Avocado Health Benefits and 3 Quick Recipes

Why are avocados so amazing? Not only do they taste delicious, they are also really good for you. The best thing about them is that there are SO many different ways to incorporate them into your diet or even your daily beauty routine. Read on for some avocado health benefits and three of my favorite ways to eat them!

avocado

Avocado fun facts:

– there are over 80 varieties of avocados. The most common is the Haas (or Hass) avocado, the roots of which can all be traced back to one single tree – which sprouted from a seed bought by Rudolph Hass in 1926 and planted in California.

– European sailors on their way to America used avocado instead of butter

avocado

avocado

Avocado Health Benefits:

– they contain many essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, vitamins C, K and B6; these nutrients help build muscle and repair tissues, improve the immune system and are conducive to healthy skin and hair

– they are high in monounsaturated fats, which help lower blood cholesterol and keep your heart healthy

– avocado is a nutrient booster, which means it enables the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients in foods eaten with it (for example, eating avocado with tomato helps your body better absorb the nutrients in tomatoes)

– they are loaded with antioxidants, including familiar disease-fighting compounds such as lutein, beta-carotene, and vitamin E. Some current studies show that avocados contain compounds that could even help prevent cancer.

– they can also be used on the skin as a natural moisturizer – try mashing up an avocado and mixing it with milk or oatmeal and applying to your face to moisturize and bring out that youthful glow!

avocado

The great thing about cooking with avocados is that although they are rich, their flavor isn’t overpowering – which means there are a ton of different ways to eat them! Here are a few of my favorite quick and easy ways to eat avocados.

Avocado Smoothie

avocado smoothie

Ingredients:

– one ripe avocado (skinless and pitted)

– one cup milk (use milk of choice or substitute soy or almond milk)

– 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

– 3 tablespoons honey

– 8 – 12 ice cubes (8 if large cubes, 12 if small)

Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smooth!

avocado smoothie

avocado smoothie

avocado smoothie

This smoothie tastes delicious and is a perfect way to start your day :) Plus, you can definitely experiment with it – try different yogurt flavors or add bananas and other ingredients!

Avocado Toast

avocado toast

Ingredients:

– half a ripe avocado

– bread of choice

– lemon juice

– sea salt

– pepper

This might be one of my favorite things to eat, ever! And it is so simple – mash up half an avocado, using a fork. Add a couple drops of lemon juice, and spread over toast. Sprinkle with sea salt and ground pepper and voila! Breakfast (or lunch)!

avocado toast

Here’s a tip – sometimes I like to drizzle a little bit of honey on it too :)

Avocado & Tomato Salad

avocado salad

Ingredients:

– one tomato, sliced

– half an avocado

– balsamic vinegar

– sea salt

– pepper

avocado salad

Last but not least, this salad is a combination of two of my favorite things – avocado and tomato! Together they make a delicious and refreshing salad that I could eat every night in the summer.

Simply slice the tomato and place the avocado wedges on top of the tomato slices. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and sprinkle some sea salt and ground pepper, eat and enjoy!

avocado salad

What is your favorite way to eat avocados? If you have a yummy recipe, please share!

Photos by Julia.

More healthy recipes from the BLDG 25 Blog.

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Perrin
11 years ago

Avocado and tomato topped with fresh mozzarella on a croissant is delicious; a fabulous brunch sandwich.

melissa
11 years ago

avocado and tomato are my favorite together! I usually add a fried egg and goat cheese with some homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing drizzled on top for the perfect breakfast!

11 years ago

Avocado toast has been my favorite thing to eat for the past month or so. I’ve been eating half an avocado every day because of it! I just don’t mash it up. I slice up the avocado, put it on my bagel/french bread/pita crackers/whole grain toast, squeeze some lemon juice over it, and sprinkle sea salt and red pepper flakes on top! It’s possibly the most delicious lunch I’ve had.

11 years ago

Avocado is my favorite thing to eat. The first time I ever experienced an avocado was at a cute little vegan eatery in Los Angeles – I had avocado on toast. It was so simple, so good, and I fell in love. I like to do mashed chickpea and avocado with cilantro and lime, spread it on bread, then add spinach and tomato (and whatever else you choose) and make it a sandwich.

meg
11 years ago

usually i just open an avocado, pour some tamari or vinegar in the hole where the pit was and eat it with a spoon. it’s my favorite sushi ingredient too, but that’s really time consuming. for a quick little sushi-esque snack i’ll take roasted nori sheets (aka Sea Snax – http://store.seasnax.com/) and wrap avocado chunks inside of it. yum!

