Who hasn't come home in the evening to find what was a perfectly fresh avocado in the morning turned completely brown? Do you ever wonder what you can do with overripe avocados? Your fruit is not punishing you, as much as you'd like to think that it is. It's giving you an opportunity to make something great.
There are so many ways you can use overripe avocados. Instead of wasting them and contributing to massive amounts of climate-destroying landfills, put a creative spin on some of your favorite recipes, and become one with the avocado by learning all of the different ways it can be used.
1. Scrambled Eggs
Scrambled eggs are cool and all, but have you ever tried them with avocado? No matter how ripe they are, avocados expand the variety on your plate by adding vibrant color to your meal. Buttery eggs are so much more nutritious (and tastier) paired with this trendy fruit, creating the balanced breakfast our bodies need to get us going in the morning.
2. Cookies
Sneaking greens into your cookies is always a good idea, and because what you are replacing in this recipe is the butter, this substitution makes for a lighter treat!
#SpoonTip: Here is a great recipe for avocado chocolate chip cookies!
3. Salad Dressing
Let's be honest — after years of eating ranch on practically everything as a kid, you're probably ready for a salad dressing switch-up. Turns out overripe avocados make for an ideal creamy base that isn't ranch. You can whip up many different types of dressings using avocado, but this tangy cilantro lime avocado dressing allows for a zesty turnaround from the typical boring salads that you're used to.
4. Truffles
Stuffing avocados into cookies may have seemed like a bit of a stretch, but can you imagine avocado truffles? This may seem like a strange combination at first glance, but believe me — it works. It doesn't even matter how brown your avocado is because — wait for it — you can't actually taste it in the truffle. That's right — you're getting alllll the health benefits from the avocado with the prominent flavor of chocolate-y goodness.
5. Pasta Sauce
Pasta just got a creamy non-dairy upgrade. Pesto-lovers (vegan and non-vegan alike) are not prepared for this pesto sauce that's primarily based around easily-accessible ingredients like lemon slices. Instead of depending on store-bought pesto, you can now make your own! You'll find that it's much easier on your wallet, your taste buds, and the environment — you spare the landfill from an overripe avocado with so much wasted potential.
6. Peanut Butter Cups
In this inside out vegan peanut butter cup recipe, its delicate center is not filled with nut butter as one would normally expect, but with a rich avocado fudge. The fudge actually gives the treat *that* much more nutritional value — it even blows Reese's cups out of the water.
#SpoonTip: You can substitute the peanut butter for other nut butters of your choice.
7. Smoothies
This one is dedicated to all my banana-hating friends out there. If you're wondering how we're supposed to get a creamy texture in a smoothie without the banana, then look no further. Avocados are the answer for this banana-less smoothie crisis. All you've got to do is blend some delicious ingredients together, and voila — a creamy avocado smoothie right at your fingertips.
8. Brownies
Remember that avocado fudge-filled center from the peanut butter cups? Put that in brownie form, and you get these melt-in-your-mouth dark chocolate avocado brownies that are brimming with incredible health benefits. With all these new dessert ideas handy, you'll never want throw another avocado away again.
9. Fries
Just when you thought you've reached the avocado limits, crispy avocado fries totally exceed any boundaries that were placed around the fruit's potential. There are so many different ways that you can eat them — alone, in dipping sauce, in a sandwich, or whatever other creative method you can come up with. Trust me, there's no wrong answer here.
Avocados have taught us time and time again that the sky really is the limit. They make practically everything taste better, and they provide our bodies with healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals. Next time you take a sad glance at your browning avocado, don't think that it lost its value — as the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure.