34 Tomato Recipes You'll Want to Make Forever
Looking for recipes that let classic and delicious tomatoes take the spotlight? With four- and five-star ratings across the board, rest assured your search for the best tomato recipes can be found in this collection. From fresh salads and sandwiches to creamy casseroles and skillet dinners, you'll have no trouble getting the most out of this nightshade. Try recipes like our Hasselback Tomato Caprese Salad and The Best Tomato Sandwich to Make All Summer Long to see what all the hype is about!
Hasselback Tomato Caprese Salad
Use the Hasselback technique to change up your caprese salad with this fun twist! Cutting partially into the whole tomato creates openings to layer in fresh mozzarella cheese, basil and a balsamic drizzle for tons of flavor in this unique vegetable side dish recipe.
The Ultimate Vegetarian Club Sandwich
Taking time and care with each component—like getting a nice char on the eggplant—is the secret to this standout sandwich.
Slow-Roasted Tomatoes
Slowly cooking summer-ripe tomatoes in a low oven makes them candy-sweet. Turn to this recipe to preserve the summer bounty from your garden or farmers' market; it freezes well for up to 6 months. Tuck these tasty bites into sandwiches; stir them into risotto; or chop them and mix with Kalamata olives, olive oil and fresh herbs to scoop up with pita chips.
Shakshuka (Eggs Poached in Spicy Tomato Sauce)
Shakshuka is a veggie-packed meal featuring eggs cooked in a mixture of tomatoes, onions, peppers and spices. It's often served for breakfast or lunch in North Africa and the Middle East.
Scallops & Cherry Tomatoes with Caper-Butter Sauce
These pan-seared scallops come together in just 20 minutes for a delicious, easy dinner. You'll want some whole-wheat angel hair pasta or polenta to sop up all the rich, briny sauce.
We'd Happily Eat This Ricotta-Tomato Toast for Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner
This tomato toast features a creamy ricotta cheese spread and, of course, juicy ripe summer tomatoes. A serrated knife makes cutting thin slices of the heirloom tomatoes easier when they are on the softer side. If you have cherry tomatoes on hand, they will work well too, either sliced or blistered under the broiler.
The Best Tomato Sandwich to Make All Summer Long
This classic tomato sandwich features a lovely combination of sweet juicy tomatoes and herby cream cheese. You can make a big batch of the cream cheese mixture and have it on hand to spread on bagels or crackers. For a boost of protein, add smoked salmon or sliced turkey or chicken.
Sheet-Pan Ratatouille
Ratatouille is a type of veggie-forward, Provençal-style stew. Our sheet-pan ratatouille features tangy goat cheese and sweet balsamic glaze that complement the tender charred vegetables. Bake the tomatoes on a separate pan so that the steam from the tomatoes won't steam the other vegetables.
Herbed Tomato Gratin
Vegetable gratin recipes often have a crunchy breadcrumb or crouton topping. But summer tomatoes are too gorgeous to hide, so we tucked crusty cubes of bread underneath them instead. Plus, the bread soaks up all the juicy tomato goodness. If you can't find marjoram, fresh basil or oregano makes a good substitute.
Roasted Salmon Caprese
This oven-ready recipe is snap to prep. Salmon fillets and cherry tomatoes roast side by side on one pan, then are drizzled with balsamic glaze to pull it all together.
Caprese Skewers
We take all the ingredients of a classic caprese salad and layer them onto skewers for a quick appetizer. These tomato-mozzarella-basil skewers are easy to assemble and perfect for a party.
Bruschetta-Topped Crispy Baked Chicken
A fresh tomato-and-basil topping on panko-crusted chicken cutlets makes an easy meal for family or casual entertaining.
Marinated Cherry Tomato Salad
In this easy cherry tomato salad, the fresh herbs and bright dressing highlight the natural sweetness of the summery tomatoes. Elevate the look of this easy salad by using multicolored tomatoes if you can find them.
Caprese Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
We've taken the key ingredients of the popular Caprese salad—tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil—and piled them into portobello mushroom caps to make a delicious and satisfying vegetarian main dish.
Skillet Chicken with Orzo & Tomatoes
In this healthy chicken recipe, chicken thighs are infused with lemon, garlic and herbs and paired with orzo that's perfectly al dente. Charred tomatoes and onions add full flavor to complete this easy, one-skillet dinner.
Grilled Flank Steak with Tomato Salad
Cutting the steak immediately after cooking breaks all the rules on meat cookery, but in this recipe we do it intentionally in order to capture the juices and incorporate them into the dressing. Serve this grilled flank steak recipe with crusty bread to soak up the deliciousness.
Grilled Chicken Breasts with Tomato-Caper Sauce
This healthy grilled chicken breast recipe--a twist on chicken piccata--features a creamy white-wine-and-caper pan sauce that gets a burst of summer flavor from fresh grape tomatoes and basil. Pounding the chicken prior to grilling ensures even cooking and makes this easy dinner even faster. The piccata sauce would also be great with shrimp, firm white fish or pork.
