Yes, I jumped on board the Avocado Toast Express. I know it’s this super trendy thing now, but being as slow as I am to these things, I didn’t know it was a trend until after I’d already been eating it for months. For the longest time I made it the same way – toasted bread kissed with a garlic clove, smashed avocado, lemon juice, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes. And the heavens rejoiced each time. In fact, I was recently visited by my longtime friend Lisa (hi, Lisa!), and upon arriving home from the airport late at night, I offered her avocado toast as snack. She loved it so much that she requested it as her breakfast on the day she left, and texted me a few days later that she’d had it several times since coming home. I thought, “hey, I’m so trendy now, I am spreading the avocado toast love!”
But I have a confession to make. I was bored with my avocado toast. I wanted more. I wanted it to have protein and texture and a hint of sweetness. And then, as if the avocado gods were calling to me, I suddenly knew exactly what to do. And so it was that the Best Avocado Toast was born. And the angels sang and the oceans parted and the sky rained glittery unicorns.
Um, ok, maybe the unicorn part didn’t happen. But still. This is the best avocado toast ever. It’s creamy, crunchy, spicy, and sweet, all in one crazy delicious bite. It’s totally balanced both in flavor and nutrition, and can be eaten as a snack or as a light summer meal (no cooking!). It is, in short, perfection. Let’s do this thing.
We start with the bread. This is toast, after all. It’s super important that you use a thick, hearty bread, because it’s got to be able to hold up the toppings. Otherwise you’ll end up with a soggy mess that falls all over your plate instead of going into your face, and that would be really sad.
My favorite trick for getting long, thick, slices of bread is to cut the loaf at a severe angle with a good-quality serrated knife. You’ll end up with several slices that are almost twice as long as what you’d get if you just cut it straight across the width. Nifty, huh? If you already knew about this trick, high-five! We are both super cool kitchen ninjas.
If all you have is a regular toaster, then you might be thinking, “Beth, how in blazes am I going to be able to fit that huge honking slice of bread in my toaster? Are you nuts?”
Well, yes, but that’s a different conversation. If you really want those long slices, but don’t have a toaster oven, my suggestion would be to toast the slices under the broiler in your oven. But that does sort of defeat the whole no cooking in the summer thing. So, if that’s the case, just go with whatever size slice of bread that works with your toasting equipment. Ok, I’m glad we got that resolved.
Moving on. We need to mash up some edamame and avocado. The edamame is a great addition because it stretches the avocado so you can pile it on to your toast with less guilt. It’s got loads of protein and fiber too! I like to keep a bag of shelled edamame in the freezer, and then it just takes a minute of soaking in warm water to be ready to mash.
Here comes the crunchy/sweet factor – raw corn! I could eat a bowl of this stuff every day. It’s so good! Vida comes by her carbaholic ways honestly, that’s for sure. Another prep trick for you – cut the corn off the cob over a kitchen towel. It keeps the kernels from flying all over the place. I’m looking out for you.
Now, slice up some scallions and mix them with the corn into the mashed avocado and edamame. You’ve got some serious goodness staring you in the face right about now. Finally, it’s time to flavor this bad boy up and get to topping some toast. This is where your tastebuds need to help you out – we’re going to season the mixture “to taste” with some lime juice and salt. This is how it works. Squeeze in some lime, add a pinch of salt, taste it, and more until it tastes good to you. Try not to eat it all.
By the way, at this point you basically have a super tasty guacamole. Two recipes in one, what could be better? But this is avocado toast we’re making here, so let’s keep going.
When your bread is toasted, rub the cut side of a garlic clove onto the surface of the bread. The garlic will essentially melt onto the bread and give it some flavor love.
Then, spread on some of the avocado mixture, and add any or all of the following toppings:
– drizzle of olive oil
– crushed red pepper flakes
– squeeze of lime
– sprinkle of salt
– diced tomato
– chopped cilantro
– sprinkle of hemp seeds
I’ll leave you alone now – this moment should be private.
