Chipotle Guacamole Recipe: The Six Ingredients Chipotle Published
Almost every Chipotle copycat recipe is somebody guessing. This one is not. Chipotle published its guacamole recipe itself, with exact quantities, and then its executive chef filmed himself making it. So the only honest job left is to give you those quantities, add the technique detail from the video that the written recipe leaves out, and be clear about the one place where the recipe Chipotle gave home cooks differs from what it actually serves.
⬇️ Jump straight to the recipe
Chipotle own guacamole recipe is six ingredients: 2 ripe Hass avocados, 2 tsp lime juice, 2 tbsp chopped cilantro, 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion, 1/2 jalapeno with the seeds in, and 1/4 tsp kosher salt. Coat the avocado in lime before salting and mashing. Chipotle publishes no yield — two avocados makes about a cup. In its restaurants each batch uses 48 avocados, hand-mashed through the day.
- Chipotle published this recipe itself — the quantities are not guesswork.
- Six ingredients, confirmed again in a 2026 Chipotle press release.
- The jalapeno seeds stay in. Chipotle recipe says so explicitly.
- Lime goes on before the salt, and before any mashing.
- Use a large metal whisk — the tool Chipotle own chef uses on camera.
- The restaurant version adds lemon juice. The home recipe does not.
The Recipe Chipotle Published
Chipotle put this on its own website in May 2015, at a page it has since taken down — that URL now returns a 404. In April 2020 its executive chef, Chad Brauze, made the same recipe on camera for Chipotle official Instagram account. And in July 2026 Chipotle confirmed the ingredient list again in a press release, verbatim:
So the ingredient list is not in dispute. What follows are the quantities as Chipotle published them.
Ingredients
- 2 ripe Hass avocados
- 2 tsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
- 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
- 1/2 jalapeno, finely chopped, seeds included
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Pick the avocado. Choose fruit that is slightly soft but still firm, with dark green flesh inside. Chipotle calls this out first, before any technique, because it is the only step you cannot correct later.
- Halve and pit. Cut each avocado in half and carefully remove the pit.
- Scoop. Scoop the flesh into a medium bowl.
- Coat with lime. Toss the avocado with the lime juice so every surface is coated. This happens before the salt and before mashing.
- Salt and mash. Add the kosher salt and mash until smooth. Chipotle 2015 recipe says a fork or potato masher; its executive chef uses a large metal whisk, which is the better tool.
- Fold in the rest. Add the cilantro, red onion and jalapeno and fold them through rather than mashing them in.
- Taste, then taste again. Chipotle instruction is to taste and adjust the seasoning repeatedly rather than once at the end.
Recipe Notes
- The jalapeno seeds stay in. Chipotle recipe specifies seeds included, which is unusual and is where most of the heat lives.
- Chipotle publishes no yield for this recipe. Two avocados gives about a cup in our kitchen, which is roughly four of its 4 oz restaurant portions cut in half.
- The restaurant version is not identical to this one. Chipotle own ingredient statement for the menu item lists lemon juice as well as lime.
- Press cling film directly onto the surface to store. Air is what browns guacamole, not the missing pit.
Estimated Nutrition
Calculated estimate for one serving of this home recipe, not a Chipotle figure. It will shift with your brands, cuts and portioning.
Two things about that recipe are worth noticing before you make it. The lime goes on before the salt and before any mashing — Chipotle sequences it that way, and it is not how most recipes do it. And the aromatics are folded in at the end, not mashed with the avocado, which is what keeps the onion crisp instead of weeping into the mixture.
The Technique the Written Recipe Leaves Out
The 2015 written recipe says to mash with a fork or potato masher. The 2020 video shows something different and better.
This matters because the two common alternatives both fail in predictable ways:
| Tool | What you get |
|---|---|
| Large metal whisk | Smooth with chunks — the restaurant texture |
| Fork | Works, but slow, and tends toward either lumpy or over-worked |
| Potato masher | Fine, slightly more uniform than a fork |
| Food processor or blender | Avoid. Gives a smooth purée with no texture at all |
Chipotle word for what it does is hand-mashed, which it uses deliberately and repeatedly — including the line that it hand-mashes in restaurant kitchens rather than serving a pre-packaged product. A machine is the one route that cannot produce the thing being described.
Where the Restaurant Version Differs
Here is the detail that no other copycat page carries, because it requires reading two Chipotle sources against each other.
The home recipe Chipotle published lists lime juice. Chipotle own ingredient statement for the guacamole it sells lists something slightly different:
| Chipotle home recipe | Chipotle menu item | |
|---|---|---|
| Avocado | 2 ripe Hass | Avocado |
| Onion | 1/4 cup red onion | Red onion |
| Chilli | 1/2 jalapeno, seeds in | Jalapenos |
| Herb | 2 tbsp cilantro | Cilantro |
| Citrus | Lime juice | Lemon juice and lime juice |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp kosher | Salt |
What to do with that: if you want the recipe Chipotle gave home cooks, use lime, exactly as written. If you want the flavour of the guacamole in the restaurant, split the citrus — 1 tsp lime juice and 1 tsp lemon juice. Lemon is rounder and less aggressively perfumed than lime, and the half-and-half version tastes noticeably closer to the tub on the counter.
One honest caveat we apply to every page in this silo: the per-item ingredient lists are published on Chipotle UK site, because UK labelling law requires that disclosure. Chipotle US site does not publish equivalent lists. UK and US formulations may differ.
Why the Seeds Stay In
Chipotle recipe says half a jalapeno, finely chopped, seeds included. That phrasing is deliberate and it runs against the standard advice in almost every other guacamole recipe, which tells you to scrape the seeds out.
