8 Easy Recipes for Your Extra Garden Tomatoes

Is there anything more exciting than when your tomatoes come in? I’ve already made a bright red marinara sauce out of homegrown Roma tomatoes with my daughter (at 9 years old, she’s turning into a good cook!), soft scrambled eggs with my cherry tomatoes blistered in olive oil, and a rainbow-hued marinated heirloom tomato salad.  

Those heirlooms were particularly delicious, but what are heirlooms exactly? According to the Farmers’ Almanac, “heirloom tomatoes are varieties that have been passed down from generation to generation (bred true for at least 40-50 years).” Heirlooms are known to be more flavorful than the hybrid tomatoes you’ll find at the supermarket, which are bred for good looks rather than great taste.  

The colors, shapes, and sizes of heirlooms vary greatly—from Purple Cherokees that work perfectly drizzled with olive oil, salt, and a squeeze of lemon (maybe add some feta cheese and fresh thyme leaves to make it a meal), to Tigerella orange-and-red-striped cherry tomatoes that give a high yield and are perfect for salads—or just pop one in your mouth and prepare for a sweet and tart taste explosion. 

If your stomach is growling—and I know mine is—check out these eight garden tomato recipes. I plan to cook them all.  

8 Easy Garden Tomato Recipes 

1 of 8Thomas J. Story

Tomato and Herb Salad with Fresh Chive Cheese

Tomatoes from the farmer’s market, fresh chive cheese, and a honey vinaigrette have me drooling. This is the first recipe I plan to make.  

2 of 8Andrea Gomez

Marinated Heirloom Tomato Salad

I’ve always made this classic without marinating the tomatoes first, so I love the idea of deepening the flavor before I dig into this no-cook, easy recipe.  

3 of 8Annabelle Breakey

Tomato, Prosciutto, and Ricotta Tart

You can make this tart with any ripe tomatoes, but a mix of multicolor heirlooms looks stunning. Frozen puff pastry makes this tart easy peasy lemon squeezy. 

4 of 8Iain Bagwell

Garden Bloody Mary

Bloody Marys are like pizza, as they say. When they’re good they’re really good, and when they’re bad they’re still pretty good. But this one? Which uses fresh garden tomatoes? Let’s say that sounds incredibly good.  

5 of 8Iain Bagwell

Garlic-Basil Grilled Chicken with Caprese Salsa

I love the idea of using caprese as a salsa! Yes, you can put it on some perfectly grilled chicken, but I’m also thinking, why not a crusty baguette?  

6 of 8Iain Bagwell

Mango and Tomato Salsa

You can put salsa on chips, but this mango tomato version is not only an excellent blend of salty and sweet, it’s also delicious on a Brie quesadilla.  

7 of 8Iain Bagwell

Rainbow Tomato Bruschetta

Rainbow tomatoes picked fresh from the garden (or from the grocery store) will make this delicious bruschetta extra special.  

8 of 8Annabelle Breakey

Fresh Corn and Avocado Salad

This is a Sunset favorite that looks gorgeous enough to bring to a picnic potluck. Whip it up and enjoy the bragging rights you so richly deserve.  

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