There you have it, folks – the best avocado toast ever! I hope you’ll make this soon and tell me how it goes in the comments – it seriously makes my day when you try these recipes. And if you’re an Instagram person, take a photo of your creation and tag #eatwithinyourmeans so I can give you a high five emoji! 😉
The Best Avocado Toast
Ingredients
- 4 slices thick whole grain bread (or gluten-free equivalent)
- 1 large ripe avocado
- 1/3 cup frozen shelled edamame
- 1 lime
- 1 scallion (sliced thinly)
- 1/2 cup raw fresh corn kernels (1 ear)
- 1/2 cup tomato (diced)
- 1/2 cup cilantro (chopped)
- 1/4 cup hemp seeds (optional)
- salt to taste
- crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
- olive oil (for drizzling)
Instructions
- Toast the bread.
- Soak the edamame in warm water in a small bowl.
- Cut the corn off the cob and measure out 1/2 cup (save remaining corn for another use).
- Mash the edamame in a small bowl and then mash in the avocado.
- Add the sliced scallions and corn to the avocado/edamame mixture.
- Add the juice from half of the lime along with a sprinkle of salt, mix, and taste. Add more lime juice or salt as needed.
- When the toast is done, rub a cut garlic clove over the surface of each piece of toast.
- Spread the avocado mixture evenly onto each piece of toast.
- Top each slice with a drizzle of olive oil, crushed red pepper flakes, hemp seeds, tomato, and cilantro. You can also add a sprinkle of salt and lime juice if you like.
Nutrition
Absolutely, positively, 50 shades of yum!
You went there. 🙂
Okay, so I’ll admit that the whole avocado-toast trend hasn’t done much for me. Until you compared it to guacamole, that is! Guacamole is a concept I can get behind! And, really, this is a much healthier option for me than eating half a bag of greasy, salty tortilla chips. So kudos to you, Beth! You just pulled me aboard the Avocado Toast Express!
By the way, I just bought my Chopped Con ticket today! Are you coming again this year? I’d love to see you so we can gush about avocados in person. 😛
Maybe its just me, but even without the unicorns, the ocean parting and the angels singing would be pretty spectacular. 😉 But glitter + unicorns = brilliant, and I think it would be amazing if it really did rain those things. That would be amazingly awesome! 😛
Also, when/where did you get that gorgeous wooden bowl? I’m so jealous, even though I don’t really work in the kitchen that much, and am not usually a kitchen-gadget snob. 😀
Last, but certainly not least, this looks A-MAZING! I want it now! Of course, I love anything avocado, and I have mostly you to thank for that. Thank you, by the way. 😀 I am forever indebted to you for that if nothing else! ;P
Beth prepared this scrumptious recipe for me last week. I like to think of the toast as a magic carpet carrying the most delectable cargo ever. I didn’t see unicorns or rainbows, however I did see an empty plate in short order.
Thank you Bethy!
Oh yum. I must try this. And we have this hearty whole wheat bread from TJ’s right now in the freezer that I could try it on! I <3 guac (partly thanks to you!) and I love anything bread/sandwich-y (my favorite brand of carbs), so I must join the avocado toast trend, and this looks the best!
I agree with Abbie, though, about the wooden bowl. It is so gorgeous!! I am in love with all kitchen stuff wooden simply because it is so beautiful…I'm always wishing for more, but then, it feels like a crime when I go to use it. 😛
Dear Beth, I’m not so trendy as you, but thanks to you, I can jump on the bandwagon now! This avocado toast looks absolutely scrumptious. And you also made ma laugh. And it’s morning. (And I haven’t had my cup of joe yet.) That in itself is a great feat. Unicorns, angels and oceans parting…. Yup , it’s gonna be a great day! (thanks)
Wow, laughing before coffee. I am flattered beyond belief. Hope your day is fantastic! 🙂
Avocado toasts are the best! <3 Adding summer corn to them sounds perfect. I could eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Me too, Julia! Which can be problematic. 😉
Mmm! Sounds delicious! 🙂
Beth, nicely done. I’ve already been an avocado toast fanatic but you’ve broadened my horizons. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Zac! What a nice thing to say. I’m so glad you have another option to add to your avocado toast arsenal! 🙂
Is there any way I can replace edamame?
