Avocado

Persea americanaAlso called alligator pear

Avocado is a fruit with a creamy texture. Cooks use it raw, stuff it, or blend it into a paste, and pair it with chicken, rice, sugar, or milk.

Plant-based
Gluten-free
No listed allergens

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Category: Fruit
Part used: Fruit
Family: Lauraceae
Texture: Creamy
Cooked most in: The Americas
Top country: United States
Dishes: 1 in the catalogue
Energy: 223 kcal per 100 g

Photo: Ivar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use avocado

Typical ways to cook or use it

Paste blend
Raw
Stuff

Preparing it

Ripen picked avocados at room temperature. Keeping them with apples or bananas speeds ripening.

Cooking with it

Some varieties, including Hass, tolerate brief cooking without turning bitter. Heat can make the flesh of some avocados inedible.

Goes well with

Flavour

Taste and texture

Texture

Creamy

Shopping

Choosing and storing avocado

Choosing a good one

A ripe avocado gives slightly under gentle palm pressure.

Keeping it

Counter · whole

Availability: Supermarkets

Nutrition

What 100 g of avocado holds

Per 100 g, raw. Averages from USDA; real values vary by variety, season and growing conditions.

Protein 6%Fat 67%Carbohydrate 27%of the macronutrients by weight

Nutrition per 100 g of avocado, raw
Energy	223 kcal · 501 kJ
Protein	1.8 g
Fat	20 g
of which saturated	2 g
Carbohydrate	8.3 g
of which sugars	2.4 g
Fibre	5.6 g
Sodium	0 mg
Cholesterol	0 mg

Nutrition per 100 g of avocado, raw: minerals and vitamins
Potassium	576 mg
Calcium	14 mg
Iron	0.61 mg
Magnesium	33 mg
Zinc	0.46 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)	7 µg
Folate	129 µg

Source: USDA FoodData Central (foods 171707, 2710824), public domain. Minerals and vitamins are listed only where USDA measured a non-zero amount.

Around the world

Where avocado is cooked

1 dish in the catalogue uses avocado. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

The Americas1

Countries whose dishes use it most

United States 1

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list avocado among their ingredients.

Origins

Native to: Mexico, Peru, Central America

1601 · Spain
The avocado plant was introduced to Spain.
About 1750 · Indonesia
The avocado plant reached Indonesia around 1750.
1780 · Mauritius
The avocado plant was introduced to Mauritius.
1809 · Brazil
The avocado plant was introduced to Brazil.
1825 · United States
The avocado plant reached the United States mainland.
1856 · Nicaragua and United States
Avocado trees arrived in California from Nicaragua.
The 1960s · United Kingdom
Avocados became available in the United Kingdom in the 1960s.

On the table

Dishes made with avocado

1 dish in the catalogue uses it.

California roll
United States

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include avocado.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: avocado in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.

Allergens: None of the 15 listed allergens foundChecked and not found: soy, eggs, fish, milk, lupin, wheat, celery, sesame, mustard, peanuts, molluscs, sulphites, tree nuts, crustaceans, gluten cereals.
Animal origin: No animal ingredients foundChecked and not found: egg, fish, meat, dairy, honey, insect, gelatin, poultry, bone char, shellfish, other animal, animal fining, animal rennet.
Gluten: None
Alcohol: None
Caffeine: None
Pork: None

Family

Related forms

Made from it: avocado oil (pressed)