Summer Avocado Salad
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Bursting with flavor, nutrition, and fresh veggies, this avocado salad is summer in a bowl.
A good salad has lots of contrasting colors, textures and flavors, and this avocado salad has it all: buttery chunks of avocado, juicy cherry tomatoes, crisp bell peppers and cucumbers, fresh herbs, and a tangy vinaigrette. For best results, let the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers marinate in the dressing for at least 20 minutes before adding the avocados. This resting time draws out the juices from the vegetables, adding delicious fresh flavor to the vinaigrette. Use a light hand when mixing in the avocados, as they break down the more you toss them. Serve the salad as a light lunch or side dish to grilled meats for supper.
What You’ll Need To Make Summer Avocado Salad
Be sure to choose perfectly ripe avocados for the salad. A ripe avocado should yield to pressure when gently squeezed with the palm of your hand. If your avocados ripen before you’re ready to use them, pop them in the fridge; this will significantly slow down the ripening process. If you need to speed up the ripening process, place the avocados in a brown paper bag with an apple or banana and fold the bag shut. Let the fruits (yes, avocado is a fruit!) sit together overnight on the counter and the avocados will ripen quickly.
Step-by-Step Instructions
In a large bowl, whisk the vinegar, oil, water, salt, pepper, sugar, and garlic.
Add the cucumber, pepper, tomatoes, basil, and chives. Refrigerate until ready to serve (up to 3 hours ahead).
Right before serving, add the avocados to the salad.
Gently fold in the avocados, being careful not to mash them.
Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary, and serve.
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Summer Avocado Salad
Bursting with flavor, nutrition, and fresh veggies, this avocado salad is summer in a bowl.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unseasoned rice vinegar
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 English cucumber, seeded and diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- ¼ cup finely chopped fresh basil (or a combination of basil and mint)
- 3 tablespoons fresh chopped chives
- 2 large avocados, halved, pitted, and diced
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk the vinegar, oil, water, salt, black pepper, sugar, and garlic. Add the cucumber, bell pepper, tomatoes, basil, and chives. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve (up to 3 hours). Right before serving, gently fold in the avocados, being careful not to mash them. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (6 servings)
- Calories: 254
- Fat: 22 g
- Saturated fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 16 g
- Sugar: 5 g
- Fiber: 7 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Sodium: 399 mg
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Made this last week and it was a wonderful way to climb out of the heavy Thanksgiving leftovers roll we were on. We were out of yellow bell pepper so used red. Taste was so refreshing! Making it again tonight while the herbs we have left over from last time are still fresh. I told my daughter it was on the menu and she said “Perfect, but make more this time!” May I ask what the water in the dressing is meant to do? I did notice the viscosity of the dressing thickened up well as we ate, so suspect it might ensure the dressing doesn’t get too thick? Anyway, thank you for another wonderful dish!
Hi Shannon, so glad to hear you all enjoyed this! The water really doesn’t have anything to do with the thickness of the dressing; because there’s a lot of avocado in the salad (which is so rich), I use water just to make the dressing a bit lighter. Hope that clarifies!
Absolutely delicious. So refreshing and perfect for all the fresh produce this time of year. Thanks for another family favorite Jenn!
This was the perfect summer salad. We had leftovers and I was a little worried the avocado would end up gross and brown but the dressing kept them green. I was also pleasantly surprised none of the other vegetables turned mushy. I’ll be making this again soon!
Made this over the weekend and everyone devoured it! So simple yet so delicious!
Do you think I could add some cooked corn kernels to this salad? Thanks for so many amazing recipes!!!Yours is the most reliable website. I have learned so much from you!!! Liz
So glad you like the recipes! And, yes, you can definitely add some corn to the salad. 🙂
This was fabulous.
This was so delicious! I even had the leftovers for breakfast it was so good!
Enjoyed this salad very much. Simple but flavourful. My husband doesn’t eat onions of any sort so I added a bit of chili flakes instead. Another hit from your collection. Thank you.
Hi Jenn,
Can canola oil be used in place of vegetable oil? If so, will it lessen the flavor of the dressing?
Hi Debbie, that’s perfectly fine. Enjoy!
I also reduced the sugar to 2 tsp.
Nice ingredients, but kind of bland. Maybe seasoned rice vinegar would help?
It needed more acidity, so I added some fresh lemon juice.
I usually love your recipes, Jen!
i only had seasoned rice vinegar on hand and i was glad that was what i used. it was a light flavor, which was refreshing. any less would have felt bland. i also cut back on the sugar. and it made way more dressing that necessary, so i saved about a half cup of it for another salad later in the week.
