Savory, fresh, and deliciously colorful, this avocado toast features crispy prosciutto, fresh tomato, red onion, and a bright pesto to create a healthy and light meal!
Avocado Toast, Delicious Enough to Make It a Meal
Rich, creamy, and deliciously decadent—those are the words I would use to describe the glorious qualities of a perfectly ripe avocado, that highly prized piece of delectable produce.
Fresh avocado is wonderful to enjoy whether it is simply cubed, turned into a plated salad, mashed into guacamole, or sprinkled with salt and a drizzle of lemon or lime; but when it is sliced and paired with a few other bright and colorful ingredients to create avocado toast, it becomes a simple-yet-exquisite culinary pleasure for me.
Avocado toast, so easy to prepare, is a beautiful and simple way to enjoy healthy food, and get all of those good, necessary fats, vitamins and minerals that we all know we need, without sacrificing the most important thing of all when it comes to food: the flavor.
When avocado toast is prepared with perfectly ripe avocado, a couple of slices of juicy heirloom tomato, a whisper of red onion, plus the wonderfully salty and savory bite of crisped up prosciutto, it is clean eating at its best.
It is also definitely delicious enough to make a complete meal out of, leaving nothing to be desired... except perhaps more avocado toast! 😉
How To Make Avocado Toast
A delicious avocado toast recipe calls for good quality rustic bread, lightly toasted, and balanced with something savory, perhaps slightly sweet, and finished with a little acidity. For me, those delightful flavors are found in crisped prosciutto, freshly sliced tomatoes, and thinly sliced red onion.
And because I love an earthy and easy pesto sauce, one made with fresh herbs, garlic, good olive oil and perhaps a few sunflower seeds for texture, I drizzle it over top of avocado toast as a tangy finishing touch.
Here's my own avocado toast recipe at a glance:
- To toast my bread, I brush a small amount of olive oil over it and toast it until golden-brown either under my broiler, in a large toaster oven, or even directly over the flames of my gas range (this creates that bit of char around the edges—I love that!).
- Next, I crisp my prosciutto for a couple of minutes on each side in a large skillet over high heat, just until it curls up at the edges.
- I build the avocado toast by simply by layering a slice of crisp prosciutto, followed by thin slices of fresh avocado, a couple of slices of tomato and a few thin wisps of red onion; then, I drizzle over a spoonful of my easy pesto.
(My full recipe is below...)
This avocado toast comes together in just a few minutes with only a small handful of ingredients, but the flavors and the presentation are deliciously bold and feed not only the appetite, but the eyes as well!
Tips & Tidbits for Avocado Toast Recipe:
- Rustic bread is best: I love ciabatta bread because it is nice and hearty, and toasts up well; and because it is slightly chewy, offers a nice texture perfect for avocado toast.
- Colorful tomatoes: The large, bright heirloom tomatoes that are both yellow and red are my favorite for this recipe because they offer a lovely pop of extra flavor. But feel free to use whatever variety of tomato is sweetest and most ripe, or the kind you enjoy most.
- Prosciutto, the extra touch: A slice of salty and crispy prosciutto is such a treat to add to avocado toast, and provides a bit of depth and smoky flavor; but feel free to leave it off if you would like to prepare these as a vegetarian option.
- Homemade pesto, or store-bought: I offer a little recipe for a cilantro-sunflower seed pesto as part of my avocado toast recipe, but feel free to use store-bought for convenience, or even skip it altogether. You can substitute a sprinkle of fresh cilantro, a drizzle of good olive oil, and a tiny squeeze of lemon instead.
Feast your eyes on these, or just jump to the recipe:
Recipe
Avocado Toast
by Ingrid Beer

Category: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Yield: 4 toasts
Nutrition Info: 410 calories (per toast)
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 8 minutes (to crisp prosciutto and toast the bread)
Total time: 28 minutes
Avocado Toast Ingredients:
• 4 thick slices ciabatta bread
• Olive oil (about 1 tablespoon)
• 4 slices of prosciutto
• 1 avocado, halved, peeled and pitted, and sliced very thinly into 16 slices
• 1 large yellow heirloom tomato, sliced into 8 thin slices
• 1 large red heirloom tomato, sliced into 8 thin slices
• ¼ red onion, very thinly sliced
Pesto Ingredients:
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
• 2 tablespoons roasted and salted sunflower seeds
• 2 ½ tablespoons lime juice
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
-To prepare the pesto, place the garlic clove, the cilantro leaves and the sunflower seeds into the bowl of a food processor, and pulse a few times; add the lime juice, the sea salt and black pepper and pulse a few more times to incorporate; then, with the processor running, drizzle in the olive oil and process until well combined and fairly smooth; set aside. (Any unused portion can be served with eggs, or over salad!)