The practical effect is a low background warmth rather than heat you would call spicy. Chipotle guacamole is not a spicy item — it does not appear anywhere on our heat scale of the menu — but it is not flat either, and the seeds are the reason.
Two adjustments if you need them:
- Less heat: deseed the jalapeno but keep the full half. You lose the warmth, not the flavour.
- More heat: use a whole jalapeno with seeds, or add a little of the hot salsa. Our salsa recipes cover the hot one.
Note also that guacamole is free on veggie and sofritas builds at Chipotle, which is the one case where it costs nothing — our guacamole cost guide has the current upcharge for everything else.
Homemade vs the Restaurant Figures
Chipotle publishes real numbers for its guacamole. Ours are calculated estimates for the home recipe, and we are labelling them that way rather than presenting them as equivalents.
| This recipe, per 1/4 cup | Chipotle, per 4 oz | |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | ~125 (estimate) | 230 |
| Fat | ~11 g | 22 g |
| Carbohydrate | ~7 g | 8 g |
| Fibre | ~5 g | 6 g |
| Protein | ~2 g | 2 g |
| Sodium | ~125 mg | 370 mg |
The portions are not the same size, so read the shape rather than the gap: a quarter cup is roughly half of Chipotle 4 oz scoop, and on that basis the calories and fat land in almost exactly the same place. Sodium is where homemade wins outright — a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt across the whole batch is far less than Chipotle uses, and you can cut it further.
For context on where guacamole sits against everything else on the line, see our toppings and ingredients guide, and for sodium across the menu our sodium guide.
Five Ways Copycats Get It Wrong
- Adding garlic, cumin, tomato or sour cream. None of them are in it. Chipotle guacamole is six ingredients and has been for over a decade. Anything else is a different dip.
- Deseeding the jalapeno. Chipotle recipe keeps the seeds. This is the most commonly dropped instruction.
- Salting before the lime. Chipotle sequence is lime, then salt, then mash. Reversing it is not fatal but it is not the published method.
- Using a blender. Hand-mashed is the whole point, and a machine cannot produce the texture Chipotle describes.
- Using whatever avocado is in the bowl. Chipotle specifies Hass, and says so because it considers them the creamiest variety. Its first instruction is about picking the fruit, before any technique.
Pair it with homemade chips — Chipotle calls that combination iconic in its own marketing, and it published the chip method too.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Chipotle guacamole recipe?
Chipotle published it itself: 2 ripe Hass avocados, 2 teaspoons lime juice, 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, a quarter cup of finely chopped red onion, half a jalapeno finely chopped with the seeds included, and a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt. The order matters — the avocado is coated in the lime juice first, then salted and mashed, and the onion, cilantro and jalapeno are folded in at the end.
Did Chipotle really release its guacamole recipe?
Yes, twice. It went up on chipotle.com in May 2015, and in April 2020 Chipotle executive chef Chad Brauze made it on camera for Chipotle official Instagram account. The 2015 page has since been taken down and now returns a 404, but Chipotle confirmed the same six ingredients again in a newsroom release in July 2026.
How many avocados does Chipotle use?
Forty-eight per batch, several times a day, hand-mashed in the restaurant kitchen. Chipotle has stated that number consistently for over a decade — on its original recipe page, in its 2026 avocado day release, and on its Canadian homepage, which leads with the line about starting with 48 perfect avocados.
Does Chipotle guacamole have lime or lemon in it?
Both, in the restaurant. This is the one real discrepancy between the recipe Chipotle gave home cooks and the product it sells. The home recipe lists lime juice only. Chipotle own ingredient statement for the menu item lists citrus juice as lemon juice and lime juice — and the same lemon-plus-lime pairing shows up in its rice, its beans and its tomato salsa.
Should you leave the jalapeno seeds in?
Chipotle recipe says to, and the wording is specific: half a jalapeno, finely chopped, seeds included. Most guacamole recipes tell you to deseed. Leaving them in is why Chipotle guacamole has a faint背 warmth rather than being purely creamy, and it is the easiest instruction to accidentally ignore.
What is the best tool for mashing guacamole?
Chipotle written recipe says a fork or potato masher. Its executive chef, on camera, uses a large metal whisk — the wires break the avocado halves down quickly while leaving some texture, which is harder to achieve with a fork and nearly impossible with a food processor. If you own a whisk, use the whisk.
How many calories are in homemade Chipotle guacamole?
About 125 per quarter cup by our calculation, which is an estimate rather than a Chipotle figure. For reference, Chipotle own published figure for a 4 oz portion of its guacamole is 230 calories with 22g of fat, 6g of fibre and 370mg of sodium. Homemade comes out lower in sodium because you control the salt.
How do you stop guacamole going brown?
Cover the surface, not the bowl. Press cling film down onto the guacamole so no air touches it. Browning is oxidation, so the pit trick does nothing except shield the small patch it covers. The lime juice in the recipe also slows it, which is part of why it goes on first.
Methodology
The recipe and quantities on this page are Chipotle own, published on chipotle.com in October 2026 and posted again as a video by Chipotle executive chef Chad Brauze on Chipotle official Instagram account in October 2026. That original recipe page now returns a 404, so the quantities are cited as Chipotle published them and as widely reproduced at the time. The six-ingredient list, the 48-avocado batch size and the hand-mashed claim are confirmed in Chipotle own newsroom release of 27 October 2026. The ingredient list for the menu item comes from Chipotle published ingredient statement. Chipotle publishes no yield for the home recipe, so the yield given here is our own measurement and is labelled as such. Nutrition for the home recipe is a calculated estimate, not a Chipotle figure.
