Southern Tomato Pie: What To Do With All Those Summer Tomatoes

There is a very specific week in Kansas City where the tomatoes get so good it feels almost rude. You know the one. The counter has more tomatoes than counter, somebody at the farmers market handed you a bag of seconds for four dollars, and your neighbor keeps leaving them on the porch like a friendly ransom note.

That week is right now. And the only correct response, in my opinion, is tomato pie.

If you have never had it, let me set expectations. This is not a quiche and it is not a pizza. It is layers of ripe summer tomatoes and herbs under a golden, bubbling cheese lid, in a real pie crust. It is savory, it is a little decadent, and the first time I made it my husband asked if we could just have this for dinner instead of the actual dinner I had planned. Reader, we did.

Heads up, some of the links below are affiliate links, which just means if you grab something I get a tiny commission at no extra cost to you. Only things I actually use made the cut.

Why You Will Love This Tomato Pie

It tastes like the best parts of summer in one slice. Sweet tomato, sharp cheddar, fresh basil, a little bite of onion. It is the kind of thing people ask about before they finish chewing.

It uses up the tomato situation. Two and a half pounds. Gone. You are welcome.

It works for basically every occasion. Cut it into big wedges for dinner with a green salad, or slice it small and put it out at a cookout where it will disappear faster than anything on the table. It is also great at room temperature, which is the highest praise I can give a summer dish.

And honestly, it is forgiving. The tomatoes do not need to be pretty. Farmers market seconds, the lopsided ones from the garden, the one that got a little too ripe on the windowsill. They all end up under cheese. Nobody knows.

The One Thing You Cannot Skip

Salt your tomatoes and let them sit for thirty minutes before they go anywhere near that crust.

I want to be really clear about this because I learned it the embarrassing way. My first tomato pie came out of the oven looking gorgeous, and when I cut into it a small tide of tomato water rolled across the plate. The crust had given up. It tasted fine, it looked like a crime scene.

Slice, salt, wait, blot. Then blot again. That half hour of doing nothing is what turns this into a sliceable pie instead of soup in a shell. If you want a shortcut on tools, a set of half sheet pans with wire racks makes the draining part much less messy.

A Few Notes Before You Start

Grate your own cheese. I know. But the pre-shredded stuff is coated in anti-caking powder and it makes the topping grainy instead of melty. A cheap box grater takes about ninety seconds and it is genuinely a different pie.

Use full fat mayonnaise. This is not the recipe for a swap. Light mayo splits and goes watery under heat, and we just spent thirty minutes fighting water.

Blind bake the crust. A raw crust under wet tomatoes never recovers. If you do not have pie weights, dried beans in parchment work perfectly, and a good 9 inch ceramic pie dish holds heat better than the flimsy metal tins.

Store bought crust is completely fine. I make my own maybe twice a year and this is not one of those times. Nobody has ever once asked.

The Recipe

Southern Tomato Pie

A golden, cheesy Southern tomato pie made with peak summer tomatoes, sharp cheddar, and fresh herbs. Salting the tomatoes first is the trick that keeps it from going soggy.

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Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Salt and Rest Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Servings: 8 slices

Course: Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine: American, Southern

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

For the Pie

• 1 9-inch pie crust store bought or homemade, blind baked
• 2.5 lbs ripe summer tomatoes about 4 large, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1.5 tsp kosher salt for drawing out moisture
• 1 small sweet onion thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 cup fresh basil leaves torn
• 2 Tbsp fresh chives chopped

For the Cheese Topping

• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese freshly grated
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise full fat, do not use light
• 2 oz cream cheese softened
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp black pepper freshly cracked
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper optional

Method

 

Step 1: Sweat the Tomatoes

1. Slice the tomatoes about a quarter inch thick and lay them in a single layer on a sheet pan lined with paper towels. Sprinkle both sides with the kosher salt and let them sit for 30 minutes. Do not skip this. This is the entire difference between tomato pie and tomato soup in a crust.
2. Blot the tomato slices dry with fresh paper towels, pressing gently. Change the towels underneath and blot again. They should feel damp, not wet.

Step 2: Prep the Crust and Onion

1. Heat the oven to 350F. Line the pie crust with parchment and pie weights and blind bake for 15 minutes, then remove the weights and bake 8 minutes more until the bottom looks dry and lightly golden. Let it cool.
2. While the crust bakes, cook the sliced onion in the olive oil over medium low heat for 8 to 10 minutes until soft and sweet. Set aside to cool.

Step 3: Mix and Layer

1. In a bowl, stir together the cheddar, parmesan, mayonnaise, cream cheese, apple cider vinegar, black pepper, and cayenne if using. It will look thick and a little unhinged. That is correct.
2. Layer half the tomatoes in the cooled crust. Scatter over half the onion, basil, and chives. Repeat with the rest of the tomatoes, onion, and herbs.
3. Spread the cheese mixture evenly over the top, all the way to the crust edge so it seals in the tomatoes.

Step 4: Bake and Rest

1. Bake at 350F for 35 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and bubbling at the edges. If it is browning too fast, tent it loosely with foil.
2. Let the pie rest at least 30 minutes before slicing. An hour is better. Warm pie slices clean, hot pie slides everywhere. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

Use the ugliest, ripest tomatoes you can find. Farmers market seconds are perfect here.

Make ahead: assemble up to the cheese layer, refrigerate up to 6 hours, then top and bake. Leftovers keep 3 days covered in the fridge and reheat best at 325F for 15 minutes, never in the microwave.

Variations and Make Ahead Tips

Add bacon. Six slices, cooked crisp and crumbled between the tomato layers. It is very good and very much not a health food, and I have made peace with that.

Swap the cheese. Gruyere instead of half the cheddar is lovely and a little fancier. Smoked gouda is excellent if you are serving this alongside anything off the grill.

Go crustless. Layer everything in a buttered baking dish and bake the same way. It becomes more of a casserole and it is honestly great, especially if you are feeding a crowd.

Make it ahead. You can salt and blot the tomatoes and cook the onion the morning of, then assemble and bake later. You can also assemble the whole thing right up to the cheese layer, cover it, and keep it in the fridge for up to six hours before topping and baking.

Leftovers. Three days, covered, in the fridge. Reheat at 325F for about fifteen minutes. Please do not microwave it. The crust deserves better and so do you.

Quick Recipe Details

Prep time: 25 minutes
Salt and rest time: 60 minutes
Bake time: 35 to 45 minutes
Total time: about 2 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 8 slices
Storage: Covered in the fridge up to 3 days, reheat at 325F for 15 minutes

The Takeaway

Summer produce has a short window and I think we spend too much of it eating tomatoes over the sink and calling it a plan. This pie is what happens when you give them ten extra minutes of attention, and it turns a pile of ugly market tomatoes into something people talk about.

Make it once this week while they are still this good. Then tell me what you put in yours, because I am fully convinced there is a bacon and gruyere version out there that is going to ruin me. Drop it in the comments, my kitchen always has room for one more experiment.

So glad you are here.
xo, Pam