If you love avocados, chances are you’re on the lookout for other species that look or taste like them. After all, you can’t have too much of a good thing, right? Below are 3 fruits like avocado, with similarities either in appearance, flavor, or texture.
1. Lucuma
If you’re looking for fruits that resemble avocados, check out lucumas. They look very similar, with their slightly textured green skins and large internal pits. That’s where the resemblance ends, however. Sort of like how siblings can look similar to one another but have radically different personalities.
While avocados have a rich, buttery texture to their flesh, lucuma fruit is dry and crumbly—rather like dry egg yolk or yeasty bread dough. You can add some moisture to the flesh by whipping it with some olive oil, but it’s just not going to fill an avocado-flavored hole in your heart.
As a result, if you love avocados for their aesthetics rather than their delicious innards, you can decorate your kitchen with lucumas rather than eating them.
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2. Plantain
As mentioned in our article about fruits like banana, plantain is very similar to this fruit, only without banana’s trademark sweetness. Instead of being eaten alongside other fruits in desserts and such, plantain is usually cooked into savory dishes. It doesn’t taste like banana, but rather like mashed potato mixed with artichoke heart and a tiny bit of pumpkin.
Where the similarity to avocados comes in is with plantain’s texture.
Avocados are known as “butter fruits” because of their inner flesh’s smooth, creamy texture.While no other fruits come close to it per se, you can use plantain because it has a similar moisture content and creaminess. As such, if you have a recipe that calls for avocado, you could use mashed or pureed plantain instead.
You can use plantain to thicken up smoothies, or as a thickening and/or creamy-fying agent in certain dressings or sauces. Just don’t use it spread on toast in lieu of avocado, as you’ll be sorely disappointed.
3. Breadfruit
Have you ever seen a breadfruit before? These beauties are native to New Guinea and the Philippines, and can grow absolutely huge. They smell like freshly baked bread when ripe, and the flesh itself has a silky-starchy texture. It can be sweetened into a dessert, or made into salty/savory dishes as well.
This one needs a bit of prep work in order to get an avocado-like feel to its flesh. As mentioned, a ripe breadfruit’s flesh is a bit starchy—rather like mashed potatoes. As a result, if you want it to be creamy and smooth like avocado, you need to get a one while it’s still under-ripe.
To prep it, peel it and cut the inner fruit into chunks, and boil the flesh for about 10 minutes. At this point, you can either mash it, or puree it in a blender. Drain off any excess liquid, and season to taste. While this may be a bit too runny to spread on toast, it’s a great, nutrient-dense alternative to avocado in guacamole!
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Avocado is in a League of its Own
As you can see, these fruits like avocados can be similar to our beloved butter fruit in some ways, but none that are absolutely identical. This is because there are no other fruits quite like them, anywhere in the world.
Yes, avocado is a type of stone fruit, like peaches, nectarines, cherries, etc. But that’s where the similarities end. Instead of being related to any other known fruit trees, avocado trees are members of the laurel family (Laraceae). This family includes plants like camphor, bay, myrtle, sassafras, and cinnamon… none of which create big, juicy, edible fruits.
The fruits mentioned above can be swapped out for certain recipes, but ultimately, avocados are veritable unicorns unto themselves.
Of course, if you’re looking for alternatives to add healthy fats to your diet, or need a creamy “butter” for toast, there are some alternatives you can try out. Coconut oil is a great healthy fat, while hummus or mashed edamame beans can be great spreads for just about anything. Nut butters of all different varieties offer protein as well as good fats, and tahini (sesame butter) is nutrient-rich and light.
Hey, I’m Joey. I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid and love everything about it. You can find my writing about food, kitchen appliances (such as blenders) and much more. Thanks for stopping by!
