Fried Green Tomatoes

5 from 4 votes

I absolutely love making my crispy fried green tomatoes with a tangy buttermilk batter. I spent hours testing different versions until I found the perfect recipe. The crispy batter fried onto each slice creates a perfectly crunchy crust.

Prep Time30

Cook Time20

Total Time50

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Total Cost: ($6.57 recipe / $1.31 serving)

Servings: (3 slices each)

Author: Jess Rice

Ingredients

4 large green tomatoes, cut into 1/3-inch slices $3.49
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, divided $0.07
1/2 cup cornmeal $0.38
1 Tbsp BBQ rub powder, optional $0.69
1 tsp salt, divided $0.02
1/2 tsp black pepper $0.03
1/2 cup buttermilk $0.32
2 eggs $0.34
1 1/3 cups canola oil* $1.23

Instructions

Cut the tomatoes into 1/3-inch slices horizontally, discarding the end with the stem and the very bottom which is smooth.
Combine 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup cornmeal, 1 Tbsp BBQ seasoning powder, and 1/2 tsp salt in one small bowl. Whisk to combine.
In another small bowl, pour in the remaining 1/4 cup flour by itself.
In a third bowl, whisk together the eggs and buttermilk.
In an assembly line fashion, dip your cut tomatoes into the flour, then the buttermilk egg mixture, and finally the cornmeal BBQ seasoning mixture. Place each slice of tomato off to the side and continue this assembly line process until all tomatoes have been dredged in this magical trio!
Once your tomatoes are dredged and off to the side, heat up the canola oil in a thick bottom pan on high heat until it is very hot! (Take a droplet of water on your finger and drip it into the pan. Once it lands, if it pops and hisses, it’s ready to fry the tomatoes!)
Gently place 3-4 tomatoes (depending on the size of your frying pan) into the hot oil using a spatula. Let the tomatoes fry in the shallow oil for 2-3 minutes. Flip and fry the other side for around the same time, sometimes a minute longer.
Remove tomatoes as they are done to a paper towel lined plate or cooling rack so they aren’t sitting in any excess oil.

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Notes

*You want the oil to cover about half of the tomato’s height when it’s in the pan. These aren’t deep fried (completely submerged) so the other side will get nice and crispy when you flip them.

**If you like a thicker crispy fried coating, you can add ½ cup of panko breadcrumbs. The version I tested with ½ cup cornmeal and ½ cup panko also came out fantastic!

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