-To prepare the avocado toast, brush each slice of ciabatta bread with a little of the olive oil, and toast the slices until golden and set aside. (I toasted mine directly over the flame on my gas stove.)
-Crisp the prosciutto by heating a non-stick pan over high heat and adding the slices to the pan just until the edges curl and the slices become crispy and golden; remove from pan and set aside.
-Build the toasts by putting one slice of the crispy prosciutto onto the toasted ciabatta, and next alternate to your liking the avocado slices (each toast gets 4) and heirloom tomato slices (each toast gets 2 yellow and 2 red slices).
-Sprinkle just a few thin slices of red onion over top, and finally finish with a light drizzle of the pesto for a little fresh zing.
Hungry for more avocado-filled recipes? Check out this Avocado and Tomato Salad, or this fresh Guacamole!
Cook's Note: This recipe was originally published in 2012, and has been updated with even more love!
Kari@Loaves and Dishes
First I have to tell you I love your hair! I go back and forth between long (to the middle of my back) to really short. I've been long a couple of years and am thinking of doing the chop. Right now I am envying your short hair.
Now to your beautiful food. These open faced sandwiches are so colorful and pretty, and I am a sucker for a good vinaigrette. I will so be trying this one.
The Cozy Apron
Kari, I had long hair for a while, and couldn't be happier that I took the plunge about a year and half ago and chopped it; I think that some version of short hair is going to be the best for me from here on out! Thanks for your comments.
Madonna
Your making me hungry.
The Cozy Apron
I'm glad you got my point. 😉
Kathy Steger @Food Wine Thyme
What a perfect idea for tomorrow's lunch. Cant wait to use my garden tomatoes
Janet Mandarano
Wow! Does this ever look delicious. The colors jump off the page.
How about a drizzle of balsamic!
Irini
These were an absolute favorite with my family!!! Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe 😀
The Cozy Apron
Awww, that's great Irini - thanks for coming back to share that with me!
Victoria V.
Hey!
This is awesome,first time I visit your blog. I was looking for a recipe to make crispy prosciutto and tumbled upon this. Im filling chicken breasts with brie and prosciutto for my boyfriend´s birthday dinner and thought of making something fun insted of wrapping the cheese with it.
I also love cilantro and this Vinagrette is a great idea as well, thumbs up to using sunflower seeds! Its just great overall.
Thank you so much!
The Cozy Apron
Hi Victoria, thanks! Your chicken breasts sound delicious - best wishes on your boyfriends special birthday dinner!
Linda Lee
Just found your site! This sandwich looks awesome! I'm going to make this weekend...can't wait. I think this is great for hot summer days! I can't wait for summer so I'll eat it now! Thank you!
The Cozy Apron
Thanks, Linda!
Tina of Whisks & Chopticks
So glad to stumbled upon your site. I am inspired to make this tomorrow. Looking at the ingredients, I have the ingredients needed. 🙂 I enjoy reading your post and your husband's capture the essence of your passion (food) beautifully. Bravo to both of you!
The Cozy Apron
Hi Tina, thank you so much - hope you enjoy this recipe!
Kym
Is the nutritional info listed anywhere?
The Cozy Apron
Hi Kym, I like to use this site here for nutritional info. Hope that helps!
Mariana
Made this today for me and husband, looks great and has a gourmet feel. We both loved it. Yums yums yums. The yellow tomato, the red tomato, the green avocado... and the red onions... it was also a visual feast 🙂
Sarah Y.
What a beautiful plate of food! Can't wait until tomatoes are fully in season to try this. Love all the vibrant colors. - Sarah
Bam's Kitchen
I saw your delicious photo on Pinterest and had to stop over and say hello and read your delicious, simple perfect summer recipe! Thanks for the lunch time inspiration. Take Care, BAM
Michelle
Love love love this !
Ingrid Beer
Thanks, Michelle!