Fried green tomato BLTs
Tart green tomatoes in a crunchy cornmeal crust, air fried instead of pan fried and stacked with crispy bacon and spicy mayo on toast.
- 45 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.96 a serving
- 830 calories
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 2 green tomatoes, large
- 8 slices bacon
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup cornmeal
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tsp hot sauce
- 8 slices sourdough bread
- 4 green leaf lettuce, leaves
From your pantry
- ¾ tsp salt, divided
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Each serving has about 830 calories, 26 g protein, 81 g carbs and 47 g fat, and costs about $3.96 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No hot sauce? Sriracha works.
- No sourdough bread? French bread works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Slice the tomatoes ¼ inch thick to get 8 , sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of the salt, and let them sit on paper towels 10 minutes. .
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Timer: 10 min
Dolly’s tip: Salt pulls water out of the tomatoes, and drier slices keep their crust instead of steaming it off.Cook the bacon in a large over medium 8 to 10 minutes, turning now and then, until . on paper towels.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Medium heatTimer: 9 min
Food safety: Cook bacon until it’s crisp and no longer translucent.
Set out three shallow bowls: the flour, the egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water, and the cornmeal mixed with the paprika, garlic powder and the last ¼ teaspoon of salt.
Coat each tomato slice in flour, dip it in egg, then press it into the cornmeal on both sides.
Dolly’s tip: One hand for dry and one for wet keeps your fingers from getting clumpy.the air fryer to 400°F. Brush the slices on both sides with the oil and air fry in one layer 8 to 10 minutes, flipping halfway, until and .
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Timer: 9 min
Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Stir the mayonnaise and hot sauce together, and toast the bread.
Spread each piece of toast with spicy mayo, then build with lettuce, 2 fried green tomatoes and 2 slices of bacon, and top with the second slice.
Dolly’s tip: Build them right before eating. The crust stays crunchy for only a few minutes under the bread.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
