The Secret Ingredient To Give Your Avocado Toast New Life

While pairing avocados with toast has become a morning favorite for breakfast eaters, Tasting Table's recipe developer Jennine Rye has put her own spin on the energy-providing dish. With just a few extra ingredients, Rye's presentation of the classic recipe explodes with color and flavor.

To get started, be sure you have fresh asparagus, crusty pieces of sourdough bread, your favorite butter, and a ripe avocado ready to slice into. You'll also need white wine vinegar, chopped chives, salt, pepper, and two eggs to complete Rye's simple avocado toast recipe. But to really send this dish home, you'll also need to make sure your pantry is stocked with one ingredient that may require advance planning to procure: sumac.

After you have gathered all the ingredients, in under 15 minutes you'll be serving plates that will garner appreciative glances from guests before they take their first bite, due in part to the colorful spice that lends a citrusy flair to this tasty meal.

Following Jennine Rye's instruction, you'll add asparagus to the sourdough avocado toast and top the assembly with poached eggs. To finish the dish, a sprinkling of chopped chives, sumac, and salt and pepper will help create a plating that looks like the work of a professional. The combination of ingredients makes for a delicious blend of flavors, and your avocado toast will never be the same.

Not only does sumac add a splash of color alongside the whites of the eggs and the greens of the avocado and chopped chives, but the maroon spice also carries a hint of citrus that is known to bring a zesty component to Za'atar spice blends. "I do think that the addition of sumac really makes the dish pop," Rye said in her avocado toast recipe. "The sumac adds a tangy, lemony zing which really complements both the asparagus and the avocado."

Look for sumac in the bulk section of your local market or order online to be sure that the next time you're craving this flavorful avocado dish, you have all the ingredients you need at the ready. Not in the mood for toast? Sumac is one of those spices that can play well with others. Consider trying our sumac-anise hyssop spice mix — which brings together salty, sweet, and tart flavors — that can be sprinkled on top of freshly cut fruit and enjoyed any time of the day.