10 Creative California Avocado Recipes to Add to Your Menus

Buttery rich California avocado season has started!

Americans consume more than 2.7 billion pounds of avocados per year! And with a nation clearly obsessed with avocados, there is no excuse not to get creative with the bounty of farm fresh California avocados – available from spring through summer.

Here is a look at 10 creative ways to add some unique California avocado recipes to your restaurant menu.

Get Creative with Guacamole

Guacamole has become the quintessential healthy happy hour snack. And with the start of spring signaling the start of the California avocado season, now is the perfect time to up your guacamole game and experiment with a vast array of variations and flavors to celebrate the start of spring.

Take advantage of the bounty of early spring produce and incorporate one of this season’s most popular fruits, mango, into a Mexican inspired mango madness guacamole. The sweetness from the mango perfectly pairs with the creamy texture of avocados creating a dish worthy of any springtime happy hour celebration.

If you are looking for more unique guacamole recipe ideas to add to your menu, try bacon and sundried tomato, spinach and artichoke or a summer garden guacamole, made with sweet corn, berries and peaches. The possibilities are endless of what you can create with California avocados and springs’ bounty of fresh produce.

Up Your Taco Game

Yearly, Americans eat 4.5 Billion Tacos! Which means we seriously don’t need a reason to scarf down some tacos. If you are planning a new springtime menu, you can never go wrong with adding tacos to your happy hour or main menu, regardless of your interpretation of the classic taco, they are always a hit!

If you want to up your taco game opt for classical taco ingredients used in an unexpected way. Try some vegetarian deep-fried avocado tacos. Or go completely rogue and gluten free with no tortillas needed stuffed avocado tacos! Seasoned ground beef or meat of your choice is stuffed into avocado halves and covered with cheese, sour cream and salsa. Healthy, unique and delicious!

Unique Avocado Cocktails

Avocados are not just for eating anymore. A new wave of avocado enthusiasts have been coming up with – and popularizing – unique avocado cocktails and drinks. The start of California avocado season is the perfect time to add this fruit (yes, avocado is a fruit. A berry to be more precise) behind the bar. Try a spicy mint avocado margarita or even make a kid friendly and healthy avocado milkshake. Other popular avocado drinks to try including an avocado Mescalita or an avocado Mojito. So, pull out the blender and muddle stick and start perfecting your springtime avocado cocktails!

Skip the Boring Sides

Avocados are great as part of a side dish, and so many spring menus will incorporate avocados in some shape or form. If you want to up your sides and salad game skip the traditional boring diced and sliced avocado presentations for something a little bit more visually appealing and special by presenting avocados in unique and different ways.

Avocado roses are always an easy visually appetizing way to plate your avocados or even add them deep fried to a salad. Use a crinkle cut knife to add interesting textures to cut avocadoes or fan out thinly sliced pieces of avocado to frame a salad.

Avocado Desserts

Experimenting with avocado desserts will make you love this buttery smooth fruit even more. We are all aware of the vast array of health benefits avocados add to our diets, and when you incorporate this superfood into your desserts it’s a double whammy of guilt free sweet pleasure.

Once only reserved for vegan and vegetarian dessert options, avocado desserts have gained mainstream appeal in kitchens all over the world. Mexican chocolate pudding made with avocado is a sure-fire springtime dessert winner. Or try some simple crowd-pleasing avocado brownies, made with mashed avocado instead of butter. You can alter almost any baked goods recipe to include avocados by simply substituting half of the fat in the recipe with mashed avocados.

Perfect for Brunch

Since the 2010’s brunch has never been the same since avo toast became the brunch buzz word of the decade. These days avocado toast is still holding strong and appears on almost every bunch menu around the globe. But avocado season is no time to play it save with the abundance of cheap, quality avocados around.

Elevate your avocado brunch game with recipes like avocado hollandaise sauce -made with avocado instead of butter- or a chocolate coconut avocado smoothie. Or a simple, yet decadent, egg salad sandwich made with creamy mashed avocado instead of mayo.

The Perfect Avocado Drink Pairings

As every chef knows the mark upon alcohol is a profit cash cow, and in order to get your avocado to drink ratio turning a profit, why not elevate your avocado creations with a perfectly paired drink selection.

Let’s start with the classics first: Lemonade. For those teetotaler’s lemonade is a refreshing go to and the slightly bitter citrus notes of lemonade perfectly accentuates the buttery notes of any avocado dish. Another great non-alcoholic option is a Virgin Bloody Mary, as the bitter tangy tomato notes perfectly compliment the slightly sweet notes of avocado.

On the alcoholic side of drinks nothing is quite as crisp and refreshing as a chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc to wash down some guacamole. And lastly there is of course the happy hour classic –margaritas! This drink not only pays tribute to avocados Mexican origin, the bitter, tangy lime taste perfectly accentuates the buttery flavor of any avocado dish.

Avocados Are the Perfect Healthy Substitute

As mentioned earlier, avocados are great to increase the health benefits of your baked goods whilst cutting back on animal fats and transforming almost any baked goods into a vegan delight.

Avocados are the perfect substitute for butter in baked goods and when it comes to savory dishes simply mash up some creamy avocados to replace mayo. Looking for a healthy hollandaise? Avocados will do that too by replacing all the butter in a recipe! Avocados can also be used in place of milk or cream in blended drinks like milkshakes and still attain the same rich creamy texture as milk would.

Stunning Plating Potential

We all know avocados are delicious. But they can also be just as visually appealing when sliced and plated correctly. Creating avocado roses on your plate is a visually appealing way to incorporate avocados on any plate, or use avocados sliced in half to present sashimi or mini poke bowls.

Add Some Tableside Flair

Spring and summer are the perfect times to add a little bit of showman ship to your meals. Adding tableside made fresh to order guacamole stations are a fun way to celebrate springs bounty of avocados and add an extra element of personalization to your guacamole dishes as patrons can choose exactly how they want their guacamole made right at the table.

Get Your California Avocados with Riviera Produce

If you want to add the best California avocados of the season to your spring menus look no further than Riviera Produce.

Riviera Produce sources wholesale produce responsibly, giving you the best quality fresh produce when you need it. Riviera Produce delivers to NYC’S five boroughs, Connecticut and New Jersey. Riviera Produce has partnered with local and sustainable farms to ensure you receive the freshest, locally grown, quality-picked produce in an effort to reduce food waste and cut unnecessary costs.

With hundreds of products to choose from, start your online produce order today and shop from the same place where the Michelin-Starred Restaurants do.