Avocado Green Goddess, Your New Healthy Obsession

Avocado Green Goddess is a modern take on the classic herb-packed Green Goddess dressing that's made lighter and brighter than the original by incorporating avocado in place of the traditional mayonnaise and sour cream base. This recipe for Avocado Green Goddess creates a vibrant dressing that's perfect for tossing with salads, spooning onto grain bowls, or using as a dip for crisp, crunchy vegetables. Shall we? 

Explore More

• What is Green Goddess?
• Avocado Green Goddess is Easier!
• What Kind of Avocados? California Avocados, of course!
• Where to get California Avocados
• Additional Ingredients Notes and Resources for Avocado Green Goddess
• How to Make Avocado Green Goddess
• Dietary Considerations and Health Benefits of Avocado Green Goddess
• Avocado Green Goddess Recipe

What is Green Goddess?

Is Green Goddess a dressing? A dip? What about that viral Green Goddess Salad trend that was actually just...chopped cabbage?

Original Green Goddess

Green Goddess actually IS its own thing, basically bunches of green herbs blended into oblivion in a mayo and sour cream base. It is a salad dressing that doubles as a dip because of its thick consistency. In addition to the creamy base, classic ingredients for Green Goddess include chervil, chives, scallions, watercress, and tarragon, a soft, leafy summer herb that has a licorice flavor. Anchovies add an umami boost.

The original Green Goddess dressing dates back to 1920s San Francisco, California where a chef at the Palace Hotel created the dressing as a tribute to a play titled The Green Goddess. The dressing became a classic. 

Since then, the name "Green Goddess" has been adopted by any- and everyone to label any creamy, green mixture that can include anything from kale to spinach. In our case, we're adding the very green and very California avocado!

Avocado Green Goddess is Easier!

In this modern version, we're making a few edits partially for ease, partially for taste preference.

Avocado replaces traditional mayonnaise and sour cream in the original recipe, providing a rich, thick, yet lighter, silkier texture.

The original herb profile includes chervil, tarragon, and watercress. Chervil is not as easily accessible as some other herbs. Honestly, I don't know anyone who even knows what chervil tastes like (except me). Chervil is a smaller, frillier cousin of parsley, so most current recipes for Green Goddess, including mine, call for Italian flat leaf parsley. 

Tarragon and watercress are also not as common to find in a regular grocery store as, say, basil and dill. And though I personally LOVE the black licorice flavor of tarragon, it can be a little intense or too unfamiliar for others. Everyone loves basil. 

Of course, if you have access to chervil, tarragon and watercress, or particularly like the flavors, you can add them into the mix according to the Ingredients Notes below.

What Ingredients You Need for Avocado Green Goddess

Refrigerator/Fresh Ingredients:

What to Do with Avocado

Oh, you have an avocado or two that are ready RIGHT NOW? I am all about eating an avocado straight up, but if you'd like some new ways to use avocado, try these recipes!

• avocado, 1 large, 6-7 ounces with seed and peel
• garlic, 1-2 cloves 
• green onion, 2 stalks 
• lemon, 1 juice, about 2 tablespoons
• fresh parsley, 1 cup packed leaves
• fresh basil leaves, ¼ cup 
• fresh dill, 2 tablespoons

Pantry/Dry Ingredients:

• olive oil, 2 tablespoons 
• sea salt, ½ teaspoon plus more to taste
• water, 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed for texture

What Kind of Avocados? California Avocados, of course!

We all know California for its sun, sand, and Hollywood stars, but did you know that California is also the leading state for agriculture in the United States? California grows one-third of the vegetables and two-thirds of the fruit and nuts that we get in the country. And among those fruits and vegetables? Avocado!

Fun Fact: Though the USDA classifies an avocado as a vegetable because of the way it's most commonly used and eaten, avocados are technically a fruit. Specifically it's a berry, of all things!

California-grown avocados are the best avocados and the Hass variety, which is the pear-shaped, dark greenish-black, pebbled skin variety most commonly available in grocery stores, happens to be born and bred right outside Los Angeles! (Yes, I will be making a pilgrimage to the site of the original tree at some point in my life, though the actual tree that is the mother of all Hass avocados has since passed.)

Good Ways to Use Avocado

Oh, you have an avocado or two that are ready RIGHT NOW? I am all about eating an avocado straight up, but if you'd like some new ways to use avocado, try these recipes.

Where to get California Avocados

I am an enthusiastic supporter of local farmers' markets, so I highly recommend that if you live in California, you drop by your closest farmers' market and look for locally grown avocados when they're in season. California avocado season is spring, through the summer, until early fall.

But not all of us are lucky enough to live in the Golden State, and even if we do live in California, we're not necessarily near a farmers' market. Grocery stores carry California-grown avocados during their season. Just look for signs on avocado display tables or stickers on individual avocados that say "Grown in California." If your grocery store doesn't carry California avocados, ask someone!

