Celeb Chef Bobby Flay Has One Major Rule For Guacamole

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The vast majority of the time, we're picking up what Bobby Flay is throwing down. His unique step for better fried chicken (spoiler: it has something to do with the buttermilk bath) is a game-changer. Flay's trick for perfectly melted cheese on burgers is so good, it gives us goosebumps. We're not quite so sure about his take on guacamole, however ... and we suspect we won't be the only people with strong opinions about it.

In a social media clip that appears on multiple platforms, Flay discusses Super Bowl snacks and dives right into his recipe for guac. It's really simple, actually: Hass avocado, fresh lime juice, diced red onion, your choice of chili pepper, and plenty of cilantro. Maybe a little salt, pepper, and canola oil for consistency. But Flay absolutely does not use — he's really clear about this — tomatoes. What? 

@bobby_flay_

5-ingredient guacamole... NO tomatoes! #SuperBowl #fyp #Guacamole #Recipe

♬ original sound – Bobby Flay

Flay insists that tomatoes only muddy the clean, fresh taste of guacamole and that the freshest, ripest tomatoes aren't available during most parts of the year, meaning that the specimens at the grocery store are sad and mealy. Ubiquitous Tex-Mex fast food giant Taco Bell adds a surprising ingredient to its guacamole, and some celebrity chefs swear by secret inclusions, but Flay's "secret" is what he leaves out. In the clip, he admits that this approach to the beloved Mexican condiment is polarizing, to say the least, and shares that several of his acquaintances have taken him to task for omitting tomatoes.

Flay knows he's being controversial here, as tomatoes are a common addition to guac. Indeed, quite a few Mexicans have written online that they happily add tomatoes to their guacamole. As one poster on r/mexicanfood said, "My mom was born and raised in Durango. She has made guacamole with diced tomatoes my entire life. My dad was born and raised in Jalisco. When he was alive, he would also make guacamole with tomatoes." They then acknowledged that Mexico is a big place with a diverse array of culinary traditions, so it's not as if they were speaking for the entire nation.

If you are in the camp that firmly adheres to the mantra "guacamole is incomplete without tomatoes," you might be surprised to learn that the internet is ripe (pun fully intended) with folks who feel the same way Flay does. They actually go so far as to say that tomatoes ruin guac! Some write that they feel tomatoes ruin the taste and consistency of the guacamole and that they are simply not good when they aren't in season. Others have gone even harder and slammed the fruit, saying it was nothing more than filler that ruined the experience of eating guac. It was a sentiment echoed on Quora: "I can accept tomatoes in chunky guacamole, but they need to be ripe (preferably not store bought as stores carry unripe tomatoes that appear ripe) but it's not something I would add to guacamole." Maybe we owe Bobby Flay an apology for doubting his wisdom?