How To Defrost An Avocado?

The one fruit that you can find all year round is avocado.

In fact, many people love avocados so much that they stock up on them in their refrigerators all the time!

If you are one of them, naturally, you will need to deal with frozen avocados on a daily basis.

To defrost avocados, you can try three simple ways. Firstly, you can thaw it overnight in your fridge. Secondly, you can just keep it submerged in cold water for as long as it defrosts. And lastly, just microwave it for a few seconds!

You need to dig deeper into the world of avocados to know how to defrost them!

Also, you must know the pros and cons of each defrosting technique and whether defrosting should change the taste of your avocados!

So, to have a brief overview of all these facts, please read the entire article. 

Actually, freezing avocados and storing them is a necessity for most Americans now!

The constant need for guacamole in the tacos and avocado spread on your toasts every morning can only be solved by storing these products frozen.

Usually, avocados are summertime fruits, and you can’t grow avocados after this time.

However, you can find these at any grocery store throughout the year. That explains the increase in avocado prices during the winter!

However, if you can store these, you do not have to deal with the burden of additional costs.

1. Thaw The Avocado Overnight In Your Fridge

To be fair, this is the easiest method to thaw frozen avocados. Usually, avocados do not take much time to get frozen.

They have a soft, creamy texture and are incredibly juicy. So, the net water content is very high in these fruits. 

Naturally, if you freeze avocados, the water inside the fruit will start to turn into ice crystals.

So, the whole avocado will get frozen in an hour or two. The time required depends on the cooling power of your refrigerator. 

Now, this avocado may not take much time to get frozen. However, you will need a fair share of time to melt the ice crystals that have formed.

Water has the highest specific heat capacity among all fluids. So, if you want to defrost it quickly, you will need to apply some external pressure or force.

Hence, in this method, you will have to take the avocado out of the freezer and place it on a bowl or plate that can collect the melted juice.

Put this bowl in the lowest compartment of your fridge and leave it for six to eight hours, or overnight. 

After this time, the avocado will turn back into its original form. However, the avocado may get softened in places, and it may not have the same firmness.

Usually, it doesn’t take long for ripe avocados to get defrosted. However, for hard unripe avocados, it may take the whole night.

It is a lengthy process, but it is the safest method out there for defrosting.

2. Defrosting In Cold Water

Ice crystals melt faster when you immerse ice cubes in cold water or hot water. It is a law of physics.

This law has been applied to defrosting frozen foods since ancient times, even when people did not own refrigerators!

People living in areas where it snows understand how food items can get frozen in the blink of an eye when kept outside.

They have been using this method of defrosting since time immemorial. 

So, when you put a frozen avocado in a bowl of water, the water will help to transfer its heat energy to the ice crystals.

Ultimately, at one point, the avocado will melt completely. Of course, you should not use hot water for the process, as it may ruin your avocado.

In this process, keep your frozen avocados in a bowl of room temperature water.

After a few minutes, change the water and flip the avocados. Repeat this process about 4 or 5 times if you have several avocados in the bowl. 

Some people recommend keeping the avocados inside a plastic bag and then dipping the bag in water.

You can do whatever you find easier. It is yet another safe method, but it will take a lot of time.

3. Microwave Defrosting Avocados 

The fastest and simplest way to defrost your avocados is in the microwave.

Suppose you are craving some avocado spread on your toast this morning. However, all the avocados are frozen and hard as rocks.

So, the easiest thing to do here to save your time and satisfy your cravings is to heat up a piece of frozen avocado in the microwave.

Most microwaves now have a defrost button, and it has made defrosting so much easier.

For this, you will need a microwaveable bowl. Generally, glass or ceramic bowls are best for this purpose.

So, put the bowl inside the microwave and click on the defrost button. It will take only a few minutes for the avocado to defrost. 

Usually, defrosting happens at low power by default. If your oven has no defrost button, try heating it in the microwave.

Set your oven to low power and heat the avocado for one or two minutes. Keep changing the side at regular intervals. It is by far the quickest way to defrost an avocado!

Now, pros aside, there are some cons to this process. Often, microwaving avocados may ruin the texture of the fruit.

Besides, the avocado may not be evenly defrosted in all places.

A kind of gas is produced when you microwave avocados for too long, and it has a foul smell and can rot fruits.

So, make sure your time and temperature settings are okay.

Does The Taste Of Avocados Change After Defrosting? 

No, defrosting has nothing to do with the taste of avocados. However, the texture of the fruit may change in some areas, and it is a natural process!

To be fair, when you are freezing an avocado, the only physical change that happens is that the water inside it gets frozen to ice.

It does not affect the nutritional value, the nutrients, or even the taste of the avocado.

Likewise, when you defrost this avocado, you are applying some external energy to melt the ice.

Here, no physical or chemical change is occurring in the nature of the fruit. So, it has nothing to do with the taste of the fruit either.

However, after defrosting avocados, if you cut them and leave them open in the air, the cut surface may start to get brown after some time.

It is completely natural and does not change the taste of avocados at all.

However, most people find this unpleasant to look at and think the avocado may have been ruined. Nevertheless, your avocado is still the same.

Also, the avocado may become a bit mushy and soft after defrosting. It happens with almost all fruits, like mangoes, papayas, guavas, etc.

When you freeze, the water expands as ice crystals, which can disturb the texture of the fruit. It becomes evident after defrosting, and it may not be as fresh as before.

Nonetheless, you can still have the same taste when you make guacamole or dressings out of these avocados.

The avocado spread on your toasts will still taste the same! So, yeah, defrosting will not ruin the taste of avocados!