Cookin' Fools
Fresh red and yellow tomatoes layered in a pie crust with a variety of cheeses, fresh basil, and sweet onion before baking in the oven until the crust turns golden brown and the tomatoes are warm and soft. The slices of this Simple Southern Tomato Pie Recipe are then served with green onion and BACON as garnish.
The farther north you go, the less likely you will find a tomato pie or even find folks who have heard of it. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe because the farther north you go, the shorter the growing season for tomatoes which love oppressive heat and humidity. So while it may be miserable outside, head inside with the fruit of your tomato plants and let’s make a pie in the oven while enjoying the cool air conditioning.
It’s also perfectly acceptable to use store bought tomatoes. We highly recommend grabbing a couple different colors because the color contrast makes for an incredibly striking presentation. But don’t fret if you can only find red tomatoes. It will still be fantastic and beautiful.
Pro Tip ~ Buy or pick your tomatoes a few days ahead of time and allow them to fully ripen on the counter so they are at peak ripeness when you make this tomato pie recipe.
Also, if you dig this recipe, I’m guessing you are going to love this easy chicken pot pie recipe. Further, this cinnamon roll pancake recipe is as simple as it is brilliant!
Simple Southern Tomato Pie Ingredients:
- 1 store bought refrigerated pie crust
- 4 large tomatoes
- 1 tsp table salt
- 1 small or medium sweet onion chopped (could sub tsp onion powder)
- 12 or so fresh basil leaves chopped
- 4 oz shredded sharp cheddar (we grated our own)
- 4 oz shredded mozzarella (we grated our own)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan-Reggiano (we had a store-bought tub on hand)
- 1 cup mayonnaise (preferably Duke’s (after all, it is a Southern recipe), or use whatever mayo you have
- 1/8 tsp black pepper or simply grind a light layer
- 4-6 slices of thick deli bacon cooked til crispy, then rough chopped
- 1 bunch scallions (we call them green onions but thought scallions sounded sophisticated)
Equipment Needed:
- 9-inch pie pan (we had a 10″ on hand)
- Serrated or sharp knife
- Dinner fork
- Baking sheet pan
- Mixing bowl
- Spatula
Take a look at the gorgeous tomatoes for this Simple Southern Tomato Pie Recipe, along with some of the other ingredients:
Editor’s Pro Tip ~ I once met a PhD Botanist that specialized in tomatoes. He told me that the optimum time to pick tomatoes is when they blush on the bottom. Essentially, as soon as the green tomato shows some color on the bottom, pick it. Some of you are howling mad right now. That’s not vine ripened! After the tomato blushes on the bottom, the only thing it takes on from the vine is water. That dilutes the flavor. And too much water from a summer deluge will split the tomato. Also, leaving it on the vine allows more time for pests to snack on the tomato.
Pick your tomatoes as soon as they show color, or blush, on the bottom and let them finish ripening inside safe from a summer deluge as well as squirrels, caterpillars and raccoons.
If you have other tomato tips, please leave them below in the comments.
Tomato Pie Recipe Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Unroll refrigerated pie crust and fit to pie pan/plate
3. Using a table fork prick/poke holes all around the crust
4. Bake at 350F for 12 minutes
5. Peel and slice tomatoes then place on a triple paper towel layered baking sheet.
6. Salt the slices, wait 15 minutes then pat with more towels to remove excess moisture
7. Grate cheeses then add to a mixing bowl (or use already shredded cheeses if you don’t mind the anti-caking agent)
8. Combine all cheeses, mayo, pepper, and onion powder if not using raw onion
9. Chop sweet onion and fresh basil
10. Layer tomato slices into the pie shell, sprinkle with onion and fresh basil. Then repeat with second layer. should you have extra slices just go ahead and add them.
11. Pour cheese/mayo mixture onto the tomatoes and smooth over the top.
12. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, While it bakes, cook the bacon and slice the green onions
13. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes then slice and serve
14. Finally, garnish with bacon and green onions
Step by Step Directions for Simple Southern Tomato Pie Recipe
Begin by preheating the oven to 350F then preparing the pie crust. My lovely wife provided a 10″ pie plate just a bit larger than the standard 9″ version. Thus requiring an extra step with the refrigerated pie crust I picked up to keep this simple.
