Spicy Avocado Dressing

Avocados. Green. Gorgeous. Creamy. Perfect with so many things!

My family eats them straight from the peel, with a touch of salt. Other favorite avocado recipes include Avocado Fries, Avocado Toast and of course, slathering avocado on any kind of sandwich instead of mayonnaise!  I must admit though, I never thought of using avocados to make salad dressing. I don’t know why! It’s a perfect combo! This particular dressing came about because I had a lot of Reed Avocados (from the wonderful California Avocado Ranchers) that were ripe all at the same time. In trying to be creative with my avocado bounty, this Spicy Avocado Dressing was born.  I’m glad too! It is out-of-this-world delicious!

The dressing has a thick, rich, creamy texture. There are surprisingly few ingredients and it goes together quickly and easily in your food processor. The kick comes from a jalapeño chile, but if you don’t like spicy dressing, you can adjust the seasonings or use less jalapeño.  I found one smallish jalapeño had just enough spice to give the dressing a nice flavor without overpowering it.

I used this dressing on the Cobb Salad I made a few weeks ago, but it is also amazing on taco salad or paired with baked salmon!

Reed Avocados are mild and one of the bigger variety of avocado. The flesh is tender and so smooth!  This dressing was quite thick because of the amount of avocado in it. If you use Haas Avocados or another regular size variety, you’ll want to use two avocados instead of one to get the full avocado flavor!  Hmmm… I wonder if I can fit the word avocado into this paragraph a few more times.  Avocado.  Avocado.  Avocado.  There, that should do it.  ;-)

This was a big hit at our house. It’s been made several times already (including one time that involved a  trip to Whole Foods to get a Reed Avocado! They don’t carry them at our local grocery store, hence the special trip!)

Spicy Avocado Dressing

Ingredients:

1 whole Reed Avocado

2 cloves fresh garlic, peeled

2 tsp fresh lime juice

½ cup fresh cilantro

1 small jalapeño, diced

1 ½ tsp Cumin

¼ cup Olive Oil

¼ tsp each, salt and cracked black pepper

Water

Instructions:

In a food processor, combine all ingredients except the water.

Process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides at least two or three times.

Thin the dressing with a little bit of water (¼ cup to ½ cup) until it is the consistency you like.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least a week!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!