Simple Guacamole with Carrot and Cucumber Sticks Recipe

What Is Simple Guacamole with Carrot and Cucumber Sticks?

Guacamole started as little more than mashed avocado eaten straight from the skin in central Mexico, and the fork-and-bowl method behind it has barely changed since. This version skips the diced tomato and jalapeño found in a typical bowl and gets its bite from raw red onion and lime instead, served with carrot and cucumber sticks in place of chips. What is left is mostly avocado fat and raw vegetables, which makes it one of the simplest anti-inflammatory dips you can put together in fifteen minutes.

What Makes This Recipe Anti-Inflammatory?

Avocado supplies oleic acid, the same monounsaturated fat found in olive oil, along with lutein and more potassium per serving than a banana. Lime juice adds vitamin C, which also slows the browning that turns leftover guacamole gray. Red onion brings quercetin and organosulfur compounds that come through sharper raw than cooked, which is why this version leaves it uncooked.

Carrots carry beta-carotene, and eating them alongside the avocado’s fat helps the body absorb more of it than the carrot would deliver alone. Cilantro adds its own polyphenols, folded in raw so none of it is lost to heat.

Every ingredient is compliant with the AIP elimination phase. There are no grains, legumes, nightshades, dairy, eggs, nuts, seeds or seed-based spices, and the kick that a classic guacamole gets from jalapeño and tomato, both nightshades, comes here from raw red onion and lime instead.

Ingredients

• 3 ripe avocados
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 large carrots, cut into sticks
• 1 large cucumber, cut into sticks

Directions

Step 1

Halve each avocado, remove the pit, and scoop the flesh into a wide, shallow bowl, which gives the fork more surface to work against than a deep one does.

Step 2

Mash with a fork against the side of the bowl, working in the lime juice as you go rather than at the end, so the acid coats the flesh before air gets to it. Keep the mash rough and chunky rather than smooth, since texture is what separates guacamole from baby food.

Step 3

Put the diced red onion in a small bowl of cold water for 5 minutes, then drain it well. The soak pulls out the raw bite so the onion keeps its crunch without the sting.

Step 4

Fold the drained onion, cilantro and salt into the mashed avocado, stirring just enough to combine.

Step 5

Taste and adjust the salt, since avocados vary enough in size and fat content to change how much a half teaspoon actually seasons.

Step 6

Cut the carrots and cucumber into finger-length sticks, cutting the cucumber slightly thicker so it does not bend under a thick dip.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

InflammaScore

1 Good! Very low inflammation potential

Q&A

Q1: Is this recipe suitable for the AIP elimination phase?
A1: Yes. Avocado, lime, red onion, cilantro, sea salt, carrot and cucumber are all permitted during elimination. A classic guacamole leans on jalapeño and often tomato, both nightshades, so this version gets its kick from raw red onion and lime instead, and the carrot and cucumber sticks replace corn chips, since corn is a grain.

Q2: How do I pick ripe avocados?
A2: Look for one that yields to gentle pressure at the stem end without feeling hollow. Buy hard ones a few days ahead and ripen them on the counter, since avocados do not ripen further once refrigerated.

Q3: How do I keep guacamole green for a party?
A3: Work the lime juice in during the first mash, press plastic wrap directly onto the surface so no air reaches it, and stir once before serving. A darker top layer that forms anyway is oxidation, not spoilage, and stirring it back in fixes the color.

Q4: What else works as a dipper?
A4: Celery sticks, radish halves, jicama sticks if you can find them, or thick cucumber rounds for something flatter. Anything sturdy enough to hold up to a chunky dip works.

Q5: Can I make it the day before?
A5: It is better made the day you plan to serve it. If you need to get ahead, leave the cilantro out and stir it in fresh right before serving, since it blackens overnight once it sits in the lime juice.