These fried avocado tacos are easy to make and loaded with awesome flavor from crispy fried avocados and corn tortillas, beans, cotija cheese, tomatoes, cabbage, and a zesty serrano cream sauce.
Avocados are one of my favorite fruits. I eat them for breakfast in my caprese avocado toast, for lunch in salads like my Greek yogurt avocado chicken salad, and for dinner in dishes like this healthy grilled halibut with tomato avocado salsa. It’s one fruit you can always find on our kitchen countertops and one I never tire of. Not only are cool and creamy avocados totally delish, but they boast a plenty of health benefits. They’re a great source of healthy fats, potassium, antioxidants, and vitamin B6.
And while I do love a creamy avocado, sometimes I want a little crunch and this fried avocado taco recipe delivers it every time. Dredging the avocado slices in panko and frying gives them a crunchy outside with an irresistibly creamy interior. Frying the corn tortillas as well ensures these tacos have the ultimate crave-worthy crunch. Refried beans bring the protein, and tomatoes and cabbage bring freshness (and even more crunch). Finally, a drizzling of my homemade serrano cream sauce adds just the right amount of heat so I know I’m still in taco land.
What’s in These Avocado Tacos
For these tacos, you’ll need ingredients to make the avocado breading, as well as veggie accouterments and sauce ingredients. Here’s everything you’ll need:
- Avocados (choose avocados that are ripe but firm)
- Egg
- Milk
- Flour
- Panko bread crumbs
- Cayenne
- Chili powder
- Kosher salt
- Canola oil
- Corn tortillas
- Cotija cheese
- Refried black beans
- Cabbage
- Tomatoes (cherry or fresh, ripe tomatoes if in season)
For the Serrano Cream Sauce
This zesty sauce is the perfect blend of spice and tang and complements these fried avocado tacos perfectly. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Serrano chile pepper
- Cilantro
- Green onions
- Sour cream
- Limes
- Water
- Garlic salt
How to Make Avocado Tacos
These fried avocado tacos are so simple and come together in no time. Here’s how to make them:
Make the breading. In a shallow bowl whisk flour with cayenne, chili powder, and salt. In another shallow bowl, mix egg with milk. Then, in a separate shallow bowl, add the panko.
Prep the avocados. Cut the avocados in half, remove pits and slice halved avocados into 4 equal slices. With a large spoon, scoop out whole slices from the avocado peel. Set slices aside.
Fry it Up
Frying both the avocados and the corn tortillas gives these tacos the best crunch.
Fry the tortillas. Fry the corn tortillas in canola oil heated to 350ºF according to a deep fry or candy thermometer attached to the side of the pan. Let them drain over a large plate with paper towels.
Fry the avocados. One by one, dip avocado slices into the flour mixture, then the egg mixture, then toss gently in panko crumbs. Next, add the avocado slices to hot oil and fry in small batches until golden brown.
Make the creamy serrano sauce. Place the serrano pepper, cilantro, and green onions in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add remaining ingredients and blend. Add kosher or more lime juice to taste.
Assemble the tacos. Spread 1 to 2 spoonfuls of refried beans to the bottom of a taco shell, top with slivered cabbage, then stuff the shells with 2-3 fried avocado slices. Top with tomatoes, cotija cheese, and Serrano cream sauce, then top with cilantro. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve immediately.
Tips for Cooking with the Perfect Avocados
These are a few basic rules I go by to ensure I’ll be cooking with a perfectly ripe avocado:
- Buy them firm. I usually buy my avocados while still quite firm and allow 2-3 days of ripening power on the countertop before it’s time to eat or use for cooking.
- I never refrigerate a not-yet-ripened avocado, unless I want to stave off the ripening process.
- A hack for quick ripening: If I need to expedite my ripening time I’ll place the avocado in a paper bag with a banana. A hormone in bananas called ethylene speeds up the ripening process and within 12 to 24 hours I’ll have a ready-to-slice and devour avocado. With a touch of kosher salt, please.
