Upgrade Your Next BLT With This Crisp Swap For Basic Tomatoes

BLTs are the perfect go-to sandwiches that have protein, fresh and delicious veggies, and velvety mayo for a killer flavor combo. But if you're getting a little tired of the classic BLT, try bumping the flavor up by swapping out your usual reds with fried green tomatoes instead. 

Fried green tomatoes work well with BLTs because of their slightly acidic and tart taste, which adds a great punch to the rich and savory flavors of the mayo and bacon. Cooking fried green tomatoes mellows some of that tang out, too, so it's not quite a sharp punch so much as a background sourness. There are many subtleties of mastering fried green tomatoes, from the way you bread them to how they're fried (and even picking the right tomatoes to fry at all).  Brandywine, Green Zebra, Cherokee Green, and Stump of the World are some common types used for a good fried green tomato, but you can pick any — or even mix and match — as long as it's unripe.

You want to pick a firm green tomato and cut it into about one-quarter to one-third of an inch-thick slices so they don't get soggy. Fry them in oil on medium-high heat until they start to bubble, and then drop the heat to medium and cook them on both sides until brown. If overcooked, the juices will sog up the crust, so be sure to pop those bad boys out of the oil when they're just brown. Add slices to your BLT in place of red tomatoes, and you'll have yourself a brand new take on the classic.

When it comes to a simple meal like a BLT, each and every ingredient is important. The perfect BLT sandwich needs the right type of bacon, so be sure to pick something that crisps up nicely. Swerve from thick-cut or dry-cured bacon, since the chewiness means you risk not being able to take a clean bite and might just rip that whole bacon strip out of your sandwich. Go for bacon flavors that pair well with a fried green tomato's acidic bite — we loved our hickory—smoked bacon combo. Then, just add some fresh lettuce and your favorite mayo to finish it off.

If you want to elevate your sandwich even more, consider swapping out your typical lettuce for some purple or napa cabbage for some extra crunch. You can even make it into a slaw and mix in mayo to get that delicious sandwich spread and leafy greens all in one. We added chili crisp to ours, which provided the perfect amount of heat that played well with all the salt and tang from the bacon and fried green tomato. Toss in some microgreens for an extra pop of freshness and color, or replace the plain mayo with a remoulade. This rich, creamy, decadent sandwich starring fried green tomatoes might just become your new favorite take on the BLT.