If you've ever wanted to make guacamole but only had a bunch of rock hard avocados on hand, you've probably googled "how to ripen avocados fast." We don't blame you—when that craving for guac or a salad laden with perfectly creamy avocado slices hits, you just have to get your hands on a ripe one.
The truth is, you can do only so much to make nature hurry up. You can shorten the natural ripening time somewhat, but you can't do it instantaneously. Ahead we'll share some tried-and-true methods for speeding up the ripening process. But first let's take a look at how avocados ripen naturally.
How long does it take for an avocado to ripen naturally?
An avocado generally takes four to seven days to ripen, and the best place to let it happen is just out on the counter at room temperature. All avocados start out bright green and feel heavy and hard in the palm of your hand. At this stage in the game, the hard fruit does not taste good. It will have no flavor or softness.
Over that four-to-seven-day period, avocados gradually ripen. Their skins go from bright green to dark green. They soften and begin to give a little when you gently press into them. You can also pull off the brown nub where the stem was—if you can pull it off with ease and it reveals a green underbelly, that's another sign that an avocado is ripe.
How to ripen avocados fast
Want to shave days off the ripening process? You might have heard that you can wrap the avocado in tin foil and bake it for 10 minutes to ripen it in no time. Unfortunately, this is a total myth and will only leave you with an inedible avocado that has mushy skin and flavorless innards.
There is one method, however, that can truly cut down your ripening time, and that's the paper bag method!
Place the avocado in a brown paper bag to cut ripening time in half
The gaseous plant hormone ethylene released by fruit (including avocados) triggers the ripening process, so the best way to speed up the process is by trapping the fruit in a container with its own ethylene to concentrate the exposure. A paper bag is a great option since it traps ethylene while still allowing the fruit to "breathe," preventing any unwanted bacterial growth.
There's also a theory that if you want to double down on ethylene gas, you can add ripe bananas to the paper bag along with the avocado. These fruits release ethylene too, so the paper bag would, theoretically, be as full of ethylene as possible, encouraging faster ripening in both fruits.
Using a paper bag alone, we were able to reduce the ripening time down to three or four days.
The hard reality is that you can't take an avocado from rock-like to creamy and dreamy in a matter of minutes—sometimes there's no getting around nature. With the paper bag trick, though, your avocado's ripening period can be cut nearly in half—so instead of waiting a week to cut open a ripe avocado, you can do it in just a few days.
How to know when an avocado is past its prime
Truth is, an overripe avocado is even worse than an underripe avocado. Once that skin turns black and/or mottled, it's too late. Wrinkly, sad skin—especially with soft, mushy dimples—is a clear sign that the avocado is overly ripe. Once you cut into it, you'll discover a brown avocado that's bitter to the taste—and there are no ways to save it.
