I enjoyed that movie very much and always wanted to taste fried green tomatoes, but I've never seen green tomatoes or had a recipe. Thanks to you, Elise, I have a recipe. Now I have to find the green tomatoes.

Paz ;-)

I just dredge them in flour with a little salt and pepper and lightly fry them - the batter method doesn't work for me because i like them sliced really thinly, and a light coat of flour keeps the tomato taste from being compromised. we've been eating them this way since I was a tot, it was quite the occasion at our house, we'd crowd around mom at the electric skillet and take turns eating the slices as they finished cooking - they rarely, if ever, made it to the table.

Great recipe. I would reccomend mixing the flour and corn meal.

Many Southerners fry green tomatoes by simply dipping both sides of a slice in cornmeal which has had salt and pepper added and laying the tomato slices in a reasonable amount of vegetable oil in a med-high heat frying pan. Sear both sides to a nice even toast color, then turn down the heat and simmer until the tomato is soft (like fried eggplant).

The result is a light toast finish with a soft, very zingy, tasty inside.

The "SC" stands for "South Carolina". Green tomatoes are not an end-of-season treat, but when you have too many tomatoes ripening on the vine at the same time, cut the big green ones for frying.

Yum! So glad you got to try fried green tomatoes. Your recipe sounds delicious. I use a batter mix for mine & the platter rarely makes it to the table full.

Texas version of fried green tomatoes is much simpler - all you need is tomatoes, flour, oil, salt and pepper.

Get the green tomatoes or green tomatoes with a bit of a pinkish blush (if you don't like the truly tart ones). Slice them approximately 1/2-inch or slightly smaller in width. Lightly salt and pepper both sides of tomatoes. Dip in flour and coat well on both sides, and then pan fry in just the littlest bit of canola oil (approximately 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons for each group). Make sure the oil is nice and hot before putting in tomatoes. Brown on one side and flip over. Brown on second side (approximately 4-6 minutes each side). Remove that group from pan, add a little more oil and continue with next batch.

I think the best BLT I've ever eaten was a fried green tomato BLT with mozzeralla cheese. It was at a little place in atlanta, where they also served mac and cheese fritters :) http://agnesandmuriels.com/dinner.shtml

I think it was one of the highlights of our robotics trip XDDDD

And now I get to try this recipe and see if I can get close to recreating some of the amazingness :)

I love your blog. So many yummmmmy things ^_^

The days are getting shorter and I have lots of green tomatoes on the vine. For lunch today I used the Better Homes and Gardens recipe that they have used since 1930. I used Olive Oil and they were delicious. I would love to try the ones with bacon and the bacon gravy but I will just have to imagine what they taste like as I can't have things like that anymore. I am sure to try some of the other recipes for green tomatoes though. Gee I am glad I have lots of them left. I introduced my grandaughter to them this year and she loved them too. Carol

I suspect its one of those things that you can't hardly really do wrong. I just used some maters from the end of my garden (MI) - sliced, dipped in flour (whole wheat for me) and fried in olive oil with salt and pepper. Mmmm mmmm! Yummysville... Next time I think I'll try cornmeal, but for me, extremely simple (i.e. sans milk, eggs, bread crumbs etc.) seems to work plenty fine to my way of tasting...
Anyway, I enjoyed reading the comments - happy eating y'all!

Fried green tomatoes are not just a southern dish. I'm from Northern Maine and grew up eating fried green tomatoes from our garden. I don't remember how Mom cooked them but they sure were good. I now live in Tucson AZ and our local Food City sometimes has green tomatoes mixed in with regular tomatoes. I bought one today and will try it for my lunch tomorrow; probably just flour, salt, pepper & olive oil.

So there really is fried green tomatoes... It looks tempting, I'd like to try it myself. Thanks.

Gay

Hello,
This is the first time I decided to post a comment, although I have been using your website for more than a year. So far I have been very successful. These tomatoes- it was a disaster! They were sour like fried limes! What did I do wrong? I used green tomatillos from Harris Teeter, maybe it was not the right kind of tomatoes? Thank you for response:-) and all your recipes.

