We Tried the Avocado Storage Hack That Claims to Keep Ripe Avocados Fresh for Days

Getty Images/Jupiterimages

Avocados make you work for their love. The perfect piece of avocado toast or bowl of guacamole is at the mercy of whichever day your avocados decide to ripen up—and then, that window of time is short before the avocados turn on you, going from bright green to murky brown in the matter of hours. With avocados, it's always like you're hurrying to wait and waiting to hurry. All real love is worth a little work, though.

While there are certain avocado storage tricks that people swear by—such as the Guac-Lock for keeping leftover guacamole from going bad—I recently came across one on TikTok that I'd never heard of. I was curious enough to try it for myself, seeing as I had already been working my way through a big bag of avocados from Costco (the hands-down best avocados for your money, by the way).

The method seemed simple enough: You're supposed to submerge whole avocados in cool water in an airtight container and place it in the refrigerator. Leave the container there until you're ready to use. Take it out, dry off the avocados, and enjoy. Luckily, I was heading out on a long weekend trip and had three almost-ripe avocados to conduct a home experiment while I was gone. To measure out the success, I left one avocado out on the counter, one in the vegetable drawer in the fridge, and one submerged in a Tupperware filled with cold water.

When I left, the avocados were still partially green, but turning dark in some areas. In true fashion of the fabulously reliable Costco avocado section, they were already getting slightly tender to the touch. Not soft, but tender enough to feel my fingers indent when gently squeezing them—perhaps two days away from being near perfectly ripe. I had been storing them previously in the fridge in hopes of adding them slowly into different recipes throughout the week.

Timeline: I began the experiment on Wednesday, a day before I was leaving town. I returned late Sunday and did not check the results until Monday, around five days after embarking on the avocado mission. To say the least, the three avocados had aged quite differently.

Avocado #1: The avocado that I left out on the counter was very dark and very squishy. When I cut it open, it was brown on the inside. Ick.

Avocado #2: The avocado that I had put in the vegetable drawer in the refrigerator was dark in color, very soft to the touch, and somehow still perfectly green on the inside. Edible, creamy, delicious—I had definitely opened it at the fleeting moment of peak ripeness. Those Costco avocados never disappoint. If left another day, it probably would have started turning brown.

Avocado #3: To my surprise, the avocado that was submerged whole in water in an airtight container hadn't aged at all. There were no visible changes that I could tell upon first glance. If only retinol could do as good of a job. When I cut it in half, it wasn't even ripe enough yet! Visually, it was gorgeous and bright green. However, it was too firm to enjoy, and the seed wouldn't budge from the center. While I was disappointed that it wasn't ready to eat, I was impressed that the storage hack had worked, albeit a little too well. (See below for how it looked inside after five days stored in water.)

Kaitlyn Yarborough

To further test the theory, I placed the avocado halves back into the water face-down to see if it would help them not brown while I waited another day for them to ripen. While it did help rather well with minimal browning, it made the avocado a little slimy-feeling in texture for my personal preference the next day. I don't recommend it.

All in all, I'll probably be using this method in the future when all of my Costco avocados start ripening at the same time and my appetite can't keep up. Next time, I'll be pulling them out of the water for a day or two before I plan to eat them to ensure they have time to fully ripen. Here's to more guac and less rot.