Our Test Kitchen Found the Best Guacamole at the Grocery Store
Updated: Apr. 22, 2024
No time for homemade? No problem. Check out the best guacamole you can find at the grocery store.
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Searching for the Best Guacamole at the Store
While we know plenty of addicting dip recipes, we can always count on one to be totally gone at the end of any party: guacamole.
Who doesn’t love creamy avocado paired with lime, jalapeno, a hint of onion and maybe a bit of cilantro (but only if you’re one of those people who doesn’t think it tastes like soap)? Pair it with the best brand of tortilla chips and you’ve got the perfect party snack.
Of course, homemade guacamole is our go-to (so is this Guac Lock to keep it fresh and green), but when we’re in a party-planning pinch and can’t find ripe avocados, we’re happy to pick up premade guac at the store. So which premade guac is really the best? Our Test Kitchen had to find out!
How We Tested Guacamole
The Taste of Home Test Kitchen hunted for all the popular brands of store-bought guacamole. We were looking for these qualities:
- Flavor: The ideal guacamole should taste fresh and like a perfectly ripe avocado. Guac also needs more than just avocado flavor. Onion, tomato, jalapeno, lime, garlic, salt and cilantro are all welcome at the fiesta in good measure.
- Texture: A good guacamole should have a bit of texture to it. We wanted to see some avocado chunks and bits of other ingredients, too. If a guac is too smooth, it can be a bit baby food-like.
- Appearance: We eat with our eyes so it’s important that the guacamole looked like something we’d want to dunk into.
Our team scooped up 10 brands for this taste test, and four got our stamp of approval: the title of Test Kitchen-Preferred.
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Best Guacamole with a Kick
Good & Gather Homestyle Guacamole
Guacamole consists of a few staple flavors: avocado (obviously), onion, tomato, salt and citrus. Other ingredients can be layered in to suit your taste. In the case of Target’s Good & Gather Homestyle Guacamole, that’s some extra heat thanks to jalapenos and serrano peppers.
Popping open the lid on this guac, our testers found a nice avocado color with plenty of chunks of tomato. It looked appetizing and ready to be scooped up with a bowlful of tortilla chips.
As for the flavor, our Test Kitchen’s Catherine Ward says that Good & Gather’s guac “could definitely pass as freshly made.” That’s high praise and well deserved, since this dip incorporates all the fresh flavors we wanted in guac along with those spicy extras and textures that take it to the next level.
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Best Lime-Forward Guacamole
Sabra Classic Guacamole with Lime
A squeeze of citrus can add so much flavor. In the case of guacamole, an extra dose of lime can take this dip from pretty good to must-have. Sabra Classic Guacamole with Lime provided plenty of citrus flavor that had us going back for scoop after scoop.
Besides being absolutely tasty in guacamole, lime’s acidity helps cut through and complement rich flavors. For that reason, our tasters thought this Sabra guac would be perfect dolloped on cheesy nachos or served alongside homemade enchiladas.
Beyond the pop of fresh lime flavor, we liked the cubes of avocado and hint of salt throughout this smooth mix. If you’re a cilantro lover, you might want to sprinkle on a little more, fresh from your herb garden. This dip didn’t have much.
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Best Chunky Guacamole
Wholly Guacamole Homestyle Chunky Guacamole
For a more rustic scoop of guac, try Wholly Guacamole Homestyle Chunky Guacamole.
Dipping into this tub, we found a temptingly thick texture with plenty of chunks of avocado, tomato and onion. There was also a good amount of fresh cilantro swirled throughout, which we didn’t find in every store-bought guac we tried. Overall, this dip just looked super tempting before we even reached for a chip.
Flavor-wise, Wholly Guacamole hit all the marks with those core ingredients, along with a whisper of heat courtesy of serrano peppers. According to Alicia Rooker in the Test Kitchen, that heat crept up right at the end—but it’s nothing fans of medium or hot salsa lovers can’t bear.
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Best Creamy Guacamole
Walmart Guacamole
Our Test Kitchen’s top pick for smooth (but not too smooth) guac: Chunky Guacamole.
While we didn’t quite agree with the name, we thought this store-brand guac managed to walk the line perfectly between creamy and textured thanks to smooth mashed avocado paired with plenty of chunks of onion and tomato.
This is precisely the type of guac we’d want to spread on a bun for a Tex-Mex burger or smooth over bread for a spiced-up version of avocado toast.
And if you can’t manage to finish this tub of guac in one go, don’t worry about it going bad; check out how to keep guacamole from browning.
Check Out More Test Kitchen-Preferred Products
Our Test Kitchen is constantly testing food, kitchen gadgets and cleaning gear looking for brands that deserve the right to be called Test Kitchen-Preferred.
If you want to fill your pantry and fridge with the best products, check out these tests:
Originally Published: May 04, 2022
