Grilled Avocado
Grilled Avocado is an incredible side dish that adds smoky flavor to one of the best foods on Earth. Enjoy these grilled avocados plain or fill them with pico de gallo, Mango Salsa, Corn Salad, and more. It only takes 5 minutes to cook!
Anytime I’ve got the grill on to make mains like Grilled Chicken Breast, Grilled Ribeye, or Grilled Salmon, I love to make a grilled side dish as well. When the grill is already hot, you may as well!
Grilling avocados is one of the quickest and easiest options, and it’s good enough to enjoy as is, or pair with another dish. You can even use grilled avocados for other dishes like Guacamole to take the flavor up a notch. Then simply enjoy your smoky guacamole with tortilla chips!
The point is, take advantage of grilling season with this recipe because you can make it as simple or as elaborate as you’d like.
Most of the time, I simply enjoy the avocado brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper for a healthy side dish cooked up in 5 minutes. But I will share more variations and uses further down in the post.
How to Get Perfect Avocados
I recommend using slightly underripe avocados here. That way there are no black spots or yucky parts, and the flesh of the avocado will hold up nicely.
For best results, purchase rock hard green avocados from the grocery store, then let them ripen on the countertop for a couple days, until they’ve changed to a more black color outside and have softened slightly.
I do not recommend buying ripened avocados from the store, because they are almost always bruised.
Step by Step Overview
Start by using a sharp chef’s knife to cut all around the avocado pit.
Once you’ve gone around the entire edge, use your hands to twist apart and open up the avocado.
To remove the pit, embed the chef’s knife into it by giving it a whack (keep your fingers out of the way):
Then when you pull the knife away while holding the half down, the pit will come out with it.
Then just pull the avocado pit off the blade.
Repeat with all the avocados you plan to make, then brush the avocado halves with olive oil (or avocado oil):
Next sprinkle the tops lightly with a coarse sea salt or kosher salt:
And finally, grind some fresh black pepper on top.
I like to keep things simple, but know that you can add any other flavorings you wish here. Try chili powder, ground chipotle, red pepper flakes, or any spices you enjoy.
Or you can add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice or fresh lime juice.
Go out to a hot preheated grill, and have a clean board or plate for bringing out the avocado halves.
Place the halves on the hot grill grates, cut side down, but DO NOT close the lid.
This is one of the few grilling recipes where you actually want the lid open the whole time.
After two minutes of cooking, you should be able to see some wonderful grill marks on the underside:
Now use tongs to rotate all the avocado halves in the other direction, keeping them flesh side down, so you have grill marks going the other way:
Cook for 2 more minutes, again with the lid open, then check that there are nice char marks going in the opposite direction:
Quickly pull all the grilled avocado halves off the hot grill and place back onto the cutting board or tray.
If you wish, drizzle the warm avocado with a little olive oil or extra salt or pepper. Then eat!
Ideas for Using This Recipe
This is such a simple recipe that you can definitely use it incorporated into other dishes. Here are a few of my favorite uses.
Fajitas – Serve the grilled avocado with Chicken Fajitas, paired with all the other fixings like sour cream, Mexican cheese, and lime wedges.
Avocado Toast – Make your avocado toast a little smoky by using this grilled avocado for mashing and spreading.
Fill it – Add shrimp ceviche inside or this crab filling from Crab Stuffed Avocado. Shrimp Salad is also great. Or fill with vegetarian options like homemade pico de gallo or vegetable ceviche.
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Grilled Avocado
Ingredients
- 4 large avocados*
- 1 tbsp olive oil or avocado oil
- salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat all burners of a gas grill on high while you prep the avocados. 5-10 minutes of heating should be sufficient.
- In the meantime, cut each avocado in half by running a sharp chef’s knife around the pit. Then remove the pit, either using a spoon, or by whacking the pit with the knife enough to embed it, then tugging the knife out and the pit along with it.
- Brush each avocado half with olive oil, then sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
- Place each avocado cut-side down on the preheated grill for 2 minutes. Do not close the lid. Then turn each avocado half 90 degrees, and cook for 2 more minutes, again with the lid open.
- Remove the avocados from the grill, and serve right away. They will brown if left out too long.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.