Of course! You can substitute with chickpeas, regular green peas, or even a white bean like cannelini. You could also just leave it out altogether and it will still be delicious! 🙂
Definitely going to reach for this uniCORN! AND share this on my Avocado Toast facebook page:)
Good one!! 🙂 Also, please share the link to this avocado toast Facebook page – I’m pretty sure I need to check that out stat. 🙂
I thought I was the only one in the world who loved avocado toast! I’m quite simple though. I buy a package of Wholly Avocado Minis, use one mini to generously cover two pieces of toast, add a little salt and pepper, and the world is right again! Now that I have your recipe, I’m going to ramp-it up! (I, too, love raw corn!). Glad I found your website. I’ve been plant-based for more than a year and love it!
Super late responding to this, Lynette, but no less grateful for your comment! Hope you’ll let me know if you try this! 🙂
OMG. Stuff it and get to the recipe. All ofthesefoodblogs are just people talking about nothing. I don’t care about a vacation in Napa. Get to the freaking recipe…that’s why people are here. Nothing inspiring about this at all.
Hi Marta, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’ve been meaning to put a link at the top of my posts to jump to the recipe, and now I have the nudge I needed. Hopefully next time you come across one of my free recipes, you’ll be able to skip the uninspired content. Just a note, I appreciate constructive criticism, especially when it’s kind. Yours wasn’t kind, but I still appreciated it.
I have to say, a lot of times it is annoying to find paragraphs of unrelated content when you’re just looking for a recipe, but this didn’t bother me at all, it got quite quickly to the point, the pictures are nice, and of course, the recipe looks awesome. That said, a link directly to the recipe is a really good idea.
Thanks Thea. 🙂 I’m working on the link to the recipe thing. I really want to make it easy for people to get to the recipe, even I need it! 🙂
Way.To.Go Beth!
You handled that with class and style!
from Just Jill
Why so hostile? This is free info, so be grateful (instead of grate-full) it’s there. That is all.
I just tried avocado toast today. Kept it simple with half an avocado on rye roast, salt, pepper, dill weed and a sliced hard boiled egg. It was so delicious and filling. Never thought to put edamame in the avocado mixture…definitely will have to try that. Thanks for sharing!
*rye toast
Love your blog. And yes…I happened upon it by my own jumping on the avocado toast train. Glad I did 😀
Thanks for sharing ♡
I live with two people who’d rather eat a bad store bought guacamole. I knew if I snuck in the corn & edimame, they’d love it! And they did! It was truly yummy. Instead of rubbing the garlic clove on the toasted bread, I used the garlic press & rubbed it on the toast. AMAZING!
Hi Edie! I meant to reply to this and didn’t realize I never did! I’m so glad to hear that this went over well with your, shall we say, more “casual” eaters? 🙂 Love the idea of spreading the garlic paste like butter! YUM!
Mine’s pretty similar!
Organic sprouted grain bread, toasted
Spread a good layer of hummus
Layer with sliced tomatoes and chopped avocado
Season with coarse garlic salt and freshly ground black pepper
Finish off with a squeeze of fresh lime juice
Delicious!!!!!
Here in Aug 2017 and this article is still so relevant. Thanks for the resolving the bread/toaster fitting sitch 🙂 heh
Do you have the nutritionals for your avocado toast? I.E. how many calories/fat grams in the bread and how many calories/fat grams in the avocado mix? How would I figure it out if you don’t. I LOVE avocados and could eat 3-4 in one sitting. LOL. I discovered your blog through my subscription to Full Plate Weekly. Now I have all sorts of recipes to try.
Only one person that I saw actually tried it so how can they rate it? I would like to have the replies filtered so I don’t have to read all the comments that have nothing to do with rating the actual recipe. Thanks.
I learned about avocado toast 17 years ago. I use lemon juice, garlic, honey, yeast flakes and sea salt. Totally addictive!