm? Not ready yet. Too soft or sunken in? Nah, pass and move on,” Smith explains. Just be sure to handle it with care, advises Duran: “Give it a little squeeze, but not a Hulk-like smash,” as you don’t want to potentially damage another shopper’s fruit.
• Weight. A heavier avocado is usually a good indication that the flesh is creamier than its hollow-feeling or light peers, agree Sandoval and Maxine Sharf, the Los Angeles-based recipe developer and founder of Maxi’s Kitchen. Light avocados often err on the dry or stringy side, says Yumna Jawad, the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based CEO and founder of Feel Good Foodie and the author of The Feel Good Foodie Cookbook: 125 Recipes Enhanced with Mediterranean Flavors.

How to Have a Steady Supply of Ripe Avocados

Those four factors are fairly trustworthy cues, but since avocados have such a short ripeness window (one to three days, according to the folks at California Avocados), it’s wise to follow the lead of Jeanette Donnarumma, a recipe developer and Emmy Award-winning producer in Ridgewood, New Jersey. 

“I have a constant rotation of avocados in my house. It’s hard to find a perfect one on a whim for a recipe you’re making the same day,” she tells EatingWell. (Plus, this will eliminate the need to go grocery shopping every three days if you eat them as often as Duran.)

Unless you’re throwing a party or making a week’s worth of guacamole, skip the large pre-filled bags of avocados and don’t stock up on avocados that are all at the same level of ripeness. If you do, “you risk that they all ripen—and then go bad—in unison,” Smith says.

To steer clear of this issue (and excess food waste), Sharf, Sandoval and Clarke all suggest buying a mix of avocados at different stages of the ripeness range. Four days before, snag avocados that rock slightly lighter skin and that are firm all over, advises Elsass. Around Day 2 or 3, they’ll be ripe, she says: “At that point they can be stored in the refrigerator; just bring them to room temp before using.”

According to Smith, this is “the easiest way to keep a steady supply all week long without needing to make another emergency grocery run or crying over a bowl of muddy guac.”

Beyond that, consider where you’re shopping for your avocados. “I don’t want to throw any grocery stores under the bus, but I definitely have trust issues with certain places,” Smith concedes. “There’s one store that somehow never has good avocados—even when they look like they do—so now my whole family only buys them from a few select spots where we’ve had better luck.” If you find that you struggle to score quality avocados, try a couple different stores or farmers’ markets to see if you can discover one that you can depend on to deliver delicious fruit.

Avocado Storage Tips

After you bring home your avocados at varying stages of the ripeness range, here’s a brief refresher about how to store them—and speed up or slow down ripening, based on your guac goals.

• Keep underripe avocados at room temp. Until they’re ripe, the best place to store avocados is anywhere at room temperature (68° to 75°F, per the Hass Avocado Board), away from direct light, sources of heat and moisture. 
• Transfer ripe avocados to the fridge. Check in on your avocados once or twice per day, and when they reach that perfect level of give, pop the fruit into the refrigerator. This will “hit the ‘pause button’ on ripening. They won’t last forever this way,” Smith admits, but you’ll likely buy yourself a few extra days. (The experts we spoke to, as well as the team at Avocados From Mexico, confirm that refrigerated ripe avocados usually last about three days), but Sharf has found that some of hers are still going strong up to five days in.)
• Bag it. If you’re hoping to speed up the ripening process, Donnarumma recommends storing your avocados next to, or even in a paper bag alongside, bananas or apples. Both of those other fruits emit a natural gas called ethylene, “which is basically like ripening rocket fuel,” Smith says. 
• Protect the flesh. If you slice open an avocado, use a portion and want to save the rest for later, coat the flesh with lemon or lime juice, and wrap it tightly with plastic wrap. Store in an airtight food storage container to protect the fruit from other aromas. “Even if the outside gets a little brown the next day, I just scrape it off a little with a spoon and use the rest,” Duran says.

If you miss the peak window for your avocado, “it’s definitely not the end of the world,” Clarke confirms. “While an overripe avocado might not work that well for guac or avocado toast, you can often get away with it when it’s mashed with other ingredients.” (Try our Avocado Egg Salad or Creamy Cilantro-Avocado Dressing.) If all else fails and you end up with a dud, no need to put that money to waste. Use your avocado for an at-home spa day with our Honey-Avocado Face Mask.