Tomatoes and Okra Recipe with Bacon
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This four-ingredient tomatoes and okra recipe with crispy bacon and tender onion will knock your socks off. I mean you did see bacon in the title, right?!
Some of my favorite recipes begin with “first you fry up some bacon…” and that immediately tells you a lot about this dish. Garden fresh spoils of spring and summer blend together perfectly to create a flavor that’ll make your tongue slap your mouth. I’ve made countless variations of this okra recipe throughout the years but this one tends to be my favorite these days — mostly because, well, bacon. I mean, seriously. Bacon.
Take a moment to just stare in appreciation at how beautiful this tomatoes and okra recipe looks all mixed up together in my vintage dish? ~sigh~ Makes my heart happy and my stomach growl. I don’t reckon you could ask for much more than that.
Now, I know there are some okra haters out there. A lot of people avoid okra because they feel it is slimy. However, cooking it how we do in this recipe is going to really help that because we are actually sautéing the okra at very high heat, in bacon grease no less, and this significantly reduces that one characteristic that seems to stand out to some folks. Me? I could eat okra all day long anyway you cook it. But like I said, this dish is a dear favorite and has won over many an okra naysayer.
There’s just something about the juicy tomatoes paired with crunchy okra, crispy bacon, and tender onion that makes this one of my favorite Southern side dishes. Are you ready to give it a go?
Recipe Ingredients
- Onion
- Okra (I used fresh okra from my sweet neighbor, but you can use thawed frozen sliced okra).
- Tomatoes (fresh tomatoes or canned diced tomatoes work).
- Bacon (turkey bacon or pork bacon).
How to Make My Tomatoes and Okra Recipe with Bacon
Chop up your onion and dice your okra and tomatoes.
Then, fry your bacon in a large skillet and set it aside on a paper towel-lined plate once it is nice and crispy.
In the bacon grease that is now in the skillet, place your onions and cook over medium-high heat until they are translucent.
If using turkey bacon, as I do now, add a tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet.
Add okra and tomatoes and cook, stirring often, until okra is tender. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper (according to your taste).
Serve immediately because, well at this point I’m usually eating it right out of the skillet anyway.
So if y’all want some of it you better step up pretty fast!
This tastes amazing served alongside any Southern meal.
Storage
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat in the microwave and for something different, serve it alongside scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Recipe Notes
- If you’re using turkey bacon instead of pork bacon as I do often, you won’t get a lot of bacon drippings. Instead, add a tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet before adding the chopped onion.
- For a spicier version, add 1 teaspoon of chili powder and a 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Alternatively, serve it with a drizzle of .
- For added flavor, saute 2 minced garlic cloves with the chopped onion. You might also like to add 1/2 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning or Creole seasoning.
- If you want to add more fresh vegetables, opt for 1/3 cup each of chopped celery and fresh corn kernels and/or 1 chopped bell pepper.
Recipe FAQs
What do you serve with tomatoes and okra?
Enjoy tomatoes and okra as a side dish with any hearty Southern main dish, like fried chicken, pulled BBQ chicken, chili, Southern fried catfish, or chicken fried steak.
Can I make this into a main meal?
To make tomatoes and okra into a main dish, add some extra protein, like cooked sausage, shredded chicken, or cooked shrimp. Secondly, serve it over mashed potatoes, rice, or grits for a hearty and filling supper.
Check out these other sensational Southern side dishes:
Southern-Style Fried Okra Recipe
Dixie Cornbread With Buttermilk
Hush Puppies Recipe, Southern-Style
Oven-Baked Mac and Cheese (Southern Plate Favorite)
Ingredients
- 5-50 pieces bacon*
- 3 medium to large diced tomatoes
- 1 chopped onion
- 2 handfuls diced okra** (2-3 cups once diced)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until crispy, turning as needed. Remove the cooked bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and set it aside.5-50 pieces bacon*
- Keep about 4 tablespoons of bacon grease in the skillet and pour the rest into your grease jar to save.
