This Japanese Avocado Salad is simple and straightforward. It's easy to make and looks beautiful. Sliced avocado is topped with a bright dressing of rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Add shichimi togarashi (optional) for a bit of heat. Serve at room temperature as a side dish, breakfast, or delicious snack.
Why This Recipe Works
Today's recipe is barely a recipe. It's more like a really simple dressing drizzled over sliced avocado. And it is SO ONOLICIOUS.
The dressing has only three ingredients: rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil. That's it! If you're a Hawaii local or make a lot of the recipes on this site (or Asian recipes in general), chances are you'll already have all these ingredients in your pantry.
To prepare the avocado all you have to do is slice and plate it. I like to thinly slice and fan out on a plate so that it looks extra pretty. But you can also cut into wedges or chunks, whatever works best for you. Then you mix the dressing and pour it on top!
Some people like to toss the dressing with the avocado so that every surface of the avocado is lightly coated with the dressing. But i just like to drizzle it on top so that I can get some bites with dressing and other bites with *just* the avocado. Either way, I hope you love this dish.
How To Eat This Dish
I like to serve this dish as side dish for lunch or dinner. Pair with rice and a meat dish for a complete meal.
Or serve it alone as a breakfast...add a fried egg if you're feeling in the mood! This dressing also goes great with a fried egg.
For quick lunches, I put the cut avocado in a bowl, and add can of tuna in oil. Eat with a bowl of rice and nori sheets (it's almost like making DIY Tuna Rolls from our Tuna Rice recipe) for a VERY good lunch.
Avocados in Hawaii
We are lucky to get really nice avocados in Hawaii! Most of the avocados we eat are grown by family and friends who are generous enough to share.
We love avocados plain. We love them blended into smoothies (which you can make at home or buy at the avocado smoothie store). We also love avocado paired with tofu, this is a super refreshing dish. A popular breakfast when we were kids was to split the avocado in half and remove the seed. Then drizzle some soy sauce into the pit and just eat with a spoon! One of my friends likes to replace the soy sauce with a sprinkle of sugar.
Ingredients
Here's what you'll need to get started:
- Avocado
- Rice vinegar
- Soy sauce
- Sesame oil
- Shichimi togarashi (optional) - There are many options for shichimi togarashi. Sometimes we use the standard one found at all Japanese markets and other times we use this fancier brand (that has multiple flavor options and very cute packaging).
Step by Step Directions
Let's get cooking! Or rather, assembling heheh. There's no real cooking involved in this ^_^
Prepare the avocado.
Cut the avocado in half. Then cut each half into thin slices and fan out on a plate.
Note: you can also cut into chunks or wedges, whichever you prefer.
Make the dressing.
In a small bowl, mix together the rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil.
Tip: keep a 3:2:1 ratio of rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil.
Drizzle over the avocado.
Drizzle the mixture over the avocado slices.
Finish and enjoy!
Top with a sprinkle of the shichimi togarashi (optional). Eat and enjoy!
FAQs and Tips
Because this is such a simple recipe with few ingredients and no cooking, now is the time to let the nice ingredients shine. If you have an especially beautiful avocado or some fancy rice vinegar, soy sauce, or sesame oil, this is the recipe to use it in!
Feel free to make more or less of the dressing. Just make sure to keep a 3:2:1 ratio of rice vinegar to soy sauce to sesame oil.
Fun tip: extra dressing also comes in as a handy dumpling or wonton dipping sauce!
We usually do thin slices and fan them out just because it is so pretty that way. But sometimes I like to cut the avocado into wedges or chunks and put in a bowl for easier eating (this is a common solo workday lunch). Do what works for you.
So do we! Here are other great recipes featuring avocado:
- Avocado Tofu
- Avocado Smoothie
This is a flexible recipe, think of it as a blank canvas for many things you can add. Here are some additions I like:
- Crumbling up nori sheets to sprinkle on top of the avocado.
- Adding canned tuna (in oil) to make it a heartier meal. When I want to make this a full lunch, I pair this with a bowl of rice and nori sheets.
- Sprinkling on roasted sesame seeds.
Japanese Avocado Salad Recipe
See below and enjoy ^_^
Japanese Avocado Salad
This Japanese Avocado Salad is simple and straightforward. It's easy to make and looks really impressive. Sliced avocado is topped with a bright dressing of rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Add shichimi togarashi (optional) for a bit of heat. Serve at room temperature as a side dish, breakfast, or perfect little snack!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Cut the avocado in half. Then cut each half into thin slices and fan out on a plate.
- In a small bowl, make the dressing by mixing together the rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil.
- Drizzle the dressing over the avocado slices.
- Top with a sprinkle of the shichimi togarashi (optional). Eat and enjoy!
Notes
- You can cut the avocado into thin slices or also do bigger chunks. It will be delicious either way!
- There are many options for shichimi togarashi - sometimes we use the standard one found at all Japanese markets and other times we use this fancier brand (with multiple flavor options).
- You can also crumble up nori sheets and sprinkle on top of the avocado.
- Feel free to make more or less of the sauce. Just make sure to keep the 3:2:1 ratio of rice vinegar to soy sauce to sesame oil.
Hi Kathy: We love avocados too. But I can normally only get the small Haas avocados grown in Mexico. They are OK and I eat them in salads all the time. They are OK but not as rich and creamy as other better avocados that I have had. I don't know the varietal name of them, but the ones I loved the most we called "winter avocados" in Hawaii. Their season was in the winter months in Hawaii and they were pretty big, bigger than the ones in your picture. My aunt who lived in Kapahulu had a big tree and we got them from her tree. I love avocados in salads and I love them in sandwiches too. Just with some salt and pepper and mayonnaise on them!
Aloha Alan! I think I've seen the winter avocados you mentioned, they are GIANT. We get different types of avocados...depends on who is giving them to us hahah. Haven't tried it with salt, pepper, and mayonnaise sandwich style but I will definitely do that next time. Sounds tasty 🙂 Hope all is well!
- Kathy