Fried Green Tomatoes
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Today I’m gonna teach y’all how to make fried green tomatoes, a traditional Southern side dish. Each slice of crisp tomato is fried to perfection in a crunchy cornmeal coating.
If you’re looking for a classic Southern side dish that’s both crispy and tangy, then you can’t go wrong with this fried green tomato recipe. This timeless recipe has been passed down for generations and it’s easy to see why it remains a staple in Southern cuisine. The dish features slices of unripe green tomatoes that are dipped in a savory batter, fried to a golden-brown crisp, and then served with a zesty dipping sauce.
This recipe is quick, easy, and oh-so-simple. All you need is four ingredients: green tomatoes, cornmeal, flour, and Season All. The instructions are as easy as cutting the green tomatoes, dredging each slice in milk and then the cornmeal batter, and then deep-frying each slice until crispy and golden brown.
Whether you’re looking for a quick appetizer, a tasty side dish, or even a main course, fried green tomatoes are sure to satisfy your cravings. I just know you’ll love the combination of the crisp and juicy tomato slices with the crunchy and flavorful coating. If you have too many green tomatoes to count, you may also want to make fried green tomato Caprese stacks or green tomato relish.
Alright, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get ready to fry up a batch of these irresistible Southern delights!
Serve these delicious Fried Green Tomatoes with Southern Fried Chicken, Baby Back Ribs, Southern Fried Catfish, Easy Southern Salmon Patties, Pan-Seared Pork Chops, Chicken Fried Steak With Gravy, and Crock Pot Black Eyed Peas With Smoked Turkey Leg.
What You’ll Need to Make Fried Green Tomatoes:
- Flour (self-rising flour or all-purpose flour, it doesn’t matter).
- White cornmeal
- Season All
- Green tomatoes
- Oil for frying
- Milk for dredging
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How to Make Fried Green Tomatoes:
Cut your tomatoes into thick slices.
When cutting tomatoes, we highly recommend using a serrated knife! Here’s a serrated knife that we love that is perfect for getting these green tomato slices.
Combine flour and cornmeal in a small bowl.
The flour acts as sort of a “glue” to help hold it all together.
Next, add Season All to the bowl.
If you don’t have Season All, feel free to season the mixture with salt and black pepper or the seasonings of your choice instead.
Dip both sides of each tomato slice into milk in a shallow dish.
Then dip into your cornmeal mixture.
Press down and coat both sides well.
So it looks something like this.
Next, you want to fill a skillet with enough oil that the slices are about halfway covered (about half an inch).
The key here is hot oil (375 degrees to be exact). That ensures the fried green tomatoes aren’t greasy. Because when you drop the slices into hot oil, it instantly sears. Whereas if the oil isn’t hot enough, the slices will absorb the oil while it continues to heat.
Cook the breaded tomato slices over medium to medium-high heat.
You want to flip them just once so they’re golden brown on both sides (about 3 to 5 minutes on each side).
If you flip the slices more than once, you might find that the delicate coating starts to slip.
Drain your fried green tomato slices on a paper towel-lined plate.
Then you’re ready to go! These are delicious!
They have a twang to them that ripened tomatoes don’t have.
Storage
- While these are best served immediately, you can store leftover fried tomatoes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two days. Reheat them in an oiled skillet, oven, or air fryer. Don’t use the microwave as it will just make ’em soggy!
- I don’t recommend freezing fried green tomatoes.
Recipe Notes
- Instead of cornmeal, you can use cracker crumbs, bread crumbs, or panko breadcrumbs. Or use a combination of both!
- Make sure your oil is heated to 375 degrees before adding the green tomato slices.
- Speaking of… peanut oil and canola oil are also good frying oils. For authentic Southern flavor, you can even swap the oil for bacon grease.
- Make sure you don’t overcrowd the pan either!
- Besides Season All, some other seasonings that work include a tablespoon of Cajun seasoning, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, or Creole seasoning, or a teaspoon of paprika with salt and pepper.
- Besides milk, you can add a little flavor by using buttermilk instead.
Recipe FAQs
Which country is famous for fried green tomatoes?
Fried green tomatoes hail from down here in the Southern United States.
Are fried green tomatoes just unripe tomatoes?
Yes, green tomatoes are just unripe regular tomatoes. Because they’re less mature, this means they’re also firmer and tarter in flavor.
Why do we fry green tomatoes and not red?
Green tomatoes are firmer than regular tomatoes, so they’re better to deep-fry in oil.
Can you eat green tomatoes without frying them?
Yes, you can eat green tomatoes as-is, without frying them.
Can fried green tomatoes be reheated?