- I don’t peel my avocados, but instead cut them in half from stem to stern, twist the halves in opposite directions and pull the sides apart resulting in one half with the pit and one pitless. From there it’s all about slicing, then using a spoon to spoon out the slivered sections.
- To prevent your avocado halves from browning, I’ve found the best way to store them is to set the unused section of the pitless half back onto the pitted side and set it in my refrigerator. They stay firm and ready to eat for several days afterward with no discoloration. I don’t even wrap it in plastic wrap or store it in a container. And yes I discovered this due to pure laziness and not wrapping a leftover. But I was delighted to find it made it so much easier to pull from the fridge, dash with kosher salt and eat. Are you detecting a pattern here?
What to Serve with Avocado Tacos
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on this recipe below and leave a comment, take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.
Avocado Tacos
Ingredients
For the Avocado Tacos
- 2 ripe but firm avocados
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup milk
- ½ cup flour
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- ½ teaspoon cayenne
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 cups canola oil
- 8-10 4- inch corn tortillas
- ½ cup cotija cheese , or feta
- 1 15 ounce can refried black beans , heated through
- 1 ½ cups slivered cabbage leaves
- ½ cup thinly sliced cherry or chopped tomatoes
- Serrano cream sauce , (recipe follows)
- cilantro leaves for garnish
For the Serrano Cream Sauce
- 1 serrano chile pepper , seeded and ribs removed
- ½ cup cilantro leaves
- 2 green onions , roughly chopped
- 1 cup sour cream
- juice of 2 limes
- 1 tablespoon water
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
Instructions
- In a shallow bowl whisk flour with cayenne, chili powder, and salt. In another shallow bowl, mix egg with milk. In another shallow bowl add panko.
- Cut the avocados in half, remove pits and slice halved avocados into 4 equal slices. With a large spoon, scoop out whole slices from the avocado peel. Set slices aside.
- In a large dutch oven, bring canola oil up to 350ºF according to a deep fry or candy thermometer attached to the side of the pan. Prepare a large plate with paper towels for draining taco shells. One at a time, add corn tortillas to the oil. Let tortillas heat for 20 seconds then using long-handled tongs, form tortillas into the shape of wide-bottomed shells. Cook for 30 seconds more, rotating to fry all sides, and remove from pan. Place on a paper towel-lined plate to drain and cool. Repeat until all shells are fried.
- Prepare another draining plate with a paper towel. One by one, dip avocado slices into the flour mixture, then the egg mixture, then toss gently in panko crumbs. Add avocado slices to hot oil and fry in small batches until golden brown, about 1 to 1 ½ minutes. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon or tongs and drain on a prepared plate with paper towels.
- Spread 1 to 2 spoonfuls of refried beans to the bottom of a taco shell, top with slivered cabbage, then stuff the shells with 2-3 fried avocado slices. Top with tomatoes, cotija cheese, and Serrano cream sauce. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve immediately.
For the Serrano Cream Sauce
- Add serrano pepper, cilantro, and green onions to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add remaining ingredients and blend. Add kosher or more lime juice to taste.
Nutrition
More Taco Recipes You’ll Love
- Breakfast Tacos
- Grilled Steak Tacos
- The Best Carnitas
- Just Like Taco Bell Tacos
- Taco Stuffed Avocados with Chipotle Cream
- Slow Cooker Smoky Pulled Pork Tacos
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Can we cook Taco with air fryer?
OH my gosh these look amazing!
What brand of tortillas do you use? They look great!
I just had to come back here and post a review of these tacos! They are outstanding! By far the best tacos I have made it ages. Viewers, don’t let the list of ingredients intimidate you. They are easy to make and come together nicely. The flavors are amazing and they will become a family favorite for sure! Thanks for sharing an awesome recipe, you made our Cinco de Mayo!
Almost forgot, THE SAUCE is the bomb! Holy yum! Make extra!
These were sooooo good as a dinner! And the sauce was just lovvveeee. Thanks for the grwat recipe!
