How long does an avocado last?

An avocado could last from just a few days to a couple of months. This depends on whether it was ripe or unripe, cut or uncut, and place of storage like on the shelf, fridge, or freezer. Those stored in the fridge last a few days longer than those on the shelf but frozen avocados could last up to 6 months.

On your shelf and at room temperature, an unripe avocado can last up to 6 to 7 days. By this time they would’ve ripened and be ready to eat. For the most part, it could take 3 to 5 days for an avocado to ripen. By this time the avocado can still last another 24 hours on the shelf if fully ripe. After this they start going bad, you may want to find out how to tell when an avocado is bad.

If at the time of purchase, the avocado is only slightly ripe or starting to ripe, it could last up to 2 or 3 days on the shelf at room temperature. However, storing it in the fridge could make it last considerably longer as we’ll see in the sections below.

How long does avocado last in the fridge?

Avocados don’t last as many would like and their short shelf life often results in wastage. This makes refrigerating them a common practice as they last longer in a fridge.

Notwithstanding, it makes sense to refrigerate only cut or ripe avocados as refrigeration impairs the ripening process and sometimes an unripe one never ripens when refrigerated.

It’s very easy to tell a ripe from an unripe avocado as covered in an earlier article you may want to check out. How long your avocado lasts in the fridge depends on the state in which it was stored like if it was cut or uncut before storage.

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When uncut.

An uncut avocado with intact skin is protected from oxidation by its skin so it lasts longer than one with exposed flesh. An uncut but ripe avocado can last up to 4 or 5 days in the fridge but they are better eaten within 2 days for the best flavor or taste.

Avocados that are only just about beginning to ripe, at the time of refrigeration, may last for over 7 days in the fridge. This is because the ripening is slowed down by the cooler temperature in the fridge. After it ripens, it still takes a few days longer to go bad.

When cut.

A cut avocado will retain much of its freshness for up to 3 days in the fridge but measures have to be taken to slow down oxidation as much as possible. We’ll discuss the best ways of keeping a cut avocado fresh in the section below.

Without these measures, it could turn brown quickly thereby losing its appeal and flavor before you know it. It may be better that you leave the seed intact in the part you want to store for later use except where you want to protect the flesh with plastic wrap. The seed prevents the exposure of the surface it covers from oxidation and subsequent browning.

Avocado seeds are often discarded but they have numerous industrial uses with potential for health benefits as well. You may want to find out more in a previous article where we discussed the benefits of avocado seeds which include industrial and cosmetic uses as published in the National Library of Medicine (NLM).¹

Ripe and cut avocados can last for several weeks if frozen without the need for extra measures aside from lacing them with some lemon juice. You can thaw them when needed.

When mashed.

How long a mashed avocado lasts will depend on if it was bought mashed or homemade. Whereas homemade mashed avocados can last up to 3 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container, the one you buy from a store can last up to a week especially when it hasn’t been opened. This is because the store-bought ones contain preservatives.

Mashed avocados are better frozen. In this state, they last the longest. When frozen they could last as much as 6 months which is way longer than any other storage option.

Do avocados go bad in the fridge?

Yes, avocados could go bad anywhere including the fridge and even the freezer if stored longer than 6 months. The cooler fridge temperature only keeps it fresh longer than is possible on the shelf but eventually, it goes bad no matter the extra preventive measures taken.

Everything has an expiry date and avocados are no exemption even when they contain added preservatives. For the longest storage time you may want to get them frozen instead but only do this with ripe or mashed avocados. When frozen they could last for 2 to 6 months.

How to keep an avocado fresh after cutting.

Several measures have been described on how to keep an avocado fresh after cutting. Most of these focus on preventing or reducing browning as much as possible. However, most methods affect the flavor or taste of the stored avocado such that you’ll have to trade the flavor with maintaining the appealing green color of the flesh.

An experiment was conducted to compare five different methods, apart from the placebo, of keeping a cut avocado fresh in the fridge to find out which gives the best result with the least effect on the taste.

Methods tested were:

1. A control or placebo method of leaving the cut avocado uncovered or unprotected.
2. Storing the avocado with the cut surface immersed in an uncovered bowl of water.
3. Storing in a sealed container, with a piece of onion.
4. Lacing the cut surface with olive oil before storing it in a sealed container.
5. Brush the cut surface with lemon juice, before storing it in a sealed container.
6. Wrapping the avocado with plastic placed tightly against the exposed flesh.

After 4 days, the avocados were analyzed by sight and taste.

Storing without any measures to combat browning was found to be the worst of the 5 methods even though it didn’t start turning brown until after the end of the first 24 hours or a full day. The pear retained much of its flavor up till the 4th day but dried out considerably in comparison to other methods.

Immersing the cut surface in water made the flesh waterlogged which affected the flavor but the browning was reduced. The avocado sealed with a piece of onion appeared mostly green at the end of the experiment but had an onion taste.

Olive oil was able to help the avocado stay green significantly but it accumulated at the center of the pit’s crater. The lemon juice had a similar effect on preventing the browning but scored higher by not accumulating in the fruit’s crater.

Of all the above-listed methods, the best was found to be wrapping the cut avocado with plastic with the wrap firmly against the surface of the exposed flesh. What particularly gave it its top spot was that there was no observable drying effect on the surface at the end of day 4. The surface was kept moist.

All other storage methods apart from the last one on the list had some drying effect on the avocado. Methods like water immersion and storing with a piece of onion hurt the flavor.

Lacing it with lemon juice left the fruit tasting just as great as that wrapped with plastic. At the end of the experiment, they were ranked just in the order they are listed above. The last on the list is the best of them all and the first is the worst as shown in the table below.

I hope you now know where to begin when looking for the best ways of keeping your cut avocado fresh for later use. If you found this piece helpful don’t hesitate to share and ask any other question you may have. Meanwhile, you may want to find out the nutritional value of avocados that makes them worth the stress of storing them properly.

Reference

1. Bangar, S. P., Dunno, K., Dhull, S. B., Siroha, A. K., Changan, S., Maqsood, S., & Rusu, A. V. (2022). Avocado seed discoveries: Chemical composition, biological properties, and industrial food applications. Food Chemistry: X, 16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fochx.2022.100507 ↩︎