The Only Avocado Toast Recipe You’ll Ever Need (+ Tips & Variations) (2024)

Nutrition Profile:

We love avocado toast! The combination of creamy avocado and crunchy toast just can’t be beat. When you pair avocados with whole-wheat toast and other nutritious toppings, you end up with a delicious meal or snack packed with heart-healthy fats and fiber. Keep it plant-based or add more protein with toppings like smoked salmon or eggs.

If you’re wondering when the best time to eat avocado toast is, it’s any time! We will happily have avocado toast for breakfast, lunch or even a snack. Find our foolproof method for making basic avocado toast below. Then, get our expert tips and favorite variations so you can make avocado toast your way!

How to Make Avocado Toast

Our basic avocado toast recipe is a fun mixture of textures, from the smooth avocado to the toasted whole-grain bread. Here are the key tips you need to make the perfect avocado toast.

1. Use a Ripe Avocado

A ripe avocado is 100% necessary for this recipe—look for one that’s soft, but not squishy. Use your palm to gently squeeze the avocado to check its ripeness. If you use an unripe avocado, it’ll be tough to mash and its flavor may be bitter. Need to ripen an avocado quickly? Place it in a paper bag with an apple or pear—these fruits produce higher amounts of ethylene gas, which help the avocado ripen at a faster rate. If you have a ripe avocado that you’re not ready to use, keep it in the refrigerator to prevent it from overripening.

2. Choose the Right Bread

Our recipe calls for whole-grain bread because it provides more fiber than white. But there is really no wrong answer when it comes to bread. For the healthiest avocado toast, try one of these registered dietitian-approved breads, like sprouted-grain bread, seeded bread or sourdough bread. Make sure to use a thick slice and toast it well. If your bread slice is too thin or not toasted long enough, the bread may not hold up to the toppings (and no one wants a floppy slice of avocado toast!).

3. Mash the Avocado in a Bowl

It may seem easier to mash the avocado directly on the toast, which you certainly could do, but we don’t recommend it for a couple of reasons. You could accidentally poke holes in the bread as you spread the avocado around with a fork, which could lead to soggy bread. More importantly though, mashing the avocado with seasonings in a bowl ensures even distribution of those seasonings for a well-balanced bite every time.

4. Don’t Skip the Seasoning

Be sure to season the avocado before spreading it on your toast. Start with a little bit of salt and freshly ground black pepper, then add a squeeze of lemon juice. It not only adds acidity to brighten up the other flavors on the toast, but it will also help prevent the avocado from browning if you’re not going to eat it right away. Once your avocado is seasoned, spread it on the toast and finish with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. This recipe is a great way to use a special bottle of oil—its flavor will really shine in this application. And if you want to add a bit of heat, sprinkle crushed red pepper on top.

The Best Toppings & Seasonings for Avocado Toast

When choosing toppings and seasonings for avocado toast, we think simple is best because it allows the rich flavor of the creamy avocado to shine through, but really, the sky’s the limit. These are some of our favorite add-ons:

• Veggies: Radish, cucumber, tomatoes, sprouts, microgreens, onion, arugula, fresh herbs
• Cheese: Burrata, mozzarella, feta, cotija, goat cheese, cream cheese, cottage cheese, ricotta
• Protein: Smoked salmon or trout, sunny-side up egg, hard-boiled egg, poached egg, scrambled egg, canned beans, tuna salad, bacon
• Seasoning: Everything bagel seasoning, crushed red pepper, chile-lime seasoning, flaky sea salt, furikake, hot sauce, hot honey, chili oil, pesto, zhoug

Variations to Try

1. Avocado Toast with Burrata

Double down on avocado's creamy texture by pairing it with burrata, a cream-filled mozzarella cheese. A sprinkle of fresh herbs like basil and chives add color and fresh flavor. While we love the fruity, subtle heat of Aleppo pepper, crushed red pepper works too.

2. Avocado-Egg Toast

Avocado toast is one recipe where we’ll always say “Yes!” to adding an egg on top. We love how the runny yolk of a fried egg mixes with the rich avocado, but you can cook the egg in your preferred style—poached egg, hard-boiled or scrambled all make for an equally delicious toast.

3.

When you want to add some plant-based protein to your toast, white beans are an excellent choice. They also add an extra dose of fiber, which helps keep you full for longer. Any kind of canned white bean will work well, like cannellini or navy. Be sure to rinse canned beans before using to remove any excess sodium.

4. Everything Bagel Avocado Toast

Everything bagel seasoning is an easy way to take your toast to another level. The blend features poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried garlic, dried onion and salt. Or take the bagel shop experience one step further and top it with lox, red onion and capers.

5. Salsa-Topped Avocado Toast

Store-bought pico de gallo adds flavor quickly in this plant-based twist on avocado toast. If you have time, you can make your own pico de gallo with tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, jalapeños and lime juice. Or, switch it up and try our Roasted Tomatillo Salsa on top.

Tips from the EatingWell Test Kitchen

These are the key tips we learned while developing and testing this recipe in our Test Kitchen to make sure it works, tastes great and is good for you too!

• Want the avocado to have more texture to switch things up? Instead of mashing it, try tossing diced or sliced avocado with the seasonings in a bowl before arranging it on the toast.
• Got a stringy avocado? While those fibers are safe to eat, you can press it through a fine-mesh sieve to remove them.

Nutrition Notes

• Avocados are packed with nutrients. One half of an avocado has 7 grams of fiber, a nutrient with a number of health benefits, from improving gut health to helping with weight management. Avocados are also rich in healthy fats, specifically monounsaturated fat. Consuming more unsaturated fat than saturated fat may help lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. Plus they’re a good source of potassium, which may lower blood pressure, and B vitamins, which support critical body functions and healthy digestion.
• Whole-grain bread is made with flour that contains all three parts of the grain: the bran, germ and endosperm. These components are rich in fiber, B vitamins and other nutrients, increasing the bread’s nutritional value.
• A drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil at the end helps your body better absorb avocado’s vitamin E, a fat-soluble vitamin that is also a powerful antioxidant that helps prevent cellular damage.

Ingredients

• ½ small avocado

• ½ teaspoon lemon juice

• ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt

• ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1 slice whole-grain bread, toasted

• ½ teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

• Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, or crushed red pepper for garnish (optional)

1. Combine ½ avocado, ½ teaspoon lemon juice, ⅛ teaspoon salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Gently mash with the back of a fork.

   

2. Top 1 slice toasted bread with mashed avocado mixture. Drizzle with ½ teaspoon olive oil and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt and/or crushed red pepper, if desired.

   

Additional reporting by Carrie Myers, M.S. and Linda Frahm

Nutrition Facts (per serving)