I know what you’re thinking. Water? Guacamole? What sort of freak of nature did this girl create? Rest assured, I wasn’t mixing water into my guac for flavor but rather using it to make sure it wouldn’t brown in the fridge. I’d never heard of such a wild idea in my life until good ol’ Google saved me once again. After that moment, my life was changed.
It all started with a simple craving for guac one weekend. This quickly turned into me rushing to the supermarket, buying way too many ingredients and making far too much guac for myself. Rookie mistake.
Sure, I could just pack away the leftovers with some lime juice on top — but I didn’t want to waste my precious limes or compromise the taste of my guac after dousing it in lime juice.
Thankfully, the Internet always has the answer. After a quick search on how to keep guacamole fresh in the fridge, I came across an article on The Kitchn which claimed to have “the very best way to keep guacamole green.” I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a quick skim, expecting nothing but the classic lime juice trick. Here’s where things started to get crazy.
They said — forget lime juice or plastic wrap — all you need to do is cover your guacamole in a thin layer of water.
At this point, I’m sure you’re at least mildly disgusted or are about to stop reading. That’s basically where I was at, but my interest was piqued. Could something as simple as water keep guac fresh? Wouldn’t it make the guac mushy and watery? The only way to find out was to try it for myself.
I’m sure you already know by the title that the water was a success, but I can’t emphasize enough how simple and how effective this method turned out to be. Literally all you have to do is smooth out your guac to remove any air bubbles in it and cover it in a thin layer of water — just enough to cover the entire surface. Store it in the fridge like you normally would and when you want to eat it again, dump out the water, stir the guac and it’s as fresh as the day you made it.
It’s important to make sure the whole surface stays covered by water. If some of the water gets absorbed and leaves part of the guac exposed, those parts will turn brown (I made this mistake the first time).
Maybe you aren’t sold on the idea of pouring water on top of your guac — I was hesitant too — but the next time you find yourself with some leftover guacamole this quick fix is definitely worth a shot.