The Right (and Wrong) Way to Store Avocados, According to Food Experts & Chefs
It's easy to overbuy avocados, especially if you tend to put them on everything—cubed in salads, mashed on avo toast, sliced in sandwiches—or happen to be making guacamole for a crowd. Erring on the side of caution and having a few too many is definitely safer than not having enough, but if those extra avocados hang around for too long, they turn into a mushy brown mess.
To help you extend the life of your precious produce, we asked food experts and chefs about how to store avocados (ripe or unripe; whole or cut), plus how to prevent them from browning once you slice into them. Use their tips the next time you find yourself awash in avocados.
Related: 10 Health Benefits of Avocados
How to Buy Avocados
According to registered dietitian and Fresh Avocados ambassador Amanda Izquierdo, MPH, RD, LDN, how you store your avocados depends on their ripeness. "Avocados actually have four stages of ripeness: not ripe or firm, almost ripe or breaking, ripe and ready to eat and overripe," she explains. "This makes stocking up on avocados easier because you can purchase them in different stages of ripeness to account for when and how you’ll be using them."
Izquierdo's tip is as much a shopping tip as it is a storing tip. When you're at the grocery store, keep those four stages in mind so you can buy an array of avocados that align with whatever you're making. If you're whipping up some guac tonight, you'll want to grab as many ripe ones as possible, but if you're shopping for the week and want a few avocados to use for breakfasts, lunches and dinners, pick up a range of ripeness so they can reach their peak when you want to eat them.
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How to Store Avocados
Izquierdo says firm, uncut avocados can be safely stored in the fridge for up to two weeks and ripe, uncut avocados can be stored in the fridge for up to one week. "They will continue to ripen in the fridge, but at a slower rate than room temperature," she adds. "When you remove the avocado from the fridge, make sure to store it at room temperature for a day or two, or until ripe."
If you're storing your avocados outside the fridge, keep a few things in mind. "Hot, dry conditions above 75 degrees Fahrenheit are not ideal for fresh fruit avocados," explains Christina Ward, the director of product brands for Westfalia Fruit, one of the largest avocado growers in the world. "And it's best to avoid direct sunlight." She says another no-no is storing your avocados next to other ethylene-generating fruit (like bananas and apples) unless you want them to ripen.
Next: 70 Best Avocado Recipes for Nutrient-Packed Meals
How to Ripen Avocados
It's happened to all of us: You go to make avocado toast, only to find out your avocado isn't quite ready to be cut yet. "To speed up the process, you can put them in a brown paper bag," shares Ward. "Apples and bananas, in the same paper bag with avocados, can also move things along."
How to Store Cut Avocados
@FeelGoodFoodie Yumna Jawad's pro tip for storing half of an avocado you haven't finished is to keep the pit inside. "It can keep the avocado from spoiling faster than you’d like," she says.
You can also employ Tacombi chef Carmen Miranda's hack they use at the Mexican taqueria: Add lime juice and olive oil to cut halves, then cover them in plastic wrap and place them in the fridge.
According to Ward, some avocado varieties, including Gem avocados, take longer to turn brown. "The fan-favorite way to keep avocados from turning brown is by using lemon or lime juice in the recipe," she explains. With guacamole, lemon juice will help, although she doesn't recommend storing guac for long. "It's better to make it for eating than storing," she says.
If you want to store them for longer, Ward also suggests removing the skin and pit of a cut avocado, slicing it into cubes and freezing it. Toss some of the cubes into a smoothie for a hit of plant-based creaminess.
Should You Store Avocados in Water in the Fridge?
This avocado storage tip was going around social media last year, but it ended up too good to be true. "I saw that TikTok trend last year and gave it a try," recalls Jawad, "but I read it’s actually not safe because it can result in contamination."
More not-so-great news about the TikTok fail: FDA researchers found that keeping avocados in water allowed Listeria monocytogenes to permeate the fleshy pulp beneath the skin—and washing them won’t help at that point.