Speaking of California ...My (now annual) agri-tour with my pals at California Grown was in Ventura County this past Spring. We met farmers and learned about crops that grow in that warm, sunny, seaside region like strawberries, citrus, and avocado.

Our visit to Kimball Avocado Ranch inspired this recipe for Avocado Green Goddess.

For a visual guide to the seasonality of key crops in California check out California Grown's Eat the Seasons chart. You can download and print it. And check out this article for more information and nerdy statistics on California-grown produce.

Best California Agritours

As a member of the content creator community for California Grown, I've gone on several trips to explore agricultural regions throughout the Golden State. Peep below to learn more: 

• Santa Cruz, CA with a recipe for California Endless Summer Rolls with Avocado and Cucumber
• Monterey, CA Agritour with Ocean Mist artichokes, Lakeside Organics greens, and Far West Fungi Mushrooms, with a recipe for How to Cook Lion's Mane Mushrooms
• San Luis Obispo, CA Agritour, featuring salad greens, brassicas, and all the berries, with a recipe for the best Kale Salad with Berries
• Central Valley, CA agritour with sweet potatoes, pomegranate, persimmons, dairy farms and cheese, olive oil, and Imperial Valley salad greens, with a recipe for Autumn Persimmon 'Caprese'
• San Joaquin Valley, CA agritour with dates, figs, prunes, raisins, pumpkins, and kiwi-yes kiwi! with a recipe for Sicilian-style Cauliflower Steaks with Raisins and Pistachios
• Santa Barbara, CA, a wine tasting guide and a recipe for Salade Niçoise
• Temecula, CA agritour with avocados, blueberries, and of course, wine, with recipes for Avocado Hummus and Blueberry Salad with Avocado

Additional Ingredients Notes and Resources for Avocado Green Goddess

• Garlic. Use fresh garlic. You do not have to mince the garlic before adding it to the food processor.
• Green onions. Use both white and green parts of the green onions. The original Green Goddess uses chives, but green onions are generally easier to find in grocery stores. Plus, there's more to make with the rest of a bunch of green onions than a pack of chives (at least for me). If you have chives, though, use them! Because chives are milder, you will need about ¼ cup.
• Lemon. One medium size lemon will render about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. If your lemons are small, you may need 2.
• Parsley. I use Italian flat leaf parsley for all dishes. If you only have the curly parsley available to you, that works, since they get blended into the dressing.
• Olive Oil. California grows olives and produces olive oil! I use this $10-$15 grocery store olive oil as my everyday olive oil. 
• Salt. I use this brand of salt as my everyday cooking salt.
• Basil, dill, and all other fresh herbs and produce from my local Farmers' Market, or Whole Foods Market when I can't find what I need at the farmers' market.

How to Make Avocado Green Goddess

Technically, you could throw everything into a blender or food processor all at once and just let 'er rip. What you end up will be really good! But there are a few tiny tips and tricks that can take your Avocado Green Goddess from good to great.

1. Optional pre-step to level up: Let the chopped garlic clove and green onion sit in 2 tablespoons lemon juice for ~ 10 minutes. You can do this in a small bowl, or in the bottom of your food processor or blender. After 10 minutes, add them to the food processor or blender.
2. Add the avocado, 1 cup of parsley leaves, ¼ cup of basil, 2 tablespoons of dill, and ¾ teaspoon of salt to the food processor or blender. Blend until the avocado and herbs are well combined, though it won't be smooth yet. You will need to turn off the food processor every once in a while to push the herbs down the side of the bowl with a small spatula or spoon.
3. With the machine running, drizzle in olive oil until the mixture is smooth. Stop the machine and taste for saltiness and add more salt if needed. Avocado Green Goddess should taste a little saltier than you're comfortable with since it will be used as a dressing or dip.
4. If the mixture is too thick, add water 1 tablespoon at a time to the consistency you like.
5. Transfer the Avocado Green Goddess to a container for serving or storage. It will be delicious immediately, but if you let the dressing sit and relax for about 30 minutes, the flavors will mellow out. I don't know the science behind this, it just works.

Health Benefits of Avocado*

One 50-gram serving of avocado, which is ⅓ of a medium sized avocado:

• provides 3 grams of dietary fiber
• has only 80 calories per serving
• is good source of monounsaturated fats
• is a good source of B and K vitamins

_{* nutritional information via California Avocados}

Dietary Considerations and Health Benefits of Avocado Green Goddess

This recipe for Avocado Green Goddess as published, is:

• 100% plant-based, suitable for vegans
• vegetarian
• dairy-free
• gluten-free
• refined sugar-free

Best Herb-Based Dressings, Dips, and Sauces

This post is sponsored by California Grown. All opinions are our own. Thank you for supporting our partners who keep The Delicious Life well fed!