Experience true Southern comfort with these perfectly crispy fried green tomatoes! With a crunchy cornmeal coating and a hint of Cajun spice, this easy recipe delivers mouthwatering results every time.
Why You’ll Love This Southern Classic
It doesn’t get much more Southern than this. Classic, golden fried green tomatoes are so delicious they have a whole movie named after them! I perfected this fried green tomato recipe when we lived in Texas and my Mom grew enough tomatoes to feed an army. We would make batches of fresh pico de gallo and this refreshing cucumber tomato salad, but we would still have so many tomatoes to use up. We started frying the green ones and never looked back! Here’s why this we think this is the best recipe for fried green tomatoes:
- Crispy: We double coat the tomatoes creating a super crispy exterior for the hot and juicy fried green tomatoes.
- Quick and Simple: Slice the tomatoes, bread them and fry them until crispy and golden brown. It’s really that simple, you only need 25 minutes total!
- Flavorful: The green tomatoes bring most of the flavor all by themselves, but use Cajun seasoning in our cornmeal to punch up the flavor.
- Versatile: Dip them in remoulade sauce, add melty cheese and bacon, or top them with pimento cheese to create the perfect bite.
Looking for more ways to use up a bunch of tomatoes from your garden? Try our roasted tomato soup, this refreshing cherry tomato caprese salad or this easy pesto chicken caprese dinner.
Key Ingredients
Below you will find helpful notes for key ingredients used to make this fried green tomato recipe. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and exact amounts!
- Green tomatoes: Pick ones that are more or less the same size for even cooking times. You want to use truly green tomatoes that are firm, without any orange or red on them.
- Cornmeal: You can use white or yellow cornmeal.
- Cajun Seasoning: Try our homemade blend or add your favorite store bought version. You can also use garlic salt and pepper, but we like a little kick of heat!
- Oil: Go for vegetable, corn, avocado, peanut or canola oil. You want an oil that is good for frying and will not burn at high temperatures.
How To Make Fried Green Tomatoes
Fried green tomatoes are always best straight out of the skillet for the crispiest bite. Below is a quick recipe overview, but please scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions.
- Set up the breading station: Combine flour, cornmeal, and Cajun seasoning in one bowl. In another bowl, just add flour. Add beaten eggs into a third bowl.
- Prep the tomatoes: Dredge the tomatoes in flour, then in the egg mixture, and then in the cornmeal mixture. Set them aside.
- Fry them: Heat oil to 350°F to 375°F. Once oil is hot, gently lower 4 to 5 tomatoes into the oil at a time. Fry until golden and crispy on both sides. Remove them from the skillet and set onto a paper towel lined plate to drain for about a minute.
- Serve: Sprinkle them with salt and then serve and enjoy!
Cook’s Tips and Variations
- Work quickly: Briefly coat the tomatoes in egg wash and immediately transfer them to the cornmeal mixture. You can leave them there for a couple minutes before cooking if you need to, but the quicker you work, the crispier they’ll be.
- Re-coat if needed: If your tomatoes have been sitting and have absorbed some of the coating, you can quickly press them in the cornmeal mixture once again right before frying.
- Watch the slices: Don’t cut your tomatoes into slices thicker than 1/4″, otherwise they’ll absorb too much oil when cooking. Thinner slices than this are also likely to burn, so stick to 1/4″ for best results.
- Watch the heat: We highly recommend using a clip-on pot thermometer to monitor the temperature of your oil. Trying to fry with cold oil results in greasy, soggy tomatoes. Too hot of oil will cook the outsides well before the inside of the tomato is tender. You can also test the oil by dipping the tip of a breaded tomato into it. If it sizzles right away, it’s ready.
- Swap the seasoning: Skip the Cajun seasoning, for taco seasoning, ranch seasoning or Old Bay seasoning.
How to Serve Fried Green Tomatoes
Once spread with a bit of pimento cheese and crunchy chives, these pan-fried green tomatoes are the perfect easy Southern appetizer. To round out your dinner, try some of these Southern favorites:
- Shrimp: Cajun garlic butter shrimp or these juicy air fryer Cajun shrimp are two great options that are even tasty served right on top of your fried green tomatoes!
- Beef: If you are already in a frying mood, try this chicken fried steak! You also can’t go wrong with our tender smothered cube steak recipe.
- Chicken: Chicken and waffles with cornbread waffles is an obvious winner, but you also will love our easy skillet chicken and gravy.
Fried Green Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 firm green tomatoes, sliced ¼” thick
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, divided
- ½ cup fine corn meal
- 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
- 1 cup oil, such as vegetable, avocado, peanut, or canola oil all work
Instructions
- You will need 3 shallow bowls. In the first bowl, combine ½ a cup of flour, cornmeal, and the Cajun seasoning, set aside. In the second bowl, add the remaining ½ cup of flour. Add the beaten eggs to the final bowl.
- Dredge the tomato slices first in the flour, then coat in the egg mixture, and lastly dredge in the cornmeal mixture and set aside on a tray. Repeat until all the tomato slices are coated.
- Heat the oil to around 350°F to 375°F in a large, deep sided skillet. Use enough oil to cover the bottom of the skillet and come up on the sides slightly. Once the oil is hot, test it by dropping in a little flour. If it bubbles, the oil is hot. We highly recommend using a clip-on pot thermometer to monitor the temperature of your oil.
- Carefully add in the breaded tomato slices, frying on each side for 2 to 3 minutes, flipping only once. Remove from the oil and set on a tray lined with paper towels. Repeat until all the tomatoes are fried golden and crispy.
- Serve immediately with a little sprinkle of salt. I love to serve ours with a little pimento cheese and fresh chives on top, or with remoulade sauce for dipping!
These are the best fried green tomatoes and the sauce makes them so tasty 😋