Best Smashed Avocado Toast – 3 ways

Smashed avocado toast is creamy mashed avocado spread over crisp toasted bread, and this recipe gives you three ways to make it: with tomato and pesto, with cumin-spiced chickpeas, and with smoked tofu crumbles. It comes together in about ten minutes with one bowl and a hot skillet, which is exactly why it’s my favorite breakfast. Make one version or all three and let the toppings do the heavy lifting.

Today we’re going to talk about my favorite breakfast: avocado toast! I’ve kept these to three options that I know for sure work every single time, but after you get the hang of the base, you can add all sorts of other things and see what tastes good together. If you love this ingredient as much as I do, you’ll want to bookmark my roundup of savory healthy avocado recipes too.

The one avocado mash that anchors all three

Everything starts from a single bowl of mashed avocado, so it’s worth getting that right. Add peeled and pitted avocado, a splash of lime juice, a teaspoon of olive oil, and a pinch of salt to a medium bowl, then mash with a fork until it’s creamy but still has a little texture. The lime does double duty here: it brightens the flavor and its acidity slows the browning, so your mash stays green longer. From this one base you build all three toasts, spooning about a tablespoon onto each slice.

How to buy an avocado that’s actually ready

There’s an entire science to this, but in the interest of staying brief, I’ll just say that you have to watch for the color of the avocado in-store before you buy it. A ripe one for same-day mashing is dark, almost purple-black, and yields to gentle pressure without feeling mushy. If it’s bright green and rock hard, it needs a few days on the counter, so plan ahead. One good trick: flick off the little stem nub at the top. Green underneath means it’s ready; brown means it’s overripe inside.

Toasting the bread so it holds up

Use three slices of good whole grain bread and toast them on a dry skillet over high heat, about two minutes per side, until they’re dry and crispy. Skip the butter or oil in the pan for this step — a dry, hot surface pulls moisture out of the crumb and gives you a sturdy, crackly surface that won’t turn soggy under the avocado. That crunch is what keeps the whole thing from going soft the moment you add creamy toppings. If your bread is on the thin side, keep a close eye on it so it crisps without burning.

Three toppings, three different toasts

Here’s where each slice takes on its own personality. The first is tomato and pesto: top the avocado mash with crushed garlic, sliced plum tomato, and a spoonful of basil pesto. I mean, tomatoes and avocado don’t exactly have a deep flavor of their own, and you can definitely add a lot of pesto to this to bring it all to life.

The second is cumin chickpea: brush the toast with olive oil, then rub the cut side of a raw garlic clove across the surface so it perfumes the bread without overpowering it. Top with avocado mash, canned chickpeas, a pinch of ground cumin, and black pepper. You can roast your chickpeas beforehand if you wish (just like I did for my chickpea croutons) to add some extra crispiness to the recipe.

The third option I want to suggest to you is one that involves smoked tofu crumbles and smoked paprika! Top the last slice with avocado mash, crumbled smoked tofu, red watercress, and a sprinkle of smoked paprika and a pinch of red hot pepper. The smoky, savory notes make this the most substantial of the three.

Make it your own

I’ve only given you three options that I know for sure work every single time, but after you get the hang of it, you too can add different things to your avocado toast, try them out, and see if they taste good together. A few directions that fit the base well:

• Swap the plum tomato for cherry tomatoes or quick-pickled onions for extra brightness.
• Use a hummus layer under the avocado for more protein — my 5-minute hummus or avocado hummus both work.
• For a gluten-free version, use a sturdy gluten-free loaf such as this gluten-free black cumin bread.
• Finish any of them with chili flakes, everything-bagel seasoning, or a few toasted seeds for crunch.

Serving and storing

Avocado toast is best eaten the moment it’s assembled, while the bread is still crisp, so I don’t recommend storing finished toasts. If you want to prep ahead, keep the components separate: toast the bread fresh and store the avocado mash with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface (and an extra squeeze of lime) in the fridge for up to a day. It will darken slightly at the top, which you can scrape off before serving. Round out the plate with a green smoothie or a light chickpea salad for a fuller breakfast or brunch, and browse more breakfast ideas if you’re feeding a crowd.

I hope you enjoyed making avocado toast with me today. If you try these, please rate the recipe below and leave a comment telling me which of the three was your favorite — tomato and pesto, cumin chickpea, or smoked tofu — and any topping combo you invented along the way!

Best Smashed Avocado Toast – 3 ways!

Creamy smashed avocado on crisp whole grain toast, finished three different ways: tomato and basil pesto, cumin chickpea, and smoked tofu with watercress. One shared bowl of avocado mash turns into three very different breakfasts in 25 minutes.

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Rate

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Choose Serving Size 3

Ingredients 

For the base of the avocado toast:

• 2 avocado peeled and pitted
• 1 splash lime juice
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 slices whole grain bread

Toppings:

#1 – With Tomatoes and Basil Pesto

• ½ plum tomato sliced
• 1 Tbsp basil pesto fresh
• 1 tsp garlic crushed

#2: with Chickpea and Parsley

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 Tbsp chickpeas canned
• 1 Tbsp parsley chopped
• 1 pinch cumin ground
• 1 pinch black pepper

#3: with Tofu Crumbles

• 1 Tbsp tofu smoked, crumbled
• 1 Tbsp red watercress
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• 1 pinch red hot pepper

Instructions

To assemble the toast:

• Add the avocado, lime juice, olive oil, and salt to a medium bowl.
• Mash the avocado with a fork until creamy, then stir everything together.
• Heat a dry skillet over high heat, add the bread slices, and toast them for 2 minutes per side, or until dry and crispy.

Toppings:

• Take the first slice of toast and top it with 1 Tbsp of mashed avocado, the crushed garlic, the tomato slices, and the pesto.
• Brush the second slice of toast with olive oil. Cut the garlic clove in half and rub the cut side over the surface of the toast. Top it with 1 Tbsp of avocado mash, the chickpeas, the ground cumin, and the black pepper.
• Take the third slice of toast. Top it with the last Tbsp of avocado mash, the tofu crumbs, and the watercress, then sprinkle with the smoked paprika and red pepper.
• Enjoy!

Notes

The listed toppings make 3 different single-serving toasts from one shared bowl of avocado mash; scale the toppings up to make multiples of any one version. Assemble the toasts just before serving so the bread stays crisp, and press plastic wrap directly onto any leftover mash to keep it from browning.

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