Food Ingredients Guide How to Tell if an Avocado Is Ripe and Ready to Eat in 3 Easy Steps It’s almost guacamole time. By Samantha Leffler Samantha Leffler Samantha is the senior food editor at RealSimple and previously launched the US Weekly food vertical, where she wrote about the intersection of food and pop culture. Real Simple's Editorial Guidelines Updated on May 14, 2024 In This Article View All In This Article Signs Recipes FAQs Picking out a perfect avocado can be a tedious task. If you choose an avocado that’s too ripe, you might only have a day (or even a few hours) to use it before it becomes brown mush, but if you choose one that’s not ripe enough, you’ll likely have to wait a few days before you can even think about eating it. Read on to discover how to tell if an avocado is ripe. Daniel Grizelj/Getty Images Signs an Avocado Is Ripe When examining which avocados you want to blend into a smoothie or transform into guacamole, rely on how the fruit appears and feels. Here’s what to look for: Look for a dark green to almost black exterior. Ripe avocados will have skin that’s dark green or nearly black. If an avocado is green or dark green with black specks, it’s not quite ready to enjoy.Feel for bumpy skin. Avocados that are ready to eat will have a bumpy, not smooth, skin. If the skin is too smooth, it needs another day or two to ripen.Give it a squeeze. Go ahead and give the avocado a gentle squeeze. If it’s ripe, it should yield to firm, gentle pressure without leaving indentations or feeling mushy. If it’s mushy, it’s likely overripe and not a good avocado to bring home. Avoid avocados with large indentations or irregular shapes. Indentations and irregularities can indicate that the avocado is either overripe or damaged. Rotting or bruising can affect the quality and taste of the avocado. Ways to Use Ripe Avocados Congratulations, you’ve got a perfectly ripe avocado! Now what? You can use the ready-to-eat fruit to top a piece of toast, make guacamole, and more. Check out these avocado recipes that make perfect use of ripe avocados. Spring Green Salad Greg DuPree Not only does this salad call for avocado mixed in, alongside romaine lettuce, chives, mint, pistachios, chopped cucumber, snap peas, and edamame, but you’ll also find avocado in the dressing. For the salad topper, ripe avocado is blended with yogurt, lemon juice, and an anchovy filet. GET THE RECIPE Potato, Egg, and Avocado Hash Jen Causey If you’re craving avocado for breakfast and want to go beyond slathering it on a piece of toast, try adding some avocado to potatoes and eggs. In this hash, pieces of the creamy green fruit mingle with eggs and crispy potatoes, topped with small red peppers, scallions, fresh lime juice, cilantro, salt, and pepper. GET THE RECIPE Chicken and Avocado Rice Bowl Greg DuPree There’s no need for extra sides with this dish, which consists of colorful veggies, lean chicken cutlets, fluffy white rice, and a satiating ripe avocado half. Top with sliced scallions and hot sauce and dig in. GET THE RECIPE Spanish Beef and Rice Bowls With Avocado Christopher Testani Beef and rice is a classic combo, and pitted green olives, along with capers and cumin, give this Spanish-inspired dish plenty of rich flavor. Top it off with a sizable chunk of avocado to help balance out all of those flavors, and you’re good to go. GET THE RECIPE Homemade Guacamole Greg DuPree Guacamole is at its best when it’s made with perfectly ripe avocados. Add a shower of chopped cilantro, plenty of fresh lime juice, some spicy jalapeño slices, and a pinch of salt, and all that’s missing is a bag of tortilla chips. GET THE RECIPE Coffee-Tahini Smoothie Caitlin Bensel Avocado is a superstar smoothie ingredient that lends a delectable creaminess to whatever drink it’s blended into. In this recipe, a ripe avocado half is combined with strong brewed coffee, tahini, frozen banana slices, ground cinnamon, and unsweetened cocoa powder. GET THE RECIPE Frequently Asked Questions How long do you have to wait for an unripe avocado to be ready? How long it takes for an unripe avocado to ripen depends on a few different factors. For one, how ripe it is when you purchase the avocado will affect how long you have to wait to eat it. It typically takes only a few days, up to about a week, for an unripe avocado to ripen at room temperature. Can you ripen avocados faster? To ripen avocados faster, leave them at room temperature instead of in the fridge. Refrigerating avocados can slow down the ripening process because the cold temperature inhibits the enzyme activity that is responsible for ripening. To ripen avocados even faster, place them in a paper bag with fruits like bananas or apples, which produce ethylene gas that can accelerate ripening. How should you store avocados? If you want avocados to ripen fast so you can enjoy them right away, store them at room temperature. However, if you have many avocados or don't plan to use them for a few days, you may want to prevent them from ripening too fast. In this case, keep the avocados in the fridge to prolong the ripening process. 42 Simple Avocado Recipes That Are Delicious and Healthy Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources Real Simple is committed to using high-quality, reputable sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts in our articles. Read our editorial guidelines to learn more about how we fact check our content for accuracy. Matthews, R. "Do apples really ripen faster if you put them next to bananas?" Science Focus.