Guacamole is one of my most favorite foods ever, but avocados can get really pricey. So when I’ve got that guac craving I mix up a batch of this simple avocado and tomato salad. It has all the same amazing flavors as guacamole, but with a slightly different ratio of ingredients to make it a bit more budget-friendly. This salad is so good that I love to spoon it over everything–eggs, chicken, fish, green salads, tortilla chips, and sometimes I just scoop it up right out of the bowl with a spoon. 😅
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Keeping it Budget-Friendly
Avocados are definitely one of the higher-priced items in the produce aisle, so we’re using Budget Bytes principle #2, Use Ingredients Wisely, to help keep the price of this recipe in check. Whenever you use a higher-priced ingredient make sure to bulk up the recipe with plenty of lower-priced ingredients to help stretch the cost over more servings. For this recipe, I’ve bulked it up with plenty of Roma tomatoes to make those avocados go twice as far.
What Else Can I Add?
I love this salad because it’s not only great as-is, but you can take it in so many other directions. If you want to bulk it up even more by adding some more inexpensive ingredients, try adding some rinsed and drained black beans or thawed frozen corn kernels. You can also make it similar to ceviche by adding some boiled shrimp (whole or chopped).
How to Serve Avocado and Tomato Salad
Whenever I make this salad, I literally put it on everything. It’s good on chicken and fish, I pile it onto scrambled or fried eggs, I scoop it up with tortilla chips, and I also use it as a topper for a big bowl of salad. And sometimes I just serve it on my plate with dinner as its own stand-alone side dish!
How Long Does it Last?
To be honest, I’ve always eaten this entire batch within about 2-3 days, so I’m not sure how it holds up past that point. The lime juice in the salad helps keep the avocados from turning too brown, although their color does become less vibrant as it sits in the refrigerator and everything does soften a bit. That being said, the flavors in the salad begin to blend as it refrigerates and I think it’s absolutely wonderful the next day! So, if I were making this for company I’d definitely assemble it just before serving. If I was making it for myself I’d happily gobble up the leftovers over the next couple of days.
And if you love avocados as much as we do, check out this list of our favorite Avocado Recipes!
Avocado and Tomato Salad
Servings 6 ½ cup eachIngredients
- 3 avocados ($3.75)
- 3 small tomatoes ($1.08)
- 1/4 red onion ($0.11)
- 1 clove garlic ($0.08)
- 1 jalapeño ($0.18)
- 1/4 bunch cilantro ($0.23)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.08)
- 1 lime ($0.59)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.03)
Instructions
- Dice the avocados and tomatoes. Finely dice the red onion and jalapeño (seeds removed). Mince the garlic, and roughly chop the cilantro.
- Add the avocados, tomatoes, jalapeño, red onion, garlic, and cilantro to a large bowl. Drizzle the olive oil over top. Juice the lime and add about 1 Tbsp to the salad to start, along with ¼ tsp salt.
- Give the salad a brief stir, then taste and add more lime juice and salt to your liking. I ended up using 2 Tbsp lime juice total and ½ tsp salt. Enjoy immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Chef’s Knife
- White Cutting Boards
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Avocado and Tomato Salad – Step by Step Photos
For this recipe, you’ll need 3 avocados, 3 small tomatoes, ¼ of a red onion, 1 clove of garlic, ¼ bunch of cilantro, 1 lime, and one jalapeño (oops, forgot to add that one to the pic!).
Dice the avocado and tomatoes. Finely dice the red onion and jalapeño (seeds removed). Mince the garlic, and roughly chop the cilantro. Add the avocado, tomato, jalapeño, onion, and garlic to a large bowl. Juice the lime and add 1 Tbsp of the juice to the bowl along with 1 Tbsp olive oil, and ¼ tsp salt.
Give everything a brief stir to combine, then taste and add more salt or lime if desired. I ended up using ½ tsp salt and 2 Tbsp lime juice total.
Serve the salad with your favorite meal or just enjoy it straight out of the bowl (with or without chips)!
