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This recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes is incredibly easy and will have you hooked! It makes for a great side or potluck option.
One of my favourite food memories is when I visited Savannah, GA with my dude and tried Fried Green Tomatoes for the first time. I had no idea what to expect because tomatoes, to me, were to be soft, ripe, and juicy; they weren’t meant to be eaten unripened, hard, and tart. Obviously I was wrong, and I’m totally okay with that. Fried Green Tomatoes are fantastic and everyone should try them at least once in their lifetime! It’s still our beloved tomato – just on a whole new level.
I’m not sure what the backstory is on Fried Green Tomatoes, or if there even is one, but if there is I feel like it might be similar to Buffalo Wings – something created in a moment of desperation that turned out to be freakin’ genius. (Don’t you just love delicious accidents?)
My Mom had been saying that she’d like to try this Southern comfort treat sometime, so I told her to grab some unripened green tomatoes out of her garden the next time she had a chance. She did, and I delivered. It’s fitting, because I’m moving to the Southern USA in less than two weeks – so I’m gettin’ my practice in!
A lot of tried and true Southern recipes call for cornmeal, but I had great success with Italian bread crumbs.
You can serve these on their own or with a dipping sauce. I feel like any dipping sauce could work with these – from a marinara sauce to a Dijon dip! My personal fave, however, is horseradish aioli.
Easy Fried Green Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 3 medium-sized green tomatoes, sliced into 1/3-inch slices
- Vegetable oil, amount varies
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup of all purpose flour
- 1 cup of Italian breadcrumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon of sea salt
GARNISHParsley (optional)
Instructions
- Pour vegetable oil into a large cast-iron skillet ( approx. a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inches deep)
- Heat to 375° degrees F. To test the heat, flick a few breadcrumbs into the oil. If the oil doesn't react/spit, it's not hot enough yet).
- Lightly beat the eggs in one bowl; set aside.
- Put the flour in it's own bowl; set aside.
- Combine the breadcrumbs, sea salt, and ground black pepper; set aside.
- Create a small assembly line next to your skillet, or as close by as you can, so you can dredge your tomato slices and place them in the skillet with less of a mess.
- Dredge each tomato slice in flour, followed by the egg, followed by the breadcrumb mixture.
- Carefully place the tomato slices into the hot oil, in batches, cooking for 1-2 minutes per side or until golden brown on both sides.
- Remove the golden slices with a slotted spoon and place them on paper towels or a rack to drain absorb/drain the oil.
- Garnish with parsley if desired.
- Serve hot with dipping sauce of your choice. If serving on their own, sprinkle with a bit of sea salt.
Sorry, no butter milk in your recipe – I read more than a dozen different ones before deciding on your recipe & just made the butter milk thinking all recipes needed it. My big mistake😒
Hi Leigh—it happens! Take it from someone who literally reads/writes recipes all day. You go cross-eyed after a while and getting things mixed up is easy ;) I’m glad you enjoyed them judging by your previous comment! I really need to update this recipe/post. It’s so old and can definitely be written better!
What do you do with the butter milk? Thought I’d missed a step. Turned out well for a surprise for my wife but could it have been better? I’ll never know.
I’m from Savannah, raised on fried green tomatoes,just love them,I use your recipe,Then I have my own ❤️💜💥💥
What a compliment, Tracy! As a Northerner who simply lived in the South for 8 years, that means a lot. I really appreciated their approach to food—everything is made with love and meant to comfort. I need to revisit this recipe soon! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment <3
Love Love Love Savannah! I love to go to B&D Burgers for their bloody marys. They are a meal in themselves! Loving the FGTs too!
Hi Dana. I wanted to try fried green tomatoes ever since reading Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, but I always thought the green tomatoes are some kind of special sort of tomatoes and not just unripe tomatoes. Great to hear you actually used unripe tomatoes. I could actually make this immediatelly, I still have unripe tomatoes on my balcony and there is no chance in the world they will ever get ripe now in September.
Hey, Adina!
Haha, I thought the same thing for the longest time and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t having any luck finding “green tomatoes” at the supermarket. I hope you were able to take advantage of your unripe tomatoes and I hope you enjoyed!