A dusting of flour and some attention with the rolling pin stretch the dough (we’ve all been doing a lot of that lately haven’t we?) to accommodate the larger plate.
Hmmm?
Does this mean I’ll get a bigger slice of the pie?
Let’s see if it fits the plate.
Work the crust to the edge of the pan all the way around:
Now we come to a very important step.
The pie crust must be baked prior to adding the tomatoes and the filling to prevent the crust from becoming soggy.
It needs to be flaky not soggy, kinda like me.
Fork It:
Next use a fork to poke holes throughout the pie crust then bake at 350F for 12 minutes.
Baked AND Flaky!
So let’s get to work on the stars of the show, those super ripe tomatoes!
Traditional red tomatoes were selected along with a gorgeous yellow variety for a pop of color indeed.
Then the skin is peeled from the tomatoes.
Next the fruit, and tomatoes are a fruit, is sliced into approximately 1/4″ slices.
Additionally. slicing is easier with a serrated tomato knife as shown.
Serrated:
Line a baking sheet with a triple (that’s 3) layer of paper towels then place the slices as shown.
Sprinkle the slices with salt and then after 15 minutes use more paper towels to pat down the slices and remove excess moisture.
Fresh basil leaves from my raised bed herb garden and a medium sweet onion (we used a Vidalia onion-Southern of course!) are chopped.
Furthermore, should raw onion not be available substitute onion powder.
Time for the Cheese
Next we’re on to the cheesy mayo mixture. We prefer to grate our own cheese to save a little cash and thus avoid the anti-caking agent (powdered cellulose) on the already shredded varieties. I did submit to an already grated parmesan-reggiano from an earlier cook. Sometimes convenience works.
The Parmesan-reggiano:
And the pepper:
Add he mayo and mix through, then set aside:
So let’s put this Simple SouthernTomato Pie together.
Arrange a layer of tomato slices into the baked pie crust and then sprinkle with chopped basil and onion:
Add another layer of tomato slices, fresh basil and onion for a fat Southern Tomato Pie:
Work in the cheesy/mayo mixture and spread over the top till smooth then bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
While the Simple Southern Tomato Pie recipe bakes, go ahead and cook 4 (or more) slices of thick deli bacon until crisp. let cool then rough chop.
Pop the tomato pie out of the oven and here it is, y’all!
Let it cool for 15 minutes or so:
Finally, let’s kick it up a notch with some pork fat (bacon) and green onions!
How about a slice?
Nothing says summer like this simple southern tomato pie recipe. White sweet corn from a local farm, homegrown tomatoes, fresh basil from the patio rolled into a cheesy pie with BACON!
Simple Southern Tomato Pie Recipe Review:
I usually ask myself, in this case ourselves, if I/we would make this again? In a joint session of Cookin’ Fools (my bride and I) the consensus reached was….a definitive YES! Would we change anything? It was brought to my attention that this recipe could benefit from more…BACON! We took delight in the combination of so many fresh flavors and a variety of textures from the crust, the fruit, the dreamy creamy cheesy topping capped off with the crunch of crispy BACON! This recipe was like a BLT sando on steroids!
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.
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Recipe Card
Simple Southern Tomato Pie Recipe
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Unroll refrigerated pie crust and fit to pie pan/plate
- Using a table fork prick/poke holes all around the crust
- Bake at 350F for 12 minutes
- Peel and slice tomatoes then place on a triple paper towel layered baking sheet
- Salt the slices, wait 15 minutes then pat with more towels to remove excess moisture
- Grate cheeses then add to a mixing bowl (or use already shredded cheeses if you don't mind the anti-caking agent)
- Combine all cheeses, mayo, pepper, and onion powder if not using raw onion
- Chop sweet onion and fresh basil
- Layer tomato slices into the pie shell, sprinkle with onion and fresh basil. Repeat with second layer. Should you have extra slices just go ahead and add them
- Pour cheese/mayo mixture onto the tomatoes and smooth over the top
- Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. While it bakes, cook the bacon and slice the green onions
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes then slice and serve
- Garnish with bacon and green onions
Video
