Looking for an easy green tomato recipe? Try this tasty fancy toast, spread with goat cheese and topped with onion slivers and herbs.
Summer has come and gone, and left our garden with a tangle of vines and a pile of unripe tomatoes. But Alex and I have come to realize this: just because tomatoes aren’t red, it doesn’t mean they’re not tasty! If you’ve got some in your garden or see them at your farmers market, there are so many things to do with green tomatoes.
Our best ideas: blend them into a fresh green tomato salsa that tastes just like salsa verde! Or channel your homemaker vibe and make zesty green tomato pickles. But if you’re in a rush: green tomato toast is where it’s at! Slice them up and throw them on toast spread with goat cheese, and you’ve got a delightful appetizer or lunch. It’s the perfect quick use for those tart tomatoes.
What are green tomatoes?
Before we start: what are green tomatoes? Are they all just unripe versions of red tomatoes? Well, yes and no. While the common terminology for “green tomato” is a red tomato that is not yet ripe, there are actually varieties of tomatoes that are bred to be green when ripe. The green zebra tomato is a good example of a green-when-ripe heirloom tomato. We used this variety of tomato in our Mozzarella Tomato Basil Salad to bring in a lovely contrasting color. In this case, the tomato tastes juicy and sweet, just like a red tomato.
However, this green tomato recipe is for the opposite kind of tomato! Yes, it’s for red tomatoes that haven’t yet ripened, leaving them green and hard. What people have found over the years, though, is that green tomatoes have a tart, zingy flavor: perfect for things like salsa, pickles and spreading on fancy toast! Green tomatoes are absolutely as delicious in their own right: just different.
That said: you can make this green tomato recipe with either the traditional “green tomatoes” or green-when-ripe tomatoes. It will be delicious both ways!
How to make this green tomato recipe
There’s are so many ways to make a green tomato recipe, from frying them to baking them up in a mince meat pie. But our favorite version so far? A toasted open faced sandwich, with the tomatoes in all their raw electric green glory. Spreading the toast with goat cheese is a great contrast to the tomatoes. And topping with garlic salt put it into addictive territory for us! We also used some fresh herbs still hanging on in our garden. I preferred chives, where Alex’s favorite was basil.
How to make this green tomato recipe? It’s seriously simple:
- Slice the tomato into thick slices.
- Thinly slice the red onion and then rinse it in cold water: this will mellow the bite of the red onion.
- Assemble the toast! Spread on the goat cheese, add the green tomatoes and sprinkle on garlic salt and fresh herbs.
This green tomato recipe is a great appetizer, lunch, or light dinner option – we served it the other night as an assemble-your-own dinner right from the cutting board. What’s your favorite green tomato recipe? Let us know in the comments below!
This green tomato recipe is…
Vegetarian. For gluten-free, use gluten-free bread.
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Green Tomato Toast Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 toasts 1x
Description
Looking for an easy green tomato recipe? Try this tasty fancy toast, spread with goat cheese and topped with onion slivers and herbs.
Ingredients
- 2 large green tomatoes
- 1/4 small red onion
- 1 handful fresh chives, fresh basil or oregano
- 4 slices crusty bread (or Homemade Bread)
- 4 ounces goat cheese
- Garlic salt*
- Fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Slice the green tomatoes. Thinly slice the red onion, then rinse the slices several times under cold water. Chop or thinly slice the herbs.
- Toast the bread slices.
- On each slice of bread, spread goat cheese. Top with tomatoes, onion slivers, and herbs. Sprinkle the top of the tomatoes with garlic salt and fresh ground pepper. Serve immediately.
Notes
*You can make your own garlic salt like we did, or use store bought. Another great choice would be Herb Salt.
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Green tomato recipe, Recipes with green tomatoes, Fancy toast, Green tomatoes
Looking for appetizer recipes?
Outside of this green tomato recipe, here are a few of our favorite appetizers:
- Skillet Mexican Cheese Dip
- Baked Goat Cheese Appetizer
- Pesto Grilled Cheese Dippers with Marinara
- Vegetable Hummus Tortilla Rollups
- Mediterranean Tomato & Feta Dip
- Loaded Tater Tot Nachos
- Easy Mango Salsa & Homemade Tortilla Chips
- Paprika Goat Cheese Spread
- Happy Hour Platter with Caramelized Onion Dip
- Healthy Greek Yogurt Ranch Dip
- 5-Ingredient Classic Homemade Hummus
- Yogurt Dip with Olive Oil & Pomegranate
- Dark Chocolate Hummus Recipe
- Garlic and Rosemary White Bean Dip
- Famous Tomato Dip with Grilled Bread
What a cool idea! It looks so fresh and delicious :)
Wow these look delicious and I absolutely LOVE your presentation! Gorgeous pictures! :)
Oh, thank you!!
This looks awesome! So bright and colorful :)
i love the colors! looks delicious :)
In Northern California I am still getting ripe tomatoes from my garden (of course, we had a cool summer, and I didn’t start getting RIPE tomatoes until August!) But the season is coming to a close, so I am enjoying some green tomatoes as well. A few of my favorite ways . . . grilled cheese sandwich with green tomatoes, green tomato cake, green tomato pickles — similar to korean cucumber salad (with 1/2 thinly sliced onion, equal parts sugar and white (or rice) vinegar, red pepper flakes (optional)) . . . I have my winter crops planted (brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and winter squash) . . . and fava beans ready to go in as soon as the tomatoes are done!
Wow, my mouth is watering at this list!!! Thanks you for sharing! (And can you send some our way??)
PS I’m so jealous of your California weather :)
god, i was sold on these just from the photograph! fantastic idea.
Thanks, everyone! Hopefully you have some green tomatoes to spare? :)
Just had to say these are the best EVER! I made them the other night and can’t wait to have them again. Im glad we have so many green tomatoes! Usually we only have fried green tomatoes, so this is a great alternative! Thanks for sharing!
Haha! Love your enthusiasm. I ate a stack about 9-high myself on Sunday :)
Thank you for sharing! It’s so nice to hear when others enjoy just as much as we do! :) I’m hoping we have green tomatoes a while longer… (Alex is threatening to tear them out for the winter!).
Oh! Don’t tear them out until you get a killing frost! Enjoy them as long as possible.
Before he tears out all of his tomato plants, my Dad picks all of the remaining green tomatoes and puts them on newspaper in the basement . . . they ripen on their own and he extends his season by nearly a month.
I was wondering if it was possible to ripen them indoors! Thanks for the tip — and I will not let him tear them out just yet :)
wondering what the bread shown in the picture is….looks incredible…did you make it, and if not, where did you find it??
Haha, yes it is incredible! But not made by us :) We got it at Fresh Market – it was called “Harvest Grain Loaf”. I’d love to be able to make something like it – that will be a good project for winter :)
Your food styling/photography is amazing!! I have a Canon Rebel with a standard lens. I’m looking to get a lens upgrade. Any suggestions?
Thank you! We’re continually learning more about photography and getting more comfortable.
We shoot almost all of our pictures with a 50mm prime lens. We use the f/1.4, but the f/1.8 is an amazing lens for the money. We highly recommend either of them.