Before writing this article, I had never had avocado toast before. Sure, I’d heard of it, and had considered making it after reading an article on Buzzfeed that had nine different recipes, but I’d always been turned off by the cost. Much to my tastebuds’ dismay, avocados aren’t cheap, and they don’t last long. Not to mention all the other toppings on avocado toast. Depending on what you get, they might not be affordable either.
I set out on a mission to come up with four different avocado toast recipes, using the Buzzfeed article as my inspiration. They would not only be tasty, but also help save money or include versatile ingredients.
When I think of avocado toast, I think breakfast or a quick lunch, and the last thing I want to be doing is slicing avocados on top of slicing and dicing all of the other ingredients for the toast. Here are four yummy ways to dress up your typical avocado toast recipe.
Avocado toast with goat cheese and hard boiled eggs
Ingredients: Half an avocado, one piece of bread, salt, pepper, goat cheese, one egg, half a roma tomato (optional)
Instructions: Hard boil one egg. (Here is a helpful article to guide you through it). After they are done and cool, peel one egg and dice it into pieces (size is up to you).
Cut an avocado in half, removing the pit. Peel the skin off one half of the avocado and dice into pieces.
Spread goat cheese to taste on a piece of toast and then top with the avocado and hard boiled egg. Add a dash of salt, pepper and tomato as an optional topper.
Thoughts: This one takes the longest since you have to hard boil eggs, but it is a nice morning snack and can be quick if you boil the eggs in advance of making the toast. The hardest thing for me about this recipe was trying to spread the goat cheese. I tried looking for a spread, but had no such luck. You can use any kind of cheese for this recipe if you want to change up the flavor (and even cream cheese might taste good).
Uses for later: Goat cheese is super tasty as a spread or for dipping, so if you have pretzels, chips or veggies, use the leftover cheese for future snacking. The eggs can be used as a snack on their own, or you can put them in salad.
Avocado toast with pico de gallo
Ingredients: One half of an avocado, one piece of bread, store bought pico de gallo (also called tomato salsa).
Instructions: Using a spoon, scoop the inside of the avocado out of the skin into a bowl. Flavor with salt and pepper, and then mash using a fork or masher. The level of chunkiness is up to you, but I found that a creamy but still chunky spread works and tastes best.
Spread the mashed avocado onto a piece of toasted bread and then scoop out some pico de gallo and spread it on top of the toast. You can make your own pico de gallo with this recipe.
Thoughts: I ended up buying store made salsa, which expedited the preparation. For a super quick meal on the go or in mornings, this was great.
Uses for Later: Pico de gallo can be used for dipping or as a garnish on other meals. The nice thing about this recipe is that there aren’t many ingredients involved, and it won’t break the bank.
Avocado toast with mint, parsley and lemon juice
Ingredients: One half of an avocado, one piece of bread, three mint leaves, handful of parsley, roughly a teaspoon lemon juice, salt, pepper
Instructions: Scoop the avocado out of the skin and into a bowl and mash with a fork or masher.
Chop parsley and mint.
On a piece of toast, spread the avocado and top with mint, parsley and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Thoughts: This is a very simple recipe for those who want the avocado flavor to be the star. For added texture and flavor, garnish with tomatoes or feta.Uses for Later: This recipe stemmed from my love of tabouli, so the leftover mint, parsley and lemon juice can be used to help make a batch of it.
Avocado toast with tomatoes, feta and balsamic vinegar
Ingredients: One half of an avocado, one piece of bread, one roma tomato, feta, spoonful of balsamic vinegar
Instructions: Scoop the avocado out of the skin into a bowl and mash it with a fork or masher.
Slice or dice half of the roma tomato.
Spread the avocado on a piece of toast, place the tomato on top and then garnish with feta and balsamic vinegar to taste.
Thoughts: As much as I love tomatoes, when they’re sliced they always slide off sandwiches too easily. For this toast, I decided to dice them, which makes them easier to eat.
I was also a little wary of the avocado and balsamic vinegar combination, but I think it turned out well. I also find that balsamic vinegar pours out really fast, so I put some on a spoon and drizzled it onto the toast that way, so it wasn’t soaked in balsamic vinegar.
Uses for Later: Caprese is a delicious appetizeror snack, and tomatoes and balsamic vinegar are two key ingredients. Even thoughe you could use mozzarella to make the toast more like caprese, I used feta because it can easily be sprinkled on top of avocado toast, salads, sandwiches and more.
Avocado toast is a very easy snack and is both versatile and filling. If you pair it with some fruit, veggies, soup or salad, it can also be a light meal. I hope these four recipes are useful to you as a jumping off point for making your own creations or as recipes to follow for an easy meal.
