Baked Avocado – Two Ways (Keto, Paleo, Vegan option)

May 20

I love baked avocados for breakfast. You can bake them with an egg cracked into the middle or you can bake them stuffed with chopped vegetables, ground meats or smoked salmon, and your choice of spices—either way, they are simple, quick, totally nutritious, super low carb, and such a great break from what you typically throw together for your first meal of the day. Now how have you never thought of this?

Avocados are a superfood, packed with more potassium than a banana- way more in fact. They are filled with satiating healthy fats, and full of fiber too. Baked eggs in avocado are one of the most simple and nutritious breakfasts, they supply you with important fats for your brain. You can have them for dinner too of course. If you don’t eat eggs (like me) I’ve got other topping ideas to share with you. The options are really endless.

You might be wondering: Is it OK to bake an avocado?

Typically, avocados are eaten raw, chopped up in a salad, made into guacamole, or as avocado toast, spread on a Paleo Bagel or Keto Bread. But don’t hesitate to cook them. I have found that heating avocados don’t change their texture or their taste at all. You can bake them, toss them into a stir-fry and add them to soups and they are still super creamy and delicious. However, avocados can become bitter if overheated or cooked too long. Follow my tips below and you’ll quickly see how delicious cooked avocados can be.

What if your avocado isn’t ripe?

One way to quickly ripen an avocado is to place it in a paper sack for a few hours. You can also try wrapping it with tin foil and placing it into a baking dish in an oven at 200°F for 10 minutes. Either of these should soften it unless you are started with a super hard and green avocado. Avocados release ethylene gas, which will promote its ripening faster.

If you’ve never baked an avocado before, here are a few tips:

• Start with a ripe, room-temperature avocado. Not hard or refrigerated.
• Cut the avocado in half and remove the seed.
• From the center of each half, scoop out a little bit of avocado flesh, just enough to make the half-circle big enough to hold your cracked egg or veggie filling. Try to make the half-circle wider rather than deeper, to allow the egg/filling to cook more quickly.
• Arrange the avocado halves into a baking dish so they set level.
• Use medium or large eggs. They fit best into the half-circle area.
• Crack an egg right into the avocado! Some egg white may overflow but not to worry.

This recipe is just as delicious without using eggs. Fill your avocado with whatever you’d like. Stir-fried vegetables, smoked salmon, chicken salad, roasted root vegetables… it’s hard to think of anything that wouldn’t taste delicious in an avocado. Be creative and enjoy!

Yield: 4

Author: Yvonne Tomlinson