Hi Eva - Tomatillos are not green tomatoes. They are a different species. You can't necessarily substitute them for green tomatoes. ~Elise

Hi Elise,

Yes really good. The climate change is really making a long season for vegetables down under in Tasmania. We have had a hot summer and now into autumn still very warm. I look forward to the cooler days with log fires and some snow on the Mountain.

Annie

I really want to try making fried green tomatoes, but I am not sure as to what "green tomatoes" are and where can I buy them? Some help on this would be great!

Green tomatoes are unripe tomatoes. You can find them in season at farmers markets, or by bumming a few from friends who grow tomatoes. Whatever you do, don't use a tomatillo for this dish, it's completely different than a green tomato. ~Elise

We were at the farmers market this weekend and my husband picked up some green tomatoes to be fried. I never made them before, so I looked up a recipe online. We made them tonight, and they were great. I didn't have any bread crumbs or cornmeal, so I crushed some vegetable Ritz crackers and they were great.
Thanks!

I don't know why your readers are choosing sides and going to war over what to coat or not to coat the green tomatoes with. So much passion over one of life's simple pleasures. It makes little difference, they are going to be wonderful no matter how you, your grandmother, or anyone else cooks them. Like Freud once said, "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar..." Try ALL the above methods and you'll see that there's no way to fail (unless, of course, you use tomatillos). Wayne, N.C.

I just found this recipe, and it's great! As to all the other suggestions on how to make them, I have this to say- I live in Indiana, but much of my family is in our native Southern Georgia. When I visit, this is how one of the days goes-breakfast at Gram's-fried green tomatoes dipped in cornmeal and fried in bacon grease, later off to Uncle Clifton's for some horseback riding, then lunch, with fried green tomatoes dipped in egg and flour with a home made dipping sauce, then to Aunt Barb's for some front porch time and fried green tomatoes done up just like in the book. So, I've grown up with them fixed just about every way possible, and I have yet to find a recipe I don't drool over-fried green tomatoes are delicous no matter how you do them!! Thanks for this recipe, now if someone would send out the dip recipe I'd be on my way to a happy heartattack from way to much fried food!

Mmmmmmm. I love fried green tomatoes. I live in SW Pennsylvania and I grew up on these! My mother passed away a couple years ago, but I remember her making them, crowding around her and snatching them up as she took them out. Big family favorite. Great family memories. My dad and brother had some in there garden and are coming over today to have me make them. We also just used flour,salt and pepper fried in grease. YUM!

I made this recipe and it was delicious! I don't know what the fuss is all about just using flour, if that's how you ate them growing up, that's great. As for me, a "green" green tomato eater, they were quick and easy. Elise, I did add an ingredient on the second batch, sugar, yep about a tablespoon to the flour. It took the tart out of the tomato and did not effect the recipe one bit. I think it made them better so did my 14 year old daughter Aubrey. She's the expert on fried green tomatoes.

Wonderful recipes and ideas. Thanks everyone for sharing..now I will take from what you all suggest and add or take away whatever ..
isn't it just incredible how we travel throughout the world to find similar food, preapared in a unique way by whatever culture who has adapted it?
I think about tortillas..and chips, salsa, etc. my Hispanic friends do so well..and how the Chinese also have their version of "chips" (fried noodles) with dipping sauces..
it's really great that we can all learn to appreciate "good food" wherever it's to be found ..a "good cook" is a GOOD COOK.
therein may be the real secret..in the spice? the seasoning? the special care invested into preparation of food when we are wanting only to "please" whoever so happens to be there to "enjoy"

Great recipe. I recommend trying buttermilk and adding a dash of cayenne or red pepper flakes to the cornmeal :)

Oh yum, I am so glad I have finally found a recipe for these! The best fried green tomato dish I have found is the fried green tomato "lasagna" at Cretia's in Dallas, Tx.

Try this with a rémoulade sauce, it's great with the tangy flavor of the green tomatoes.

