With the rise of plant-based meals, you’ve probably heard of (and maybe even tried) some avocado-ingredient swaps to vegan-ify your dinner or dessert. The fruit's creamy texture, light sweetness, and subtle flavor make it easy to use as a butter or oil replacement when baking. But Jamie Oliver's avocado pastry dough is a bit different—unlike other recipes, the avocado doesn’t have other ingredients to hide behind.
In a bold move, Oliver shared his spring quiche recipe to his Instagram followers, which includes using two whole avocado instead of butter in the dough.
“It’s quite easy to manage,” Oliver remarks while rolling the pastry. Thanks to the fruits' creamy texture, the dough’s consistency turns out pretty similarly to your traditional pastry dough. “It works just like butter to bring the quiche dough together and cooks up an absolute dream,” he added in the caption.
The only other ingredients Oliver added were salt, flour, and water. This makes the color and light flavor of the avocado even more apparent. Yes, even after baking the quiche came out a lovely, pale green.
Instagram commenters did point out one potential problem home cooks might encounter with this swap: Avocados are known to turn bitter once heated. Even in a pastry dough, their flavor can change. Adhering to Oliver’s baking time is one of the more important parts of the recipe—if you bake the dough for too long, you won’t be able to avoid an overpowering taste.
But this also makes Oliver’s quiche the perfect dish for testing out this rendition. The more ingredients you have in a recipe that calls for an avocado replacement, the more they'll hide any bitterness. Plus, a savory pastry complements cooked avocado’s flavor more than a sweet one.
For the quiche itself, Oliver used frozen peas, herbs, and cheddar to create a smooth, spring green filling. He topped the dish with a light salad before trying it out. In the video, he shows that the pastry holds up and the flavor of the dish wasn’t changed by the dough alteration.
As with any viral video, comments are split overall on whether or not they agree with Oliver’s technique. But if you’re looking for a dairy-free dough or want to enjoy a plant-based pastry, this swap is just too clever to pass up.