Your Recipe caught our attention, so we added it to our list. Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipe. Keep up the good work!
kind of weird to call this a salad and not mention it’s origins, this is called pico de gallo con aguacate in Mexico.
Hi Chingalatuya, thank you for your comment. I’m Puerto Rican, so I totally get the need to respect culture. Many different cultures (Asian and Hispanic specifically) have versions of an avocado and tomato salad. I grew up with Pico de Gallo (the Colombian version) and worked at a Mexican restaurant that served the traditional Mexican version. Though the ingredients are the same, the dice on the veg is much finer than what is being presented here. Thank you again for being here. xoxo -Monti
12 gr carbs for 0.5 cups of this salad seems a bit high. ‘cados don’t have carbs, AFAIK. Where do these carbs come from?
Other than the avocados, the ingredients listed go into pico de gallo. If you can find other uses for pico, the cost of the recipe goes down considerably. You could also stretch this recipe by adding drained and rinsed black beans or mashing the avocados and adding a bit of mayo to make chunky guacamole.
I added some cooked black lentils – amazing!!!!!!
Growing up in the foothills of the Sacramento Valley such fare was very common. I left 20 years ago to find some adventure. Since I have married off 5 girls, said hello to a grandson and granddaughter, and at times return to the foothills where such salads sit on the table waiting to get devoured. Thanks for the reminder.
Both Aldi and Walmart usually have medium sized avocados for under $1. I’m sure there are other places that have good prices, but I live in a smallish town, so no Trader Joe’s. The closest Lidl is more than 30 miles; Sam’s about 45, Costco more than 80 miles away. That’s ok–I love living in a place where everything I really need is within 8 miles from my house or can be ordered online! I can make a batch of this–you know me, no onion–for @$1 less than your posted cost and take to a family dinner tomorrow. I picked up stuff this morning, but won’t do it until the last minute so the avocados don’t brown. You’ve featured this before, so I know we all LOVE it!
Thanks for posting again. Leaving on a trip next week and need to use vegetables up. I have all the ingredients.
Yum!
This salad is awesome! It was quick and easy to throw together. The only thing I would say is that next time I’ll use two limes and increase the jalapenos; I like spice. While this batch is being hoarded and not shared, I also plan on getting the ingredients to make it again for a potluck staff meeting I have later this week. I think it will be a hit, though I think for others I’ll leave out the jalapeno.
I did on Saturday … with ciabatta toast done and handed them with guacamole … delicious!
I am SOOOO glad i found your site!! i found 6 ripe avacados for 99 (OMG WOW!) and was thinking I should make guac, but knew you’d have something more fun and awesome! VOILA! thank you so much and LOVE your book!!
Ah I was all excited to make this and then priced it using my grocery store online and it works out at $12.60. not sure if I will make it now, but it looks so yummy
Just made this. So delicious! Thank you.
This salad is also tasty with low fat italian dressing. Something about the dressing and avocado that works well. I also love mixing the avocado and grapefruit sections with a little of the italian dressing. Wonderful combination.
I know this is an old posting, but I wanted to mention that you can quickly & easily slice/dice your avocado in the skin, then scoop it out with a spoon. I figured this out a few years ago and it works wonderfully for me! Hope this helps……..thanks for all the rockin’ recipes! I’ve been on here for hours! ;-)
your posts are so amazing thanks so much for sharing everything with us! I just made this YUM!!!!
This recipe is wonderful
Also this would be great with some tuna tartare mixed in.
Let me first thank Christian for making the comments section uncomfortable.
Second, this is a great recipe. Unfortunately avocados around here were $2 each, which really jacked up the price.
So funny to see this–I recently had a very similar epiphany regarding my beloved avocados. For a quick/light nosh, I started scooping out chunks of avo, throwing on wedges of tomato and seasoning with sea salt & cracked pepper. Very easy to dress up if desired. Definitely a new favorite.
How would red peppers or corn go in this?
That looks very delicious, and also light and colorful, perfect for spring.
So do you ever come to NYC? I would love to take you to dinner. ;)
(I’m not kidding.)