- Place the chopped onion into the bacon grease and continue cooking over medium-high heat until the onion is translucent. Add the okra and tomatoes and cook, stirring often, until okra is tender. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper to taste.3 medium to large diced tomatoes, 1 chopped onion, 2 handfuls diced okra**, salt and pepper to taste
- Remove to a serving bowl and generously sprinkle the crumbled bacon bits over the top.
Notes
**We use turkey bacon and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet when frying the onions.
Nutrition
“A strong woman looks a challenge dead in the eye and gives it a wink.”
~Unknown
Thank you for showing me how simple this dish is. I love Okra and Tomatoes but never learned the recipe. It looked complicated but you have now solved my problem…..and yes!!! it will be made with bacon.
🙂 I hope you enjoy it Joyce!!
Thank you for another wonderful summer recipe. Bacon makes everything better!
🙂 Amen! I hope you enjoy it!!
Sounds good, but do you have to,eat it right away? Would it be good to take to a cover dish party or will the okra get slimy?
Oh yes you can take it places. It travels well and reheats well. I was just being goofy. 🙂 sorry about that!
This dish reminds me of my mom. She fried the best okra, and sometimes added tomatoes.
Mama’s and Grandmama’s always made the best dishes didn’t they?
Not a bacon fan, but love Okra. My Oklahoma born and reared mother fried up the best Okra in the South. I miss that.
There is a special place on God’s table for a big old bowl of Fried Okra!
This will be making its way into my skillet soon! Looks delicious, and I love the idea of fried pork chops along side!
Oh my goodness, yes. They just make a meal sometimes!
Love this, reminds me of my sweet mama’s cooking. Thank you, Christy.
What precious memories and how blessed we are to have them!
When cooking a vegetable, do not add meat of any kind, nor broth, nor Bacon.
Okra is my favorite vegetable and it should be coated with cornmeal and skillet fried in vegetable oil.
Yes, I eat bacon but I do not ruin vegetables with meat products to change taste.
Thank you for your opinion, Dot. Mine is entirely different, of course, but that is the wonderful thing about our world. You don’t have to add bacon to your veggies and I can make up for it by adding double 😉
“Ruin” is the opposite of what bacon does to this dish but occasionally my daughter and I have opposite day where we have fun all day saying the opposite of what we mean. I’ll have to use this then! 🙂
Christy, This was my first solid food in almost 3 weeks. I had oral surgery and have been fitted with a full upper plate; not fun. Those who are not familiar with dentures, it’s like having a peanut butter sandwich stuck to the roof of your mouth… forever.
Saturday morning, my wife and I got fresh okra, tomatoes and butter beans from the farmer’s market. I figured, go big or go hungry. I made braised chicken thighs with mushrooms and onions; with a Cajun flare. Then I made your okra, tomatoes and bacon. Then butter beans in a homemade pork stock, with bacon and chunks from the hocks. My mouth was sore but it was divine. Your recipe is spot-on. Thank you.
God bless.
Reply:
Christy, I’ve been cooking for 60 years, professionally and otherwise and am originally from the NYC/Long Island area; now living in SC and learning to cook all things Southern. Baking is a science whereas cooking is a matter of preferences. It really irks my ire when people make their preference appear as though it’s the only way to do things.
I’m with you. Bacon makes just about everything taste better. And don’t believe the researchers who say that you lose 9 minutes of life for every piece of bacon you eat. If that were true, I died in 1798.
God bless.
LOL, blessings to you Chris!! You made my day!
What a joy you are! You’re the rare person these days who decides not to return evil with evil, but to return evil with good! I think that’s what 1 Peter 3:9 is all about!
Well okra is really good the way you said and I fix it rolled in corn meal and fried but it is really good in a gumbo with seafood and in a skillet wth bacon for season along with onion, tomatoes, okra and corn!
Dot is being doctrinaire in her opposition to cooking meat with vegetables. I suppose she doesn’t eat beef and broccoli at the Chinese restaurant? Snubs paella? Would she do the veggie and meat parts of a shish kabob on seperate skewers (this isn’t a bad idea by the way because of differences in cooking times) . There are literally thousands of recipes that call for cooking vegetables together with meat and to suggest that it is somehow wrong is just plain silly!