Yes, you can reheat them in the oven, on the stovetop, or in the air fryer.
What do you eat with fried green tomatoes?
Fried green tomatoes are frequently served with a dipping sauce, like remoulade, honey mustard, hot sauce, comeback sauce, or ranch dressing.
But seeing as this is a popular side dish, here are some main meals that go perfectly with them:
- Southern Fried Chicken
- Baby Back Ribs
- Southern Fried Catfish
- Easy Southern Salmon Patties
- Pan-Seared Pork Chops
- Chicken Fried Steak With Gravy
- Crock Pot Black Eyed Peas With Smoked Turkey Leg
- BLT
Add a vegetable side dish like fresh green beans, turnip greens, or cucumber salad, and you’ve got a winning Southern dinner right there!
Check out these other Southern side dish recipes:
How To Cook Collard Greens With Hot Pepper Sauce
Hush Puppies Recipe, Southern-Style
Southern-Style Fried Okra Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 green tomatoes
- 1.5 cups cornmeal
- 4 tbsp flour (either self-rising or plain flour)
- 2 tbsp Season All
- vegetable oil for frying
- milk for dredging
Instructions
- Cut your tomatoes into thick slices.3 green tomatoes
- Combine flour, cornmeal, and Season All in a small bowl.1.5 cups cornmeal, 4 tbsp flour (either self-rising or plain flour), 2 tbsp Season All
- Dip both sides of each slice into milk and then the cornmeal mix.milk for dredging
- Fill a skillet with enough oil that the slices are about halfway covered (about half an inch).vegetable oil for frying
- Cook slices over medium to medium-high heat, turning halfway so they're golden brown on both sides (about 3 to 5 minutes on each side).
- Drain your tomatoes on a paper towel-lined plate and then serve immediately.
This is the perfect way to cook up those winter tomatoes from the store. They (winter store bought tomatoes) aren’t much use for anything else though.
They do tend to be a bit tough this time of year. Great idea Barbara!
I had a bumper crop of tomatoes last fall and we had an early freeze, so I had to find ways to use them. I sliced some of them and laid out individually on parchment paper on cookie sheets and froze them; and then transferred them to freezer bags. I dip the frozen slices in buttermilk or egg, and then your flour mixture but I in addition to S & P, I added a shake or two of Cajun seasoning as well. Place in hot oil and cook until golden brown on each side. YUM! I also chopped many of the remaining tomatoes and measured out two cups each in freezer bags to thaw later and make Green Tomato Cheddar Muffins and Green Tomato Corn Muffins. The Green Tomato Corn Muffins were so good with our New Year Greens and Black-eyed peas!
What a great idea!!! Thanks for sharing Cathy!!
I’m new to your web page and this recipes sounds like the one my Mom use to make ,she had so many recipes great recipes that she had stored in her head. I’m 70 yeas old and I lose her in 1996 I sure miss your cooking Mom but she never wrote down her recipes that she had in her head. She was a Mississippi country girl and was a super cook.
I look forward to more of your recipes But at my age it’s a little hard to remember these good recipes. I would like to print out the good one for future uses but I don’t see anywhere to do this? Can this be done and how and where is the print button?
Oh I love these..I’m Born and raised in P.C. Florida..We all ways Called them Fried Green Maters…Well we call all of The Tomatoes{Maters}..Anyway Thanks for sharing the way you cook them..the only thing i do different is once i cut them I add salt to get all the extra water out of the maters..and let them drain..Before doing anything else..it also helps keep the breading on
🙂 Thanks for sharing your way with me!!!
Wow, I’m so impressed and techuod you are always full of surprises; each one coming from a fairyland! Thank you so much for your beautiful words and blissful photos! I’m very happy!
OK, disclaimer here……I’m a recent transplant from Oregon to Georgia 2 years ago and I have to say I don’t understand that whole fried green tomato thing (well, except for the movie, which I LOVE) so I thought I would try fried RED tomatoes. SCORE!! Delicious!
How did the red ones hold up for the frying process Linde? I think we all love the green ones because of the bit of tartness, and they hold up well when frying.
Hi. I tried making fried green tomatoes for the first time by using some green and some half ripe tomatoes with some red on them that had fallen off the vine. The tomatoes that had red in them just fell apart when cooking and were wet and soggy to eat and didn’t have any flavor. Lesson learned for me. ONLY the green ones!
I saw a post on facebook where somebody thick sliced green tomatoes and p,aced in a canning jar to do in the winter, would you happen to know hos to preserve green tomatoes for winter as are gonna be loaded Sith them this year
love your site and column!
linda