How to Make Bacon-Cotija Guacamole

This Bacon Cotija Guacamole is going to knock your socks off!

Now, I love me a good party dip. You can always find me hanging out by the munchies table! I love to eat appetizers and snacks. If you know me personally, you probably know that I am notorious for bad cooking – okay, I wouldn’t go as far to say BAD. I’m just not the direction following type of gal which makes cooking all the more fun!

Usually, the recipes are a quick guideline and I get so excited I forget to add an ingredient, forget to set a timer or decide to improvise a little bit and can never remember what I changed. So nothing will ever taste the same! My husband will never get my amazing pecan pie I made again. I just can’t recreate it because I didn’t follow the instructions.

So, let’s start out with something fairly easy. Guacamole is in my book, the underestimated dip. Some people run by the local store and grab a pre-made tub and although some rock it – not all guacs are created equal.

This guacamole recipe comes from a fantastic cook book Absolutely Avocados! Yes, an entire cookbook on how to rock out avocados and stun your friends and family with breakfast, lunch or dinner! This recipe had my attention at cotija and had my heart at bacon. Seriously, can you go wrong with bacon and cheese?

Now, at first I was a little apprehensive – because well, I LOVE cheese – don’t get me wrong but I had never tried cotija before. Basically, it is a Mexican style parmesan cheese! It has a strong taste and can be over-powering in this mixture. I would taste it so that you can determine if what the recipe calls for may be a little too much for your taste buds. 1/2 cup of cojita cheese seemed like quite a bit to me once I opened the pouch and the smell nearly knocked me down! So, I added slowly and surprisingly I used just shy of 1/2 cup.

Basically, this whole process was altered to how our taste buds were feeling that day. We added a little more Serrano pepper because we love the spice and of course crumbled all of that bacon in there! :) After all was said and done I made a huge mess – but it was all worth it because the guacamole was such a hit! We will definitely be using this recipe again for summer pool parties and family get-togethers!

And surprisingly, writing this whole post I apparently STILL do not know how to spell guacamole or avocados. (is it an O or A?! haha gets me every time!) Thank you auto-correct! Here is the recipe below – be sure to share your experience!

Bacon-Cotija Guacamole

• 4 strips bacon
• 3 Haas avocados
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese, plus more if desired
• 1 tbsp finely chopped serrano chile pepper
• Juice of 1 lime
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Tortilla chips, for serving

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Lay the bacon on the baking sheet in a single layer and transfer to the oven. Let the bacon cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until crispy, turning the bacon over once in the middle of cooking time. Remove baking sheet from oven and transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to cool. Once the bacon is cool enough to touch, chop it into bite-size pieces and set aside.

Cut each avocado in half lengthwise. Remove the pit from the avocado and discard. Remove the avocado from the skin, and place the avocado flesh in a bowl.

Add the cilantro, cotija cheese, serrano pepper, lime juice, salt, and pepper to the bowl. Mash with a fork until half smooth and half chunky. Fold in half of the bacon. Taste and add more salt and pepper if desired. Garnish the guacamole with the remaining bacon, and add more crumbled cotija cheese if desired.

Be sure to pick up at copy of Gaby Dalkin’s Amazing Avocados and try out all of the delicious recipes for any time of the day – you will not regret it!