By Heath Goldman for Food Network Kitchen

Heath Goldman is a culinary editor at Food Network

The short answer is yes, you can freeze guacamole. But there’s a lot you should know before doing so, including what type of guacamole to freeze, how to freeze it and how to use it when it’s thawed.

The Internet is pretty divided about whether it’s okay to freeze guacamole. Some websites claim that you can freeze guacamole very well; others insist that you shouldn’t because it’ll lose its luscious flavor and texture. In fact, there are multiple Reddit threads devoted to the topic, with people falling in one camp or the other. The only way to truly get to the bottom of this question was to freeze some guac.

We froze two types of guacamole: One simple guacamole containing lime juice, salt, pepper and cilantro, and a chunkier one with tomato, onion and jalapeno added. To freeze the guacamole, we transferred freshly made guacamole to resealable plastic bags and pressed every last bit of air out. Then we froze the bags for one week. To thaw, we moved the bags to the refrigerator overnight.

Here were the results. Both guacamoles came out of the freezer looking pretty green. The simple guacamole, however, fared far better than the chunky one.

The simple guacamole retained the creamy, luscious texture we know and love in guacamole. It did lose that "fresh avocado" flavor that perfectly ripe avocados have. In fact, it didn’t really taste like much at all.

The chunky guac was quite watery when it was thawed, making for a guacamole that had a slightly broken texture. It had a slightly off flavor as well. Watery ingredients like tomato and onion are notoriously hard to freeze (which is why we made two batches of guac in the first place), and they affected the overall texture of the entire dip.

For the reasons we talk through above, here’s our final decision about freezing guacamole. We recommend freezing simple guacamole with minimal watery ingredients (tomato, onion, and jalapeno) and using it in dishes that have lots of other flavors going on like tacos or burritos. The frozen, thawed guacamole will give you the suggestion of guac without having to totally shine on its own — as it would if you served it as dip with tortilla chips.

Related Links:

Our Best Avocado Recipes

Easy Appetizers for Any Occasion

Our Favorite Taco Recipes