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These Healthy Stuffed Avocados are the best way to enjoy ripe, creamy avocados. Lightly spiced cauliflower rice, hearty chickpeas, and your favorite toppings for the ultimate bowl of flavor. Be ready to serve in less than 25 minutes!
I’m always looking for good deals on avocados at my local grocery store and farmers markets. It’s no secret that avocados aren’t always the most budget-friendly, but they can be found for a great price every now and then (in California at least!).
If you’re an avocado lover, you have to try these healthy stuffed avocados. They can be served as an easy lunch, dinner, appetizer, side dish, or quick afternoon snack. The creamy filling makes the perfect base for a healthy vegan meal and is a great way to get a healthy dose of avocado in!
Table of contents
Why You’ll Love These Stuffed Avocados
- Filled with health benefits. The benefits of avocados are numerous. They’re a great source of good fats, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. They make a delicious, edible bowl that’s the perfect base for a number of flavor profiles.
- Ready in 25 minutes. Making my Stuffed Sweet Potatoes requires a bit more prep work, but if you’re short on time, these stuffed avocados are the next best thing! Start to finish, these avocados are made with just a few simple steps. Great for busy weeknights when you need a quick meal.
- Kid friendly. These avocados are mildly spiced and are suitable for kids that love avocados! Make this stuffed avocado recipe for the whole family.
- A great alternative for taco shells. Swap the classic taco shells on taco night for creamy avocados. It’s a great option for keto diets or low carb eaters.
- Easy to customize. Switch up the legumes, rice, spices, and toppings. Make this light dinner recipe completely your own.
The Ingredients
- Avocado: Ripe, creamy avocado is best. If you need to ripen your avocados quickly, place them in a paper bag for a few days or store them near ripe apples and bananas at room temperature. The ethylene gas in these fruits will help ripen the avocados faster.
- Chickpeas: Canned or dried chickpeas work well. If using dried chickpeas, cook them from scratch before using. Or, replace the chickpeas with black beans, pinto beans, white beans, or lentils!
- Cauliflower: Use fresh cauliflower florets and process in a food processor until cauliflower rice forms or purchase pre-made riced cauliflower for convenience.
- Oil: A teaspoon of cooking oil is used to season the cauliflower rice. If you are oil-free, omit the oil and enjoy without.
- Spices: Season simply with a blend of cayenne, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper or season to taste.
Optional Toppings
The best part about these stuffed avocados is they are neutral enough in flavor to be topped with several types of toppings. Below are a few ideas, but don’t be afraid to switch it up and experiment with your favorite toppings!
- Favorite taco toppings: Season the chickpeas with taco seasoning, then top with vegan sour cream, vegan nacho cheese, pico de gallo, fresh lime juice, red onion, shredded lettuce, sliced black olives, and more for the perfect taco night.
- Salsa: Add 5-Minute Restaurant Style Blender Salsa, Tomatillo Green Chili Salsa, or Homemade Roasted Red Salsa.
- Hot sauce
- Nutritional yeast
- Toasted bread crumbs
- Toasted pepitas
- Balsamic glaze with juicy tomatoes
- Fresh herbs
How to Make Stuffed Avocados
- 1) First, make the cauliflower rice. Using a large cup food processor, blitz the cauliflower until a riced consistency. If your food processor is a small cup, work in batches.
- 2) Next, season the cauliflower rice. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the cauliflower rice with a teaspoon of olive oil until warmed through, about 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne, or as desired.
- 3) Add the drained and rinsed chickpeas to the cauliflower rice and continue to cook for about 5 minutes.
- 4) While the cauliflower and chickpea mixture cooks, prepare the avocado. Slice the avocado in half lengthwise, remove the pit and scoop out a thin layer of the avocado meat. Lightly season the remaining avocado halves with salt and black pepper.
- 5) Stuff the center of each avocado halve with the cauliflower and chickpea filling.
- 6) Enjoy the avocados as is, or take it a final step and bake the avocados. Place both halves on a baking sheet and bake for 7 to 9 minutes.