I could happily subsist on avocado on toast with sea salt for the rest of my life, I think. These tacos look pretty amazing, too.
Genius, I once made avocado fries like this and the taste and texture are amazing, great idea to make a taco!
I would have never even thought to fry an avocado but it does look insanely appealing :)
I’m drooling at my desk here. These look amazing. I’ve never thought to fry avocado!
I adore avocados (just had them with brussel sprouts) but I love the idea of Tacos! Can’t wait to try!
I am avocados daily but never tried to fry it – i will have to try it out. Looks delicious!
OMG I want this soooo bad!! What a fabulous recipe!
I love avocados. Never thought of frying them, they look divine. What time is lunch being served?
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you have outdone yourself, my friend. these look outstanding!!
Can’t wait to try this! I have an avocado a day! Half in my green smoothie and the other in a salad….AND now in these tacos. Rocking recipe!
Do I hear my tummy saying, “Taco Tuesday, please!” Yes, yes I do.
I’m sitting here envisioning that crunchy yet creamy texture and it’s killing me! These sound so amazing and I’d love to have one. Tacos are totally on my menu this week.
Loretta you definitely need to give them a try. The panko makes them deliciously crunchy. Thanks for commenting.
I’ve shopped for the avocados and they are ready and waiting for tomorrow’s dinner. I wish it was tomorrow already!
Hi Veronica! So what’s your avocado ripening secret?
These sound amazing! We’ve been trying to cut meat out of our diet more and more, and this would be a great vegetarian dinner. Mmm.
Hi Sarah! They definitely work for a meatless Monday. Or Tuesday. Or Wednesday…
Why didn’t we have these for lunch? :)
Next time they’re on the menu!
That cream sauce sounds amazing! LOVE avocado :)
Love the idea! Had many avocado in my life, but never fried like this. Very interesting. Going to try out soon. Yum!
Holy cow. Where has this been all my life?
Oh my. I didn’t think I could enjoy a ripe avocado any more than simply smeared on toast with salt, but looky here! These sound unbelievably good, Heidi.
OMG! Fried avocado!!!! Love it! And I’m going to score big with my hubby with this recipe, thanks!
Amazing! There is a street food-style restaurant here in KC that serves various tacos and they have a tempura-battered avocado taco and it is the best. I can only imagine how good this is!
Oh, I love tempura. I toyed with making them with a beer battered, but these are lighter and crunchier. But you can’t go wrong with it either way.
What is the restaurant called? I want to check it out!
Wanna adopt me?
Only if you’ll adopt me back :) XO
These are unreal. YUM!!!
I am obsessed with avocados too. and looking at these fried ones- I am literally drooling, not fair
Amazing. I want these. Like, now.
Never had fried avocado! And now I want!
Wow… your photographs are stunning, Heidi!! I love the idea of using panko – I bet the avocado melts in your mouth.
This recipe looks amazing Heidi ~ I have only had fried avocado once and will never forget how amazing that experience was!
DUDE!! I was totally thinking of making the same recipe the other day!! Cannot wait to come up with my own version and then I’ll have two to switch back and forth between throughout the year
I am not a fan of avocados but man, I am craving these tacos! The crunchy-creamy combo has me intrigued!!
Oh my goodness! this looks amazing! and the Serrano Cream Sauce looks wonderful!!! :) Totally going to make this! thanks for sharing!
The serrano cream sauce is really good on just about anything. Let me know how you like it.
Holy. Crap. Yes.
I’m not usually an avocado girl, but I could get down with these fried avos!
Oh goodness me, these sound insanely delicious. I love the combination of flavours and textures in these.
In a sea of pumpkin and cupcakes lately, I am so happy to see some fried avo and tacos! Now THIS is looking especially good, Heidi..and I’m normally a cupcake and pumpkin girl :)
Ha! Yes, I’ve been in the pumpkin flow too. These are definitely a break from squash and cupcakes :)