Emily
11 years ago

I love to make an avocado salad with chickpeas, spinach, tomatoes, garlic salt, pepper, salt, evoo, and a little bit of balsamic vinegar!!! So yummy and healthy!

Brooke
11 years ago

They are amazing fried. Fill a frying pan with an inch or less of canola oil over medium heat and throw in avocado slices until they turn golden brown. Crisp on the outside, soft and delicious on the inside! Awesome by itself or on top of burgers or chicken tacos. Better than fried plantains!

11 years ago

You are making me so hungry! I love avocados, they are delicious!

11 years ago

Love avocados! Avocado toast sounds super yummy~ I’ve been eating guacamole nearly every day the past few weeks, maybe that’s why my skin has been looking so good :P

11 years ago

Sounds strange but is seriously the best salad ever:
1 Avocado & 1 Mango (both ripe!) with Mozzarella. Mix with a dressing from balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey and salt & pepper.

megan
11 years ago

so hungry reading this post…i also love tomatoes and avocados together..yum!! that smoothie looked so good

Mam
11 years ago

Frozen avocado with honey, a good yummy dessert.

11 years ago

Take a slice of thick bread and toast it. Spread with goat cheese. Top with tomato, sliced onion, sliced avocado. Drizzle with balsalmic vinegrette. I ate my last avocado at lunch. shoot.

reme
11 years ago

Avocado milkshake: 1 avocado, a liter of milk, sugar and cinnamon. Delicious! Thanks for all your avocado ideas :)

11 years ago

avocado margaritas!!

11 years ago

thank you so much for all the suggestions they sound amazing!!

Colleen
11 years ago

Avocado rice! It’s the easiest thing to make (but isn’t anything with an avocado?). Just mash it in with already-cooked rice, and it’s the most delicious thing. Add some salt, pepper, maybe just a little bit of garlic Sriracha sauce.

Avocados also work really well in quiches- try it with cheddar and bacon, so yummy.

Colleen
11 years ago

Oh, and, the best breakfast- cut the avocado top-down in long slices, but keep the skin on. When you finish you should have a bunch of big avocado ovals with a hole where the pit was. Stick them on a frying pan and crack an egg yolk in the center and let it cook. And soon… tadaaaa just scoop it off the frying pan and on to some toast, and it’s the easiest sandwich ever.

sofija
11 years ago

DROOLING.I need more food like this in my life,great simple recipes.Thanks for posting!!

11 years ago

Such a brilliant love letter to the greatest food of all. I love avocado in every single humanly possible way. Yum. Great post :)

Marge
11 years ago

These are amazing Avocado recipes! I’ve already tried the Avocado toast & smoothie! So far, the smoothie is my favorite, who would’ve thought….

The only difference is that I made them with Florida Avocados which tend to be much sweeter. I don’t live in FL so I buy them online from this website https://farmtropical.com/product/avocado/

They are grown in south florida and ship pretty fast.

Thanks for these great recipes!

Gin
11 years ago

My fav recipe is avocado, with chopped up red pepper, and tuna. Mix together, add salt and pepper and serve on a big lettuce leaf (if you’re avoiding carbs!) or on toast! Sooo filling and tasty! (Easy to take to work in a little tub too!)

Avocado is yummy with prawns as well! Prawn cocktail sauce is SO easy to make – blobs of tomato sauce & mayo, a dash of worcester sauce, lemon juice and a couple of drops of Tabasco. Chop up the avocado and mix with the prawns and lettuce leaves, and then drizzle the sauce on top. Yum! x

gee
11 years ago

Growing up in Puerto Rico, we live on a family property with many avocado trees. We eat them regularly with simplicity but I so appreciate this amazing blogs with great avocado recipes and feedbacks. Anyone interested in avocado imports from Puerto Rico, please inquire. Thank you and GREEN IT UP HEALTHY! GOD BLESS….

dee
11 years ago

My fave way to eat avo is cut in half, sprinkle sugar over each half. I live on Guam and my husband just alerted me to
my avocado trees flowering in my front yard.i should be enjoying them in a few weeks. they’re larger and taste better
than Haas. Avocado is a supper food, it is a fat burning food too. Some people like it with soy sauce and my daughter
in law loves it with condensed milk.

11 years ago

Thanks for these great avocado recipes! By the way, I’ve seen a short article about avocado that it’s dangerous to animals. Here it is: http://www.fruitlush.com/avocado-fun-fact.html.