Spicy Tomato-Braised Pot Roast
This tomato sauce gets its heat from Calabrian chiles. Find them whole or chopped packed in jars near the pickles in well-stocked grocery stores. If you don't have any, just a bit of crushed red pepper will do the trick. Serve over polenta, mashed potatoes or pasta.
Garlicky Marinated Tomatoes
In this fresh summer dish, juicy ripe tomatoes are marinated in olive oil, vinegar and garlic with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and parsley added at the end. This is the perfect recipe to make during prime tomato season where there are multiple colors and flavors to choose from.
Tomato Casserole
Cook and activist Mable Clarke serves this craveable side dish at the monthly fish fry she started to save the Soapstone Baptist Church in South Carolina. While the cheese crackers may draw you in, it's the baked tomatoes that keep you coming back for more. When she's cooking for hundreds of guests at the fish fry, Clarke uses canned tomatoes and green chiles for this dish. Since you're likely not cooking for 400, we adapted the recipe to use fresh tomatoes.
Caprese-Stuffed Eggplant
We took all the elements of a classic caprese--tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil and balsamic vinegar--and stuffed them inside a fresh-baked eggplant. The result is a perfect vegetarian, late-summer dinner everyone will enjoy.
Tomato Tart with Burrata
A touch of cornmeal adds texture and nutty flavor to buttery pastry dough in this tomato tart recipe.
Cucumber, Tomato & Feta Salad with Balsamic Dressing
This Greek-inspired tomato salad is packed with fresh veggies and flavor-boosting ingredients, like balsamic vinegar, Kalamata olives and crumbled feta cheese. This delicious salad takes just 15 minutes to make and while you could eat it right away, it tastes even better the longer it sits, so plan to leave at least an hour of marinating time before serving.
Avocado Caprese Salad
This avocado caprese salad has all the flavors of a classic caprese salad with the addition of creamy avocado. The sweet and tangy balsamic dressing pulls everything together, with fresh basil adding a refreshing pop of color. Add capers for an even bigger flavor.
Pesto & White Bean Stuffed Tomato
This simple 3-ingredient recipe is perfect for a light lunch or snack. Showcasing the midsummer flavors of fresh tomatoes and pesto, this recipe is delicious, nutritious and ready in just five minutes.
Lasagna with Slow-Roasted Tomato Sauce
Slow-roasting the tomatoes gives the tomato sauce for this lasagna recipe an intense depth of flavor—which is then enhanced by the umami in onions, Parmesan and spinach. The lasagna noodles are layered into the lasagna uncooked; the moisture from the fresh spinach cooks them perfectly as the lasagna bakes in the oven.
Eggs in Tomato Sauce with Chickpeas & Spinach
Simmer eggs in a rich tomatoey cream sauce studded with chickpeas and silky spinach for a super-fast vegetarian dinner. Serve with a piece of crusty bread to soak up the sauce. Be sure to use heavy cream; a lower-fat option might curdle when mixed with acidic tomatoes.
Marinated Cucumber & Tomato Salad
This marinated salad is such a healthy way to enjoy those fresh summer veggies and can be easily customized. Try adding in some fresh herbs or feta cheese for a little added flavor. You can also swap in seasoned pepper, which is amped up with additional seasonings, in place of the plain ground pepper for an additional flavor boost.
Easy Tomato Gazpacho
Many gazpacho recipes are thickened with bread, but this easy gazpacho recipe uses just vegetables, making it a gluten-free refresher for a hot summer day. The key to any flavorful gazpacho is giving it time to rest. The flavors meld and become cohesive when the soup is allowed to sit a bit before serving.
Fried Green Tomatoes
The perfect way to use up those lingering green tomatoes.
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Charred Corn & Pepper Salsa
The roasted pepper and corn salsa that tops this gorgeous tomato salad has a kick from the tart sherry vinegar and moderately spicy and fruity Aleppo pepper. Red-wine vinegar and ground ancho chile are good alternatives. Grill some chicken, fish or other protein along with the corn for an easy summer dinner.
Garden Tomato Sauce
summer-ripe tomatoes. Or freeze whole tomatoes and make this sauce later on in the winter. Just remove the cores and freeze them whole. Then, turn your frozen tomatoes into a garden-fresh sauce any time of the year. For pizza sauce: In Step 2, cook until thickened to about the consistency of pizza sauce, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Remove from the heat, transfer to a blender, add 2 tablespoons tomato paste and blend until smooth.
Shrimp Salad-Stuffed Tomatoes
Hollowed-out tomatoes were the secret to elegant lunches in the '50s--and they deserve a comeback today. Look for bright red, aromatic tomatoes without any mushy spots or discolorations. You can also stuff these tomatoes with Bacony Barley Salad with Marinated Shrimp or Curried Tofu Salad.
Tomato Gratin
A gratin is any dish topped with cheese or breadcrumbs mixed with butter, then heated until browned--but it needn't be heavy. This one has plenty of garden-fresh tomatoes and herbs, a touch of full-flavored cheese and a crispy crumb topping.
