You can’t let summer go by without making these vegan Fried Green Tomatoes at least once. They are golden and crispy on the outside and they melt in your mouth. This recipe is also gluten-free, nut-free and soy-free.
I wanted to update for you this recipe for my vegan Fried Green Tomatoes, which I first posted almost exactly a decade ago, because it’s the perfect time to make these, and also because I’ve made some tweaks to my recipe to make the process even simpler than it already was.
Our days are already beginning to cool down here in the Northeast, and there’s not much time left for the tomato vines to continue producing fruit, and I didn’t want to let summer pass me by without making these at least once.
Fried Green Tomatoes are, of course, a southern classic and they are typically not vegan, requiring an assembly line of milk, flour, eggs and cornmeal, coating the slices of tomato in each before they are fried. For my easy vegan version, I use tapioca starch, mixed with spices, herbs and nondairy milk or vegetable stock, and cornmeal to add that final, crunchy coating. It’s a really easy dish and probably shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes to get from scratch to done.
In my earlier iteration of this recipe, I used flax in lieu of eggs. While that still works, I like the tapioca starch even more just because it works even better as a binder, sticking to the tomatoes and helping the cornmeal adhere in turn for that crispy coating. You can use either, and I’ll include instructions for both below.
These fried green tomatoes are best eaten fresh off the skillet, because they tend to soften a bit as they stand, because of the moisture in the tomatoes. If you do leave them standing around, be sure to crisp them up on the skillet or in the oven before serving.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make these fried green tomatoes:
- Green, unripe tomatoes. Any large tomato is fine, and it should be firm.
- Tapioca starch (corn starch is a fine substitute)
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder or flakes
- Dry thyme
- Nondairy milk
- Cornmeal
On to the recipe, and if you try these, be sure to let me know in the comments below or tag me @holycowvegan on Instagram!
Looking for more green tomato recipes?
Green Tomato Stew
South Indian Green Tomato Dal
Looking for more tasty vegetable sides?
Curried Carrot Salad
Vegan Garlic Butter Mushrooms
Lemony Greek Potatoes
Golden Beet Carrot Slaw
Turmeric Roasted Root Vegetables
Vegan Fried Green Tomatoes
Gluten-free | Nut-free | Soy-free
Vegan Fried Green Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 large green tomatoes , cut into thick slices. Each tomato should yield roughly 6 slices. Sprinkle the tomato slices with salt and ground black pepper and set aside.
- 3 tbsp tapioca starch (cornstarch works as well. If you prefer to use flaxmeal instead, use 2 tbsp of flaxmeal instead of the tapioca starch)
- 1/3 cup non-dairy milk (can use vegetable stock instead)
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil (for frying)
Instructions
- In a shallow bowl large enough to hold the tomato slices, whisk the nondairy milk, tapioca starch (or flaxmeal), garlic powder, onion powder, thyme and salt and ground black pepper to taste. (If using flax, if the mixture gets too thick, thin out with more milk or stock)
- Place the cornmeal in another shallow bowl.
- Dredge each slice of tomato in the milk-starch mixture to coat it, and then in the cornmeal so the slice is coated on all sides.
- Heat a nonstick or cast-iron skillet and coat the bottom with oil. Fry each slice of tomato for about five minutes on each side over medium-high heat, or until golden-brown. Flip over and cook the other side.
- Remove to a dish lined with paper towels, and sprinkle with some more salt and pepper when hot, if desired. Serve hot.
Nutrition
Oh! Fried green tomatoes always make me think of my Grandma. She was not only an avid vegetable gardener, but avid about all plants, indoors & out.
Thanks to her I grew up eating all kinds of veg…even the odd ones for our part of the country. She’d spend cold winters days perusing multiple seed catalogs.
Many times I’ve wished I paid better attention while she was alive so I’d be better at growing plants myself. Thanks for a trip down memory lane with her today. (Fried green tomatoes were always a part of life with her)
I’ll be trying this recipe!
I love this dish, as does my daughter. We have made them recently and after seeing this, will again soon.
Hi Roshani, glad you tried it. About your questions, the reason you dip the tomato into the soymilk, then flour, then flaxmeal, then cornmeal is to ensure that each layer adheres evenly to the surface of the tomato, so you get a crispy result. The milk is the glue that binds the flour to the surface, and the flaxmeal-water is the next coating that glues the cornmeal to the surface. If you mix it all up, you won’t get an even coating and therefore the resulting tomato will be soggy instead of crisp.
As for adding the salt and pepper, the recipe does ask that you sprinkle salt and pepper on the tomatoes before dipping them and then again at the end. I find that when you add it to the flour, you end up using a lot of salt and pepper and yet the tomatoes don’t taste salty and peppery enough at the end. By sprinkling at the end, you get more of the taste punch with less salt and pepper.
Hope that helps. Enjoy Boston! 🙂
Delicious Vaishali! I just picked green tomatoes from my friend’s garden in Boston and we enjoyed trying this recipe!
A few questions, what would happen if you mixed the flour, corn meal and milk instead of dipping it in one at a time? What do you think in terms of adding salt and other spices into the mixture, instead of putting it on top?
Thank you again for sharing this wonderful summertime recipe!
Wow,Love the classic souther dish.I could not try this when I was there,though have heard a lot of this-nice way you veganized it Vaishali.Never ever I could think of flax in such a dish
looks really good vaishali..bookmarking it.
Hmm fried grren tomatoes sounds yummy, def on my to do list 🙂
Crispy beauties!looks yumm!
I had this once when I was a teenager my dad made it for me after we watched the movie and it was so good. My tomatoes are not ready yet so I have to wait to do this dish. Thanks for posting and welcome back.
I have heard so much about this.. i have to make this atleast once just to see what the rave is all about;)
Every blog I visit is doing Fried Green Tomatoes ! Is this some conspiracy going on 😉
I might go for it next , and try to make it low-cal by shallow-frying…I like to stay away from deep-frying…
This is so on my list to make!
The fried green tomatoes sound yum Vaishalli. Will have to get some green tomatoes though.
Hi, The fried green tomatoes look really good. I’ve never had them, and since I don’t have a garden this year I will save this idea until I do. I enjoyed the movie, also…”I’m older and I have more insurance!!”
Peace, Stephanie
those tomatoes looks delicious Vaishali..thanks for sharing this new recipe
Beautiful!Are these the tomatillos? Will try to send in something for the event!
mmmmmmmmmmm looks yummy .. me too tried the deep fried tomatillo with some bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.. this looks good too will try it out vaishali..clicks are good too.
Thats a real interesting dish to try..what a presenation..slurp !!
Synchronicity! I was just wondering what to do with the vast quantities of green toms growing in the garden, since I can’t wait for them to ripen. Thanks for the post!
Please accept the gift from blog:)