Southern Tomato Pie Recipe
Southern Tomato Pie Recipe is a savory pie with fresh tomatoes, cheddar cheese mixture, and mayo layered into a pie shell! It’s a summertime favorite!
Southern Tomato Pie is a must-make when you grow your own tomatoes, or it’s heirloom tomato season!
What is tomato pie?
It’s a deliciously cheesy pie recipe from Southern Living in the late 70s and has quickly become a southern favorite.
What kind of tomatoes should you use?
Whatever fresh garden tomatoes you can find! Roma tomatoes fit nicely into a pie crust. But any ripe summer tomatoes will do!
I prefer to use colorful heirloom tomatoes, but any ripe tomato will do.
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Let’s gather a few kitchen supplies before we make the pie:
- Small bowl to mix the cheese mixture in
- Paper towels, and lots of them
- Baking sheet – if like me, you don’t want the tomato-y paper towels directly on your countertop, you can lay them out inside the baking pan.
- Pie Pan – I actually prefer the toss-away foil ones, but a glass one will do just fine.
- A good Serrated Knife – this makes cutting tomatoes super easy!
How to this Make Southern Tomato Pie Recipe
Go down to your farmer’s market, your neighbor’s garden, or your own garden and pick some delicious homegrown tomatoes.
Lay out a triple layer of paper towels — we’re going to dry the tomatoes out first before we add them to our pie.
Slice your tomatoes about a quarter-inch thin.
In a single layer, lay the tomato slices on top of the paper towels.
Sprinkle a little kosher salt on each tomato. Add additional paper towels, such as a double layer of paper towels, and then “press” each one down.
The paper towels help soak up the excess juices that the tomatoes release.
Let the tomatoes sit this way, on the counter, for a good hour. Longer if you can!
While your tomatoes dry out, you can par-bake your pie crust.
I would usually make a homemade pie crust, but instead, I opted for a store-bought pie dough!
Use pie weights to hold the pie crust down (with a piece of aluminum foil between them!) or, just prick the pastry crust with the tines of a fork over and over.
Bake at 425˚ for 12 minutes.
Making the Cheese Mixture for a Savory Southern Tomato Pie
Now, classic southern tomato pie is a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella cheese with mayo.
In this recipe, I’ve used leftovers from the All the Cheese Cheeseball I made! And y’all! The various cheese did not disappoint.
The cheeseball has green onions, sharp cheddar, white cheddar, blue cheese, goat cheese, Boursin cheese, and cream cheese. It’s a lot!! I let this cheese log come to room temperature before mixing up the cheese mixture.
Mix the 1 cup of All the Cheese Cheeseball with half a cup of Duke’s Mayonnaise, half a cup of sour cream, lots of black pepper, and some House Seasoning.
One important thing, and non-negotiable is the addition of American Cheese. I know, you’re cringing right now… But, it makes the meltiest deliciously sinful savory tomato pie!
Next, you’ll need to gather a few more ingredients:
- Bread Crumbs – this is layered on the bottom of the pie, so the juicy tomatoes don’t soak through the flaky crust.
- Parmesan Cheese – I add this to the bread crumbs to give extra flavor.
- Fresh Garlic Clove – I grate one clove into the bread crumb parmesan cheese mixture. It’s all about building flavors, and this is a very effective way of doing so!
- Vidalia Onion – just a quarter of a sweet onion, sliced very thin!
- Fresh Herbs – you can add fresh basil or fresh thyme to the top of the pie when it comes out of the oven.
Assembling this Easy Tomato Pie Recipe
Once you have your parbaked pie shell, let’s start assembling.
In a small bowl mix together 2 tablespoons each of breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. Grate one garlic clove using a Microplane, and mix well so the garlic clove gets incorporated evenly into the crumb mixture.
To the bottom of your buttery crust, add half the bread crumbs mixture.
Add half the thinly sliced onions on top of the bread crumbs.
Now, the sliced tomatoes are layered on top of the onions and breadcrumbs.
Just half of the tomatoes, in an almost single layer. If you need to overlap the fresh ripe tomatoes to make them fit, that’s okay!
Scoop a third of the cheese mixture on top of the tomatoes, and spread out so it evenly covers them.
Do this all over again with the breadcrumbs, onions, and thin slices of tomatoes, and end with the rest of the cheese mixture.
Place the tomato pie on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and bake at 425˚ degrees f for 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown!
Sprinkle fresh basil leaves on top before serving.
Pro Tip: Let this sit a good 20-30 minutes before slicing into it! If you slice into the pie right away, the cheese oozes everywhere… kind of like lasagna! And, you don’t want your first bite scorching the roof of your mouth!
Also, in other recipes, you can find fresh basil or fresh thyme in between the layers of tomato. Feel free to add them!
What to Serve with this classic summer recipe?
A simple green salad is plenty to eat! This Toni’s Chopped Salad is just the ticket. Tomato pie is not a light dinner, it’s quite heavy with plenty of cheese and buttery pie crust!
You could also serve some Grilled Chicken with it if you want a protein.
However, this time of year, it’s nice to eat a dinner made just from the goodness you find at your local farmer’s market or backyard garden!
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Frequently Asked Questions:
Can you use green tomatoes?
You can! They definitely don’t hold as much liquid but dry them just the same.
What are the origins of the southern tomato pie?
In 1978, Southern Living published the first recipe from Mrs. Rose Welsh out of Seabrook, Maryland.
How do you eat a tomato pie?
It’s supposed to be eaten hot, out of the oven. Although warm is delightful when you’re serving for a brunch or lunch.
Can tomato pie be frozen?
Yes! They sure can! You’ll reheat in the oven after thawing. I like to use the cold oven method when reheating. You can find that in the notes of the printable recipe card.
How do you use sweet summer tomatoes?!
Be sure to save this recipe to your favorite Tomato Board on Pinterest!
Southern Tomato Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 3–4 Sliced Tomatoes, about 16–18 slices for a 9-inch pie pan
- Kosher Salt to sprinkle over the tomatoes
- 1 cup All the Cheese Cheeseball
- 1/2 cup Duke’s Mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup Sour Cream
- 6 slices of American Cheese, cut into bits
- 1 pie crust