Chef John’s Fried Green Tomatoes

  4.7 – 72 reviews  • Fried Green Tomato Recipes

An American favorite in the south is fried green tomatoes. What a simple recipe! Serve with a small dollop of hot remoulade sauce, the Southern equivalent of tartar sauce. Oh, yes.

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Additional Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 50 mins
Servings: 4
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  1. 4 (1/2 inch) slices green tomato
  2. 1 teaspoon salt
  3. ¾ cup cornmeal
  4. ¾ cup bread crumbs
  5. ½ teaspoon salt
  6. freshly ground black pepper to taste
  7. 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
  8. 2 eggs
  9. 2 tablespoons milk
  10. 1 cup all-purpose flour
  11. 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  12. 1 tablespoon butter
  13. 2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
  14. 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
  15. 2 teaspoons hot sauce, or to taste

Instructions

  1. Place tomato slices onto a rack over a paper towel. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and let slices stand for 15 minutes for the salt to draw out extra juices.
  2. Mix cornmeal and bread crumbs together in a bowl; stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste. Beat eggs with milk in a separate bowl. Place flour into a third bowl.
  3. Pat tomato slices dry with paper towels. Lay slices, one at a time, into flour; flip to coat both sides and let slices rest in the flour for about 30 seconds. Remove each slice and dip in egg mixture, then into cornmeal mixture, coating both sides of each slice thoroughly. Spread crumbs onto all sides and into tomato crevices with a fork. Rest tomatoes on rack for 10 minutes to let coating set.
  4. Combine sweet pickle relish, mayonnaise, and hot sauce in a small bowl to make the remoulade sauce.
  5. Place a large nonstick skillet over medium heat; heat vegetable oil with butter until butter melts, bubbles, and makes a sizzling sound. Fry tomatoes in the hot butter-oil mixture until tomato slices are slightly soft and coating is golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Use a spatula and a fork to flip.
  6. Transfer fried green tomatoes to a serving platter and serve with remoulade sauce.
  7. Want a spiced-up version of remoulade sauce? Get the recipe for
  8. .
  9. Aluminum foil helps keep food moist, ensures it cooks evenly, keeps leftovers fresh, and makes clean-up easy.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 514 kcal
Carbohydrate 65 g
Cholesterol 104 mg
Dietary Fiber 3 g
Protein 12 g
Saturated Fat 6 g
Sodium 1248 mg
Sugars 6 g
Fat 23 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Juan Lee
Made these for the first time today and they were excellent! The breading was crispy and stayed on the tomatoes nicely. I did have extra breading and one egg may have been enough as well. I also like Chef John’s Remoulade Sauce (it’s own recipe on this site) and made that rather than the quick remoulade with this recipe. I served these on BLT’s and they were outstanding!
Kayla Graham
Thank you for this recipe. I’m a girl from the south and have been cooking fried green tomatoes for years. The problem that I would have is the breading would not stick or it would start to bubble. I made these today for my husband and father. I received hugs and kisses.
John Butler
It’s perfect the way it is. A while back, I used a different recipe that was complicated. I can see using the other one in a restaurant but not at home. And because of that, we’d only have them maybe twice a year. But not anymore! This is so easy!! Make sure you allow your toms to sit in the flour for at least 30 seconds. It does make a big difference. Also, I didn’t have any cornmeal. So I just used “Jiffy Cornbread Mix”. They were PERFECT!!
Allison Nguyen
These were delicious. Not too heavy or greasy. I couldn’t find any green tomatoes so I used tomatillos. They were great in this this recipe. Their citrusy flavor really added another level of taste.
Kelli Pratt
Very good even cold/reheated the next day.
Debbie Mendoza
I made this and it did taste good, however, I am going back to making fried green tomatoes the way they were traditionally made by our ancestors. My grandmothers and their grandmothers were much too poor and too busy to use extra ingredients (they would never have used bread crumbs because at their time it would have been extra work and wasteful), or pamper tomato slices through multiple dredging steps. As for dipping sauces? They would have thought us silly wasting money and time on something that distracted from or overwhelmed the taste of the tomatoes. I tried, but I like the traditional, simple way more.
Ashley Lindsey
YUMMY! Thanks for the great tips on making fried green tomatoes even better. I really like the technique to salt the tomatoes to remove some of the moisture. And the fork trick to press the crumbs on more securely, worked like a charm. I’m going to start using this technique anytime I bread items to fry! Made it just like he said, but you could probably use just 1 egg. Had lots left over with 2 eggs.
Noah Lee
Wonderful! I don’t know why I’ve never made these before. Will be making again!
Carolyn Brown
These are good, but I think I prefer a lighter breading
Dr. Stephen Smith
Made as written, but cooked in instant vortex air fryer. 400 degrees for about 12 minutes. Sprayed top with oil, flipped halfway and sprayed other side with oil. Delicious!!!
Emily Kelley
Remoulade is not tartar sauce John. Tartar sauce (in my opinion) should be made with dill pickles, onions and cream of tarter…hence tartar sauce and of course mayonnaise and spices. Anyway you serve it with fried fish. This was good.
Joseph Mendoza
U an a 78 yr. old Houstonian and have eaten these since I was knee high to my daddy. Slice the toms…to to 1/2 inch. Toss in WHITE cornmeal .(9.it is much finer.) If you like season w salt and fry in left over bacon grease. until nicely browned and goodness. Forget about that mess about breading and all that stuff. Simple is better. Did u know u can locate and plant GREEN TOMATOES in the grocery story and if not ocate the green tomatoe plant an grow I your garden.
James Sanchez
They came perfect we loved them didn’t change anything
Maria Singleton
Love it!
Eric Reed
Best recipe for fried green tomatoes I’ve found! Even my husband, who used to hate green tomatoes, liked these. He says before that they used to taste bitter. I think salting them before breading made the big difference. I also cut mine thinner than 1/2″. More like 1/4″
Angela Pratt
Perfect as usual for Chef John’s recipe. Bet you can’t eat just one slice!
Robert Reyes
First time making them. The video was very helpful
Rachel Espinoza
BEST DIPPING SAUCE is 2 parts Ranch Dressing to 1 part Horseradish sauce,
Kenneth Washington
Awesome!! I am a true Southerner, born and lived here all my life, is by far the best green tomatoe recipe ever. My sugguestion … make as directed, don’t change anything! Yummmm
Daniel Jones
Good recipe. Tomatoes are nice and crunchy. I serve them with a pepper jelly sauce.
Joel Johnson
I didn’t have Corn Meal so I used all Italian Bread Crumbs. It was great!

 

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