Summer cookouts and barbecues come with a lot of delicious foods, but to me, there's nothing better than dishes heaped with avocados. From guacamole to simply eating an avocado right out of its skin, I devour this fruit constantly—but it's one that can be tricky to find perfectly ripe.
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Often, the selection in grocery stores ranges from rock hard to overripe. If you're left with nothing but unripened avocados that need to be used ASAP, you can speed up their process with just 10 minutes and a little heat.
The Trick to Ripening Avocados in Minutes
Like most fruits and vegetables, avocados are a food that ripen quickly when in a warm environment. So, if you need to take an avocado from brick to perfect in just one day, it's going to require turning up the temperature. YouTube user Bare Cupboard Basics suggests using your oven.
Wrap your avocado in enough tinfoil to cover it and make sure it's wrapped so that no air can escape.
Naturally, avocados release ethylene gas, just like bananas. When this gas is released, all other fruits and vegetables surrounding the avocado ripen as well. If you surround only the avocados with their own ethylene gas, the ripening agent that the fruit emits is sent back into its source. This essentially forces the avocado to speed things up by concentrating the gas.
Once your avocado is well wrapped, set it inside a baking dish and pop it into the oven at 200°F. Check the fruit's progress at 10 minutes (or even sooner depending on its current degree of ripeness), and keep it in until it's perfectly ripe. Together, the heat of the oven and the ethylene gas will work to soften the fruit.
To Eat Straight or Use in Recipes?
Although this ripening method works with the avocado's natural process, it does create a slightly different taste. Because the oven's heat partially cooks the fruit to soften it, both Eat by Date and Focus on Mexico mention that it won't taste exactly like a naturally ripened avocado. So, if you're a stickler for that natural avocado taste, try using this trick when you need the fruit for a recipe.
If you need to ripen other fruits, try tossing them in your oven as well. Food and Wine suggests doing this with bananas, as it creates the perfectly overripe kind of banana needed for banana bread. In a pinch, the oven can help you achieve the texture and ripeness you seek.
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21 Comments
After an hour in the oven, I gave up as the avocado was as hard as when I started.
ohhhh really
Some great ideas here! Thanks
I tried the tin foil- oven method also. After 30 minutes the avocado was still as hard as when I started, so I quit trying.
This tip does NOT work
Ugh this tip DOES NOT work.. after 40 mins.. i started upping the temp 5 degrees to see if it helps.. it doesn't.. it's now been 1hr.. dont try this.. you'll ruin your avocados by cooking them... dont post things that dont really work please...
"... dont post things that dont really work please..."
Thank you Sage. Poo on those who post about that which they know nothing.
Thank you for wasting my time... and my avocado's... I wish I would have read the comments before trying. You suck.
The reason is because at the markets, we gas them the same goes for bananas. So if there not gassed the will stay hard. Do the paper bag thing with fruits. 2 Days they will be soft.
This does not work. Is it a joke?
The problem with both the microwave and oven method is that, if you can get them soft, the avocados are not ripe and do not taste like a well ripened avocado.
To ripen avocados, or other fruits, place 2 or more in a lunch size paper bag, twist the top of the bag tight. They should ripen within 2 days. The more that you place in the bag the quicker they will ripen.
Worked well for me, upper rack of gas grill for about ten minutes.
Important
This technique only works if you place the avocardo down your pants for an additional 10 minutes after taking it out of the oven.. Jumping up and down while avo is in pants and chanting "Ripen Avo Ripen" will also speed up the process even more...
Mexican here~ You aren't ripening an avocado this way...you're just baking the hell out of it until it kind of softens and as many people report...it doesn't always work. It's not going to taste like a proper ripe avocado...just a shite baked thing that needs to go in the bin. My father told me don't bother if you've got a hard avocado. If it isn't fit to eat after a week of trying to naturally ripen just chuck it as it won't be good for eating no matter how long you wait and would better serve rotting onto a plant in the yard or something :p.
Sure glad I read the posts first before I ruined two perfectly good unripened avocadoes.
Why is it that the authority or the authorities on avocados will not tell you the truth? If avocados that you buy at the store have been picked too soon by the grower and the avocado has less than eight percent fat it will never ripen. If avocados that you buy at the store do not ripen return them because it's not something you did is because they were picked incorrectly with less than 8% fat. According to this video California law states that you cannot pick and sell avocados with less than 8% fat because they will never soften.
Great tips,thanks :)
350 for 20 minutes worked for us
Only one thing that will ripen a avocado it's called Time
Worked super great...did in toaster oven for forty minutes @ 300 degrees. Don't listen to other post above. Soft enough to eat. When I started my avocado could have been used in warfare. This is a perfect method.
This didn't work for me so I took a large hammer and beat the avocados until they were soft.
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