I am excited to try another one of your recipes!
Just wondering if I could use balsamic vinegar instead of the rice vinegar? I love balsamic vinegar! What are your thoughts?
Thank you so much!
Gratefully,
Catherine
Hi Catherine, Taste-wise it will be fine with balsamic (although I’d reduce the sugar a bit), but the color may make the salad a little less appealing visually.
Any suggestions for substituting rice vinegar?
I have white vinegar and apple cider vinegar on hand.
Thanks in advance for any help! 🙂
Hi Karen, I’d go with the apple cider vinegar. Enjoy!
I liked this very much. My son, however, said he preferred to have the avocado separately with just tomato and dressing! will have to try and do both somehow in the future.
I absolutely love, love avocados.
Right now the avocados in our Publix Supermarket in Estero/Bonita Springs, have been awful. I buy them and let them sit till ripe, store in fridge till I have them for breakfast on English muffins.
Now here’s the rub, the avocados will sit, sit , sit for days w/o ripening. They’ll turn dark green and when you cut into them, they are speckled with brown spots. Near the skin they are black.
One of the produce people thinks that they are being picked way too early.
I am bummed out by this, so haven’t bought any in a couple of weeks.
But….when they are good again, I will definitely be making this salad.
Thank you for the recipe.
BTW: ordered 2 glass qrt jars to make your pickle recipe. Let’s hope I can find Kirby pickles!!!
Someone said this previously, but this is summer in a bowl. Served it with grilled chicken and just-picked corn on the cob. Perfect.
Yummmmmm.
OMG. LOVED it. Did not change a thing. Perfect. making it again.
So awesome and healthy! Even my husband loved it and he’s a picky eater. The only recommendation is to add spinach or romaine lettuce as the recipe makes a lot of delicious dressing.
Jenn,
Like all of your recipes, this was AMAZING. Perfect! I followed exactly according to the recipe. I love all of your recipes. Keep em coming!
Pam
Made this salad over the weekend and had to make it again the next day because it’s so delicious! Absolutely wonderful!
This salad had become my go-to this summer. All my favorite veggies are even better mixed together!
Lovely salad even the next day. Love lots of avocado. Thanks for a great suggestion when I’m running out of ideas. You never fail to surprise snd delight. You take the guesswork out of meal planning!
This salad is absolutely delicious! It’s light, fresh, flavorful and filling. I love this so much, and can’t wait to enjoy it with our home grown tomatoes! YUM.
P.P.S.
I opted to include fresh mint as suggested. Wonderfully bright in flavor!
Pam
I prepared this salad over the 4th of July weekend and it was a big hit. It is very refreshing to have with your summer barbecue.
A nice change from green salads and very refreshing! Thank you!
Pam
PS.
Wondering where your son is heading to college next year?
Haven’t tried this yet, but this looks like it would be delicious with shrimp added to it or even salmon or chicken. Jenn, have you tried that?
Hi Laurie, I haven’t tried it, but I agree 100% that it would be delish with either.
This is delicious.
Salad is fine. No need to put any sugar in.
My husband and I tried this salad for the first time tonight. Wow!!! Make.this.salad.immediately; you will love it ❤️. My husband said he could eat it everyday. It’s a perfect summer salad. It’s fresh, crunchy, and very colorful. Thanks again, Jenn, for another delicious recipe.
Hello Jenn,
I hope that all is well. Thank you for another delicious recipe. I made it yesterday and this summer salad was definitely a hit. Please keep posting new recipes. I never miss any as they come directly into my inbox.
So easy and delicious! I didn’t even add herbs because I didn’t have any. I served it over greens with some black beans and it was perfection.
Another great salad by Jenn! The crunch was excellent!!! Sooooo easy to put together and quite colorful!!
How do the leftovers fair in the refrigerator? Wondering if I should halve the recipe if that’s all I intend to use.
Hi Suzie, The avocado will discolor, but the salad keeps well for 1 to 2 days. If you’d like to make the whole batch, I would just hold off on adding the avocado until right before serving each time.
This salad was delicious and beautiful! Paired it with pork chops and maduro, a great meal.
Hi. Can I use seasoned rice vinegar? If yes, would I use less sugar?Thank you, Suzie
Yes and yes 🙂
Hi Jennifer – Do you recommend seasoned or unseasoned rice vinegar for this recipe? Thank you, Barrie
Hi Barrie, I use unseasoned and have updated the recipe – thx for catching that!
Any difference if I use olive oil instead of vegetable? Looks like another winner!
Hi Jackie, I prefer the neutral flavor of vegetable oil here, but a good olive oil will work too.