~ This Healthy Avocado Toast with Smoked Salmon is a luxuriously delicious way to fuel up for a busy day! Ready in just minutes, it’s bursting with fresh and satisfying flavors, and a tantalizing range of textures. Perfect for busy-morning breakfasts or laid-back weekend brunches … or even for quick lunches and speedy weeknight dinners! ~

This Recipe Is:   •  Ready in 30 Minutes or Less  •

So you made a New Year’s Resolution to eat healthier. (Am I right?) But, at this point in the shiny New Year, that goal is already losing its luster … and you’re getting bored with some of those healthy foods you’ve been eating. (Am I right again?) 

Well, I’m here to rescue you! (imagine trumpet fanfare as the hero arrives on a galloping horse)

Here at THK, we 100% believe you don’t have to compromise great flavor in exchange for healthy eating. Nope! Nutrition shouldn’t taste like cardboard (or worse)! (Seriously, guys – try any of our recipes if you don’t believe me!)

So, today I’m gonna breathe fresh life into that New Year’s “Healthy Eating” Resolution with this …

Healthy Avocado Toast Recipe!

(insert more of the heroic trumpet fanfare here)

I know when you think “avocado toast” you probably think “summer.” BUT, the fresh, vibrant flavors of this avocado toast recipe are awesome year ’round! Plus, I knew you guys would LOVE to have this recipe to try right now, since it’s a bit like the Easy Smoked Salmon Breakfast Wrap my mom shared with you on a bleak February day a couple of years ago (and which was soooooo popular, especially on Pinterest!). I guess when people make healthy eating resolutions, they immediately start making salmon recipes.

So, for real, guys. DON’T WAIT! Avocado toast is January food, too! No compromises … no broken Resolutions! (High-five!)

We’re talkin’:

• Warm, crunchy toast (full of whole grains and fiber!) topped with …
• Rich, creamy avocado slices (yay, healthy fats!) and …
• Luxurious, protein-packed smoked salmon (look at you, eating more fish!) plus …
• Juicy tomatoes, superfood spinach, and a flavorful hit of green onions and capers (produce! produce! produce!)

A nutrition win that tastes like a high-end, (or, as my mom would say) fancy-schmancy brunch. Definitely not an “I’ve made a healthy eating resolution and so now I’m eating cardboard” meal! 

But wait. Do I need to back up for just a sec? Maybe you’ve never tried avocado toast? (If so, we need to fix that ASAP!) Maybe you’re curious about the basics, about …

What Is Avocado Toast?

It’s not hard to guess (hint, hint: the name is a giveaway) – but I’ll clarify …

Avocado toast is when you (… wait for it …) put avocado on toast! It’s pretty much that simple.

Warm, crunchy toast gets topped with rich, creamy avocado – an incredibly satisfying combination of textures, yet perfectly simple (and nutritious!). 

But the great thing about avocado toast is that the fun doesn’t have to end there! The toast and avocado provide a perfect base for plenty of delicious flavor combinations. (Hint: try our Breakfast Avocado Toast with Egg and Sausage, too!)

Feel free to use our tried-and-true recipes as inspiration, and then get crazy and swap out ingredients or even make up your own version. That’s the beauty of avocado toast. Quick, delicious, nutritious, and so easy to make it just how you like it!

But Why is Avocado Toast Great for Breakfast?

To keep your whole (healthy!) day on track, you’ve got to start with a nutritious breakfast. (Or if you’re a teenage boy like me and you don’t wake up ’til noon … a nutritious lunch.)

A power breakfast like this will get you through busy mornings, without an attack of the hungry-munchies. Without temptation from that vending machine in the cafeteria, or the doughnuts beckoning from the Dunkin’ drive-through you just passed.

Why? Because avocado toast has the trifecta of keep-you-full nutrients: fiber-rich whole grains, protein, and good-for-you fats.

Pair this breakfast with some fresh fruit, and you might just get superpowers (or at least feel like it)! Bye-bye, hungry-munchies (and broken resolutions)!

You know what, though? All those same virtues also make avocado toast a good choice for lunch (maybe with a salad or a steaming bowl of soup). And, it’s even a quick-fix dinner solution for hectic evenings.  There’s really no wrong time of day.

So let’s get into a few details for making this recipe … 

What Bread is Best for Avocado Toast?

