For those desperate to savor the last days of summer, the perfectly plump, impossibly juicy tomatoes at the market sure are tempting. So you lug home another few pounds of them, unable to resist but without a plan. Good news: New York Times Cooking has plenty of tomato recipes. Below are 23 that put the quintessential fruit of the season front and center, so you won’t regret following its call.
Eric Kim’s recipe “leans into the wonders of ripe tomatoes and lets you taste them as they are: raw and juicy.” He instructs cooks to sweat and soften cherry tomatoes with salt before turning them into a brothy vinaigrette with rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and ice cubes to sauce the most refreshing bowl of noodles around.
More than 9,600 five-star ratings back up this recipe title’s claim. (One particularly enamored reader went as far as saying, “I could live on it, and might.”) According to Julia Moskin, the best gazpacho can’t be judged by its color. In her recipe, even the boldest brick-red tomatoes are toned down when blended with a stream of olive oil, which offsets the bright summer fruit with a richness that lingers, like a sunset.
Recipe: Best Gazpacho
This essential dish is an “object of nostalgia for many Chinese immigrants (and their children),” Francis Lam wrote. Whether you grew up with it or are making for the first time, the tumble of custardy, just-cooked scrambled eggs sauced with slightly sweetened, ginger-scented slumped tomatoes “hits every pleasure center in the brain.”
Suited for those late summer evenings when the temperature starts to dip, Ali Slagle’s quick weeknight recipe combines juicy, blistered cherry tomatoes with caramelized gnocchi and melted mozzarella. You’ll crave it year-round.
This vinaigrette from Yewande Komolafe is a not-so-subtle way of evoking summer in whatever dish you pair it with. Charring tomatoes only deepens their sweetness, and sherry vinegar brings out their acidity. Use this to dress up just about anything: simple salads, roasted or grilled meats, and fish to name a few.
Recipe: Blistered Tomato Dressing
For an easy, breezy dinner off the grill, use a couple of pounds of your favorite tomato variety as a bed for salty, burnished halloumi, as Ali Slagle does in this recipe. The heat of the cheese draws out the tomatoes’ juices for a light sauce that’s ready to be sopped up with grilled bread.
Recipe: Spiced Grilled Halloumi
This quick fish dish from Zainab Shah embraces a sweet-and-sour flavor profile, using fresh plum tomatoes and onions cooked until golden in ghee. Complex with garam masala, cumin and other spices, it’s brightened with juicy tomatoes, fresh chile and cilantro — and comes together in less than 30 minutes.
Chopped tomato, cucumber and red onion get serious lift from dried mint, fresh herbs and lime juice in Samin Nosrat’s recipe for this tart, textural Iranian staple. To preserve the salad’s prized crunch, toss the ingredients with the vinaigrette just before serving — but make sure to enjoy every last drop. The juices at the bottom of the bowl are precious.
Recipe: Salad-e Shirazi (Persian Cucumber, Tomato and Onion Salad)
This showstopping tart may look like dessert, but it’s a decidedly savory dish, thanks to the tangy combination of cherry tomatoes and Kalamata olives. Melissa Clark suggests picking up tomatoes in a variety of colors, which would make for a more stunning mosaic (if that’s even possible).
Recipe: Caramelized Tomato Tarte Tatin
Eating the summer’s best tomatoes on grilled toast may not seem like a novel idea, but it’s really the best one there is. In this recipe from David Tanis, the Catalonian mainstay is topped with regular tomato slices and cherry tomato halves, creating what can only be described as the boss of tomato toasts.
Recipe: Pan Con Tomate
Panzanella is nothing if not an ode to summer, a means of compiling the season’s bounty of heirloom tomatoes, basil and cucumbers into one vibrant dish. This version, adapted from Gabrielle E.W. Carter, goes a step further and incorporates sweet watermelon in both the salad and the vinaigrette.
