I keep joking, saying next year I’ll grow cherry tomatoes. They’re so tiny and take a very short time to grow and ripen, so you can eat them quickly. This year, though, I’m growing beefsteak tomatoes. While the end result is a huge tomato that’s perfect for something like a BLT or tomato sandwich, it takes a long time from when the plant flowers to when it’s ripe. So earlier this season, I got tired of waiting and picked a green tomato to make this Baked Fried Green Tomatoes recipe.

I like them a lot. Totally worth pulling green tomatoes off the plant early. And baked fried green tomatoes are a lot easier to make (and clean up) than traditional fried green tomatoes. Plus, you use less oil so they’re less calories than their fried cousins.

We ate them with a spicy sour cream dip (which was just sour cream and chili paste), and that was delicious too.

You can use this same technique if you want to make eggplant rounds for baked eggplant parmesan instead of frying those too.

Baked Fried Green Tomatoes Recipe

Baked Fried Green Tomatoes Ingredients:

• Green tomato
• Flour
• Egg
• Italian breadcrumbs
• Olive oil

How To Make Baked Fried Green Tomatoes:

Pre-heat your oven to 350.

Drizzle a little olive oil on a foil-lined pan.

Slice your green tomato into 1/8 to 1/4 inch rounds. Either size is fine, just make sure they’re all uniform.

Make three bowls: one with flour, one with a cracked and beaten egg, and one with breadcrumbs.

Dip the green tomato in the flour, then egg, then the breadcrumbs. Put each round on the cookie sheet until you’re done with all the rounds.

Drizzle a little olive oil on top of the rounds.

Bake about 10 minutes, flipping halfway through, until the breadcrumbs are a golden brown.

Serve immediately.