- 7) Remove from the oven, slightly cool, then serve topped with hot sauce, salsa, nutritional yeast, or as desired.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. If you are baking these avocados they can be ” baked” in the air fryer. Air fry for 5-7 minutes at 375 degrees, or as desired.
Avocados themselves can be frozen, but I wouldn’t recommend freezing stuffed avocados. Once frozen, the texture of the avocados will change and become softer and more mushy. If you have excess ripe avocados to freeze, reserve them for making smoothies, shakes, or creamy sauces such as Easy Creamy Avocado Sauce or Avocado Green Goddess Dressing.
No, avocados are toxic to dogs. Instead, feed your pups these frozen peanut butter banana dog treats!
Serving Suggestions
These stuffed avocados make a great healthy lunch or dinner. Switch up the sides you pair it with depending on the toppings you choose. For example, if you’re serving these stuffed avocados as a spin on taco night, enjoy with sides such as Frijoles de la Olla, Spanish Cauliflower Rice with Salsa, or even something heartier like a Vegan Bean Quesadilla.
If you prefer to serve these stuffed avocados as a starter or appetizer, complete the meal with one of these recipes:
- Plant-Based Street Tacos
- Sweet Potato Enchiladas
- Sopa de Fideo (Mexican Noodle Soup)
- Quick Mexican Bean Soup
- Texas Caviar
- Lentil Tacos
Storage Instructions
Stuffed avocados are best enjoyed fresh. If you’d like to prep these stuffed avocados for a work or school lunch, prep them no more than 24 hours in advance and squeeze fresh lime juice or lemon juice over the flesh of the avocado half to prevent browning. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to eat.
More Healthy Recipes Using Avocado You’ll Love
- Amazing Avocado Pesto Pasta
- Easy Creamy Avocado Sauce
- Avocado Green Goddess Dressing
- Avocado Shakes (Sinh To Bo)
- Texas Caviar [Avocado Corn and Bean Salad]
- Mexican Avocado Crema
Photos by Alfonso Revilla
Healthy Stuffed Avocados
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups of cauliflower
- 1 teaspoon of olive oil
- ¾ cup of chickpeas
- ¼ teaspoon of cayenne
- ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder
- 1 avocado
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Salsa, hot sauce, nutritional yeast (for topping)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400. Then, blend cauliflower in a food processor until it forms a rice.
- Over medium heat, cook cauliflower with olive oil until warm (3-4min). Add in spices (I used salt and pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne but you can mix it up).
- Add chickpeas to rice and cook for an additional 5+ minutes. While this is cooking, take your avocado, cut it in half lengthwise, remove the pit and scoop out a thin layer of the meat. This can be saved to be used as a topping for your cauli-rice mix or omitted completely. Lightly salt and pepper the avocado remains.
- Once the rice is done, remove from heat, scoop rice into each half of the avocado, and place both filled halves in the oven on a baking sheet for 7-9 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let slightly cool, and proceed to top with hot sauce, salsa, and/or nutritional yeast.
Notes
- Mix it up and enjoy these stuffed avocados without baking the avocado. It’s just as good!
- These stuffed avocados work in the air fryer also! Just set your settings for 5-7 minutes at 375 degrees, or as desired.
- For meal prepping, prep them no more than 24 hours in advance and squeeze fresh lime juice or lemon juice over the flesh of the avocado half to prevent browning
Nutrition
Disclaimer: Although plantbasedonabudget.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, kindly note that these are only estimates. Nutritional information may be affected based on the product type, the brand that was purchased, and in other unforeseeable ways. Plantbasedonabudget.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information. If you need to follow a specific caloric regimen, please consult your doctor first.
I was surprised how much I loved these! If you have any leftover avocados, this is the recipe you must make 😀
So glad you enjoyed these stuffed avocados!
This healthy stuffed avocado recipe makes the perfect mid-morning meal. I love that it is filling and has lots of protein!
Agreed! It’s so delicious and packed with goodness to keep you going throughout the day!
Gotta love these stuffed avocados!