Fried green tomatoes are one of the staple summer treats in our house! My stomach is growling as I type this post! There are MANY ways to make fried green tomatoes, and I’m sure the way your grandma made them is your favorite. Here’s how my grandma Violet made hers, with a few tweaks from me. This recipe does not include any liquids for soaking or batter, and I feel like it gives the purest tomato taste. It’s much more about technique than anything else.
What are the best tomatoes to use for fried green tomatoes?
I personally like to use tomatoes that are starting to turn pinkish or yellow in little spots. I find they are juicier and have a nice tart taste to them. Very green tomatoes can be a little hard or dry.
One of my favorite kind of tomatoes are “lemon boy” tomatoes, and I like to pick them while they are about half ripe. I cut these in thicker slices and they come out tasting so good!
How should I cut the tomatoes?
There are a variety of ways to cut tomatoes for fried green tomatoes, and I tend to use all three of the methods below in one batch!
Thick slices: this gives you a juicy tomato as a finished product. It can take longer to fry and they sometimes fall apart after frying, but I just love the amount of tomato taste!
Thin slices: my husband prefers them this way because they are more crunchy and less tomato flavored. They cook more quickly as well.
Chunks: this is a new method that I learned about in an Appalachian cooking group on Facebook and we recently started trying it out. It produces a similar taste to thin slices (less tomato flavor) but makes crunchy pieces with lots of cornmeal. They also cook pretty quickly. The prep for these is a bit easier, as you toss the chunks in a plastic bag with the cornmeal and just shake them around a bit to coat!
I recommend trying all three styles of cuts when you’re cooking your first batch so that you can see what you like best!
A new trick I learned!
My grandma didn’t do this that I can recall, but I used my random knowledge from Food Network to figure this out!
Salting a fruit or veggie will bring out the water in the food. I decided that I would salt the tomato slices just after slicing to see what happened. I covered them with a liberal does of salt and waited 10 minutes before coating them with cornmeal.
What I found was that the increased water on the surface of the slices allowed the cornmeal to stick better and increased the amount of cornmeal that coated the tomato slices!
Now on to the recipe for my grandma’s fried green tomatoes!
The first thing you want to do is to gather up all of your tools and ingredients. This is called mise en place! Mise en place is an important first step for any cooking activity; it helps you stay organized and will keep you from getting frazzled while you cook a complicated recipe!
You will need the following pieces of kitchen equipment for this recipe:
- 10-12 inch Frying Pan (I do not use non stick for this.)
- Frying Thermometer
- Tongs
- Plates
- Paper Towels
- A Sharp Knife
- Cutting Board
Now let’s gather all of the ingredients:
- 4 Greenish Tomatoes – More for company!
- Salt
- Canola Oil – Enough to put 1 inch of oil in your pan
- Corn Meal – Keep the bag handy!
It’s time to get cooking!
- Wash your tomatoes and slice them into 1/8 in to 1/4-inch-thick slices. Thinner slices will be more crunchy and thicker slices will be juicier. I like to do a variety of thicknesses. Arrange them on a plate or your cutting board so that you can put a bit of salt on each slice. This will help to draw out the juices and help the corn meal stick. If yours are already very juicy, you can choose to skip the salt step.
- While the salted tomatoes are sitting, prepare your workspace. You will need a plate with about 2 cups of cornmeal spread on it, a dry spot to lay your coated slices, a plate lined with paper towels, your salt, and oil heated to 350 degrees.
- Take each tomato slice and set it in the middle of the pile of corn meal. Scoop cornmeal on top of the slice and then press down on top of the cornmeal with your hand to press cornmeal on to both sides of the slice. Remove the slice and shake it gently to remove excess cornmeal. You can do 4-5 slices and then drop them into the oil together.
- Monitor the slices in the frying oil while you prepare 4-5 more slices. You will be watching for golden brown slices, and you will want to turn them with your tongs after a few minutes. After they are golden brown on both sides, remove them from the oil and place them on the paper towel lined plate and put a little salt on them while they are still super-hot. Don’t overdo it with the salt.
- Repeat this process until all the slices are fried. Do not coat the slices with cornmeal too far in advance, as they will get soggy. Refill the cornmeal on your plate as needed.
- Eat them as soon as they are cooled enough to put in your mouth! They are best straight out of the oil, so do not prepare them too far in advance. Typically, these are the last thing I prepare if we are having them at dinner, or I prepare them while the rest of our meal is cooking, and we eat them as an appetizer.
My Grandma’s Fried Green Tomatoes!
Equipment
- 1 10-12 Inch Frying Pan I do not use non-stick for this.
- 1 Frying Thermometer
- 1 Tongs
- 3 Plates
- Paper Towels
- 1 Sharp Knife
- 1 Cutting Board
Ingredients
- 4 Greenish Tomatoes More for company!
- Salt
- Canola Oil Enough to have 1 inch of oil in your frying pan
- Corn Meal Keep the bag handy!
Instructions
- Wash your tomatoes and slice them into 1/8 in to1/4-inch-thick slices. Thinner slices will be more crunchy and thicker slices will be juicier. I like to do a variety of thicknesses. Arrange them on a plate or your cutting board so that you can put a bit of salt on each slice. This will help to draw out the juices and help the corn meal stick. If yours are already very juicy, you can choose to skip the salt step.
- While the salted tomatoes are sitting, prepare your workspace. You will need a plate with about 2 cups of cornmeal spread on it, a dry spot to lay your coated slices, a plate lined with paper towels, your salt, and oil heated to 350 degrees.
- Take each tomato slice and set it in the middle of the pile of corn meal. Scoop cornmeal on top of the slice and then press down on top of the cornmeal with your hand to press cornmeal on to both sides of the slice. Remove the slice and shake it gently to remove excess cornmeal. You can do 4-5 slices and then drop them into the oil together.
- Monitor the slices in the frying oil while you prepare 4-5 more slices. You will be watching for golden brown slices, and you will want to turn them with your tongs after a few minutes. After they are golden brown on both sides, remove them from the oil and place them on the paper towel lined plate and put a little salt on them while they are still super-hot. Don’t overdo it with the salt.
- Repeat this process until all the slices are fried. Do not coat the slices with cornmeal too far in advance, as they will get soggy. Refill the cornmeal on your plate as needed.
- Eat them as soon as they are cooled enough to put in your mouth! They are best straight out of the oil, so do not prepare them too far in advance. Typically, these are the last thing I prepare if we are having them at dinner, or I prepare them while the rest of our meal is cooking, and we eat them as an appetizer.
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