Well, if you’re committed to making this recipe healthy (to fit your New Year’s Resolution in January or to keep your swimsuit bod going in the summer), then finding a tasty, healthy bread is important. A whole grain bread not only offers the best nutrition and the keep-you full benefits of complex carbs and fiber … it’s usually also the most texturally interesting choice. Breads that have lots of grains, nuts and seeds are a great combo with the smooth, silky salmon and avocado.

My family likes the seed-filled, whole grain varieties of Dave’s Killer Bread, because they’re easy to find at most grocery stores and they’re sturdy enough to hold all of the toppings we pile on. They’re also a little bigger than typical sandwich breads, so they’re perfect for an “open face sandwich” like avocado toast. And, they taste great! For this particular recipe, we used Dave’s Powerseed (which looks like this).

Another terrific choice is a hearty whole-grain bread from a local bakery.

No matter what bread you choose, though, it’s very important to toast your bread for the right amount of time. I recommend lightly toasted, so it’s warm and just a little crispy. You don’t want it to be hardened and dried out.

Picking the Freshest Produce

Ok – now that you’ve got the perfect bread for you avocado toast, let’s talk about the produce. This recipe relies on such simple, clean ingredients that, in order to get the best taste, it’s important to choose the best produce you can find.

• Avocado: You’ll know it’s ripe if it has a little bit of give when you squeeze it gently or press lightly near the stem. Too hard and you need to let it ripen on the counter for a day or two, too soft and it’s probably overripe. If you’re using the avocado today, you want a softer avocado, but, if you’re planning on using the avocado in a few days, buy a firm one that will soften over those few days. If needed, you can slow the ripening process by transferring nicely ripened avocados to the fridge to give yourself a few more days to use them up.

• Tomato: Finding a good tomato in the off-season is the trickiest part of this recipe. Great tomatoes can be tough to find in winter, at least here in Ohio – but it’s worth it to scout out the very best, most flavorful tomato you can find. And trust me … when you make this again in the summer, a gorgeous, garden-fresh tomato will turn the greatest recipe into a greater-est one! A nice color of red, not too hard, and a faintly tomato-ey smell are ideal.

• Spinach: I usually use bagged, baby spinach. Whether you choose bulk or bagged, avoid wilty leaves and make sure that you buy spinach that’s as fresh-looking as possible, because it’ll only get older sitting in your fridge. (Nobody likes old, mushy spinach! Yuck!)

• Green onions: Make sure they look fairly clean and fresh, with firm, white bulb ends and no wilty green tops.

Hmmmmm … Sliced Avocado on Avocado Toast???

You’ve probably seen avocado toast with mashed avocado, right? Even though sliced avocado isn’t as common, we decided to go with sliced for this recipe because it so perfectly compliments the smoked salmon by adding an extra layer of texture.

The sliced avocado somehow adds to the luxurious feel of the whole smoked salmon and capers thing going on here. (And trust me … it’s great for Instagram photos! Hint: tag Two Healthy Kitchens 😉 )

I found that it’s easiest to slice the avocado by first cutting it in half. Then, I remove the pit. Leave the skin on the avocado, and place it flat-side down. Then, cut it into thin slices and remove the skin from each slice before fanning them all beautifully across the top of your toast.

And, super-important: don’t forget to add a pinch of salt over top of the sliced avocado, before piling on the other ingredients (it improves the flavor soooo much, trust me).

If you’re really not feeling the whole ‘sliced avocado’ thing, though, you can mash it up, too! If you go that route, I’d recommend mixing the salt into the mashed avocado instead of sprinkling it on top.

The Final, Super-Important Tip

One last important tip before you head to the kitchen.

Be sure to get all your ingredients prepped and ready before you put your bread in the toaster. You really want to serve this up while the toast is still warm. That way, you not only get a gorgeous combo of textures, but also a fantastic range of temperatures – from warm toast to cold smoked salmon. So awesome!

Ok – got new enthusiasm for that healthy-eating resolution? All you need is a little fresh inspiration (and this avocado toast)!

Because those New Year’s Resolutions don’t have to be a temporary, I-ate-too-many-cookies-at-Christmas thing. And they don’t have to get boring! No cardboard food, my friends! No cardboard!

You really can keep your healthy eating vows going strong all throughout the year. And, for sure – you really can make this luxuriously healthy avocado toast recipe all year long – it’s a healthy jump-start to your day, and to a long-term, healthy eating game plan! Enjoy!