Elise I would try drying them in the oven on low about 250 degrees with salt and pepper and just watch them. I would do this with red ones and add sugar to them and they would make great dried tomatoes. Just like sun dried. Just don't leave the green ones in a long time and I think that would work for you..... Let me know if it does..... Jess
p.s. I was 35 when I first tried a FGT and I fell in love and this is comeing from someone that doesn't like ripe tomatoes. I do like sundried and FGT I don't get it either... LOL

Hello! my husband planted a garden this year for the first time, we have lots of tomatos growing, cherri, romas, and stylets, we tried frying some of the stylets (big, round) coated with cornmeal and egg, fried them in olive oil, salt and pepper, they did not taste like anything at all, except the cornmeal. How green is green? do they need to have a hint of color? we expected some kind of taste and got nothing :( please help!

I live in eastern KY. Fried green tomatoes are a favorite around here. I have eaten them just breaded in flour as mentioned above. I tried this recipe, and I love it. This how I will fix them from now on.

We order them at Grindstone Charley's (a local eatery) and they are great! That's the recipe I'm looking for!

Yeah, growing up in Northeran PA we had fried green tomatoes every week for supper during tomato growing season. Sliced thinly, dipped in seasoned flour and fried in shortening or oil. Now, we made a complete meal of them by adding boiled potatoes and red tomato gravy. While you are frying the greens, skin some ripe tomatoes, slice in thirds and flour with seasoned flour, when all the greens are finished, fry up the red ones then mash down and add some milk or half and half, serve over the fried green tomatoes and boiled potatoes and supper is on the table. No meat required! Scrumptious!! Several years ago I was making these for my adult son and I, when the 12 year old neighbor boy wandered into my kitchen and announced that something smelled great. He started eating the tomatoes (never had them before) and next thing I knew he was in my garden and brought in 4 more large greens. Every year after that I made him a big batch of fried tomatoes the week before school started.

Hey Everyone!! I loved the look of this recipe, and I had been dieing to make these, and I used fresh tomatoes from my very 1st garden of my own :) Which I am very proud of ! I read the comments before making, and let me tell you something, I followed this ladies words below and they came out perfect !! So I would like to Thank You for posting yur thoughts on this ..

RE: Posted by: Claude on April 8, 2007 12:21 PM

Sorry, those aren't real fried green mators! I was raised on real ones since I was 3 years old. The recipe is simply this (pasted down from grandparents living in the 1800's#...

Slice em no more than 1/4 inch thick
Dip in milk
Dip in flour mixure #salt & pepper only#
Fry #on med heat# until dark brown #in lard, corn or veggie oil)

Simple huh? That was the way it was and that's how they were made.

ps we used lard but veggie oil is better for you; I now use corn oil.

No eggs, no cornmeal or olive oil...if ya want'a zest em up, use seasoned salt instead of regular salt. I still eat them at least once a week and at 89 years old I'm still doing fine!

This recipe was fantastic and I tried every recommendation in the comments. They were all delicious. The only disappointment was not using my brain to find this recipe sooner as we had a bumper crop of tomatoes that wouldn't ripen (terrible summer). Now they're gone and I'm wanting more!!!

My mom always made them much like Sipsey as noted above by Lisa Joan. Dip in egg/milk mixture then in the flour with salt and pepper. Fry in a skillet with bacon grease until crispy - make sure you turn the tomato slices. Just wonderful!! She had to hide the plate until dinner.

Just changed a flat tyre on my car as I was struggling with the wrench the thought of fried green tomatoes filled my subconsious mind. Having read this entire blog I fried some direct from my garden here in the UK. I burnt my tongue on the first mouthful! After that I waited for them to cool a little. mmMM Delicious!

I have always fried lambs liver in the same way. I think these would work brilliantly together! slices of liver dipped in flour seasoned with plenty of pepper some salt and fresh thyme.

SC - where the green tomatoes thrive. Have a restaurant here that serves a sandwich with Kaiser roll, slivered lettuce, three fried green tomato slices and a kabob of spicy grilled shrimp...remoulade sauce on the side. To die for....