What better way to complement tomatoes’ sweetness and acidity than by dressing them in a punched-up concoction that’s salty and spicy? In this recipe from Alexa Weibel, the dressing of lime juice, fish sauce, coconut oil, chile, garlic and sugar is inspired by Thai papaya salad, and does wonders in rounding out the refreshing but mellow flavors of tomatoes and cucumbers.
As simple as summer meals can get — short of eating fruit over the sink — this classic dish needs no introduction. But Melissa Clark’s recipe guarantees the best results with the following tips: Remove your mozzarella from the fridge in advance to ease its chill and exalt its delicate flavor. Equally essential is seasoning your tomato slices individually with flaky salt, rather than simply seasoning the plated dish, to maximize your tomato’s radiance.
Recipe: Classic Caprese Salad
What sets apart this bruschetta? The quick, garlic-infused oil that’s stirred into the tomatoes and basil, replacing the traditional step of rubbing a raw garlic clove on toasted bread. There’s plenty of time to make it, too, as Ali Slagle recommends letting the salted chopped tomatoes drain for up to two hours for maximum flavor.
In many places, tomato season also happens to be avoid-the-oven-at-all-costs season. Thankfully, you can make this recipe from Sarah DiGregorio without raising the temperature in your home by 15 degrees. Let this compote burble on your kitchen countertop during the day, and you’ll have a jammy, savory spread for your ricotta toast or to mix into your pasta by dinnertime.
Recipe: Slow-Cooker Tomato Compote
By now, you’re probably sensing a theme: Pile tomatoes on toast! But if you’re in the market for a more substantial way to do that, look no further than this recipe from Alison Roman. Buttery, garlicky shrimp make this fast and flavorful dish feel a little fancy.
For those who are down to cook — but not too much — consider this seasonal recipe from David Tanis, which makes the most of ripe red tomatoes. This risotto is an impressive vegetarian main, especially when finished off with colorful slices of heirloom tomatoes.
Recipe: Tomato Risotto
In writing about this tart, Vallery Lomas describes heirloom tomatoes as “like many of us — fragile and prone to bruising.” But don’t judge them by their bumps and nicks, she adds. “Inside, there’s robust flavor and sweetness to be savored.” Marinate on that while this custardy, flaky pesto-layered tart bakes!
A pound of sweet cherry tomatoes freshens up a classic clam sauce treatment in this light, bright weeknight pasta from Kay Chun. The sauce is simple: Tomatoes are briefly cooked in olive oil, salt and pepper before thinly sliced garlic and clam juice are added to the mix.
For those who’ve wished that their caprese salad were a little more hearty, a little more dinner-worthy, allow us to introduce you to this riff on the classic. Add roasted peppers, capers, olives and prosciutto, as David Tanis does, and you have a meal capable of transporting you right to the Italian coast.
Recipe: Caprese Antipasto
The nostalgia of eating a juicy tomato, sliced and tucked between slices of mayo-slathered country bread, preferably over the sink, is undeniable. Perhaps the suggestion to make a tomato sandwich is an obvious one, but it’s also a mandatory one. Apart from the essential ingredients, Melissa Clark recommends rubbing a little garlic on the toasted bread and drizzling on a bit of olive oil before topping the tomato with some thinly sliced white onion and bacon slices. But don’t stop there. Sliced avocado, a drizzle of chile crisp and a smearing of fry sauce instead of mayo would be equally welcome modifications.
For a lip-smacking salad, ruby-red tomatoes and juicy peaches are a dream team. In this recipe inspired by Italian caprese salad and Japanese hiyayakko, Hana Asbrink pairs the fruit with tender mounds of chilled silken tofu and showers it all in an umami-rich soy-balsamic dressing. Fresh mint and basil complete a dish that’s best enjoyed on the hottest of days.
Plump, peak-summer tomatoes are saucy by nature; grate them and they need just a short whirl over heat to form this tomato sauce from David Tanis. He recommends you stock up on bruised summer fruit at a discount, then make extra sauce to stock your freezer, as a “souvenir of summer’s sweetness.”
Recipe: Quick Fresh Tomato Sauce
