Traditional Southern Tomato Pie (Classic Cheesy Summer Tomato Pie)
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Traditional Southern Tomato Pie is a classic savory pie made with fresh summer tomatoes, cheese, mayonnaise, basil, and a flaky pie crust baked until golden and bubbly. This old-fashioned Southern recipe is rich, creamy, and packed with fresh tomato flavor.
The combination of juicy tomatoes, sharp cheese, and buttery crust creates the perfect balance of savory comfort food and fresh summer flavor. It’s especially popular during tomato season when garden tomatoes are at their best.
Serve this cheesy tomato pie as a light lunch, brunch dish, side dish, or easy summer dinner with salad or grilled meat. It’s pure Southern comfort food!
What Is Southern Tomato Pie?
Southern tomato pie is a savory pie popular in the Southern United States made with layers of fresh tomatoes, cheese, herbs, and a creamy mayonnaise-based topping baked inside a pie crust. It’s traditionally served during the summer when tomatoes are in peak season.
You can make a homemade pie crust. I have two recipes for you: Never-Fail Pie Crust and Coconut Oil Pie Crust. Both are wonderful when you use these pie crust tips!
You can also simply purchase a ready-made pie crust, as I did.
How to Keep Tomato Pie from Getting Soggy
Avoiding a soggy pie crust in your classic Southern tomato pie is easy with these steps.
Salt and drain the tomatoes. Tomatoes contain a lot of water. Salting them helps pull out excess moisture before baking. (Be conscious of adding any more salt to your tomato pie.)
Pat tomatoes dry. After draining, blot the tomatoes with paper towels to remove any remaining liquid.
Blind bake the crust. Pre-baking the pie crust helps keep the bottom crust crisp.
Let the pie cool slightly before slicing. Tomato pie firms up as it rests.
Best Tomatoes for Tomato Pie
Fresh, ripe summer tomatoes work best for tomato pie. Roma tomatoes are often preferred because they contain less water, but heirloom and vine-ripened tomatoes also provide excellent flavor.
Enjoy more Southern tomato pie recipes, like this Tomato Cheese Tart.
Tomato Pie Ingredients
The full recipe for southern tomato pie with ingredient amounts and instructions is at the bottom of this post. You can save a tree and save the recipe to your personal and private recipe box right here on Call Me PMc. This way you’ll never misplace it.
- large tomatoes, peeled and sliced
- pie shell, deep-dish
- mozzarella grated
- cheddar cheese, grated
- sour cream
- mayonnaise
- salt and pepper
- basil leaves
Why Is Mayonnaise Used in Tomato Pie?
Mayonnaise combines with cheese to create the creamy, rich topping that traditional Southern tomato pie is known for. The mayo helps bind the cheese mixture while adding flavor and texture during baking.
Southern Tomato Pie Recipe Method
I have found through trial and error that this pie slices much better if you peel the tomatoes and dice (instead of slice) the tomatoes.
Tips for the Best Southern Tomato Pie
Use fresh basil
Fresh basil adds classic summer flavor.
Don’t skip pre-baking the crust
This prevents soggy pie.
Use freshly shredded cheese
Freshly shredded cheese melts more smoothly.
Allow the pie to rest before slicing
Resting helps the filling set properly.
What to Serve with summer Southern Tomato Pie
Any of these recipes pairs nicely with tomato pie:
- Bowtie Pesto Pasta Salad
- grilled chicken
- grilled steak
- sweet tea
- fresh fruit
- corn on the cob
- cucumber salad
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. You can make tomato pie several hours ahead and gently reheat it.
Most people prefer it warm or at room temperature.
Yes, you can freeze it. However, fresh tomatoes release extra moisture after thawing and can make the crust soggy.
Cheddar, mozzarella, Parmesan, and Gruyère are all popular options.
Savory Southern delight: Tomato Pie has layers of ripe tomatoes, mayo, cheese, herbs, and is baked to golden perfection. A taste of tradition! Enjoy!
Traditional Southern Tomato Pie
Items in blue & underlined below can be clicked for more detail or to purchase.
Ingredients
- 4 large tomatoes peeled and sliced
- 9 inch pie crust deep-dish
- 1 cup mozzarella grated
- 1 cup cheddar cheese grated
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 basil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Blind bake the pie shell until lightly brown.
- Peel and slice tomatoes, place in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Allow to drain for 10 minutes.
- Stir together sour cream and mayonnaise, add cheeses and salt and pepper. Layer tomatoes in pie shell. And spread the sour cream mixture on top. Bake 30 minutes until lightly browned and cheese is melted. Remove from oven and sprinkle torn basil leaves on top. Cool slightly. Serve warm.
Nutrition
My go to recipe, it’s amazing. I chopped the tomatoes can fit more that way. Everyone loves it my son hates tomatoes but loved this pie.
This recipe was fantastic.
As a southern belle I love this and anything tomato! Right up my alley.Now to wait for homegrown tomatoes by the basket!
We went out for dinner and they had a tomatoe pie, had never heard of it before but when I got a taste of it oh man just had to find the recipe, thank you!!!! I’m a Florida native and I’ve made it to 55 without knowing about tomatoe pie!!!! Oh my, also loved all your sayings heard every one 😁
I have only known about it the last 10 years from my husband. I didn’t grow up eating it.
Since Mozerello does not have a lot of taste to me, would it be okay to use maybe feta cheese. Has anyone tried this before? Do I have to use basil?
Yes, definitely, you can almost always sub different cheese in recipes. I love feta, I think I’ll try that as well.
This is a great recipe. I made this yesterday for a ladies get together. No one had every had tomato pie, but everyone loved it. It was my fist time to make it and it was easy. I did add minced garlic and chopped basil to the Mayo/ sour cream mix.
I have already passed this recipe in to a family member. And I will make it again.
Thank you, Beth. I’m so happy you liked it.
there is a very easy way to peel tomatoes. dip them in a container of water that just boiled. skins almost peel themselves!
This is an awesome recipe however, the gauntlet of pop ups and ads is beyond obnoxious.
I had problems with this being too soggy. Maybe I didn’t drain the tomatoes long enough? I’ll have to try this recipe again and see if I can master the technique the second time.
Drain and pat as dry as you can with paper towels. Remove the seeds and ‘mushy’ part if there is a lot so that primarily it’s just the tomato ‘meat’. Also, don’t salt the tomatoes, salt pulls out the water. Salt the pie after it’s cooked.
I added real bacon crumbled its like Bacon and tomato sandwich only better!!!
I love tomato pie, especially with Summer’s abundant bounty. Mine are always soggy. This morning I started draining the tomatoes, completely deseeded, after breakfast to bake the pie for lunch. The pie is oozing and the crust is soggy. I want to ask if anyone has roasted the tomatoes on a rack to help dry them out.
Try baking the crust just a bit before putting in the filling.
After you bake the shell, sprinkle the bottom of the crust with some extra mozzarella cheese, put in oven just til melted, it will help prevent the crust from being soggy.
I was born and raised in Miss. We made a pie a little different. Scramble and Brown
Ground Chuck with some Chili Powder . Drain, then layer . Tomato,beef ,cheeses,
Bake and serve with a Garden Salad.
yum! that sounds fantastic
REALLY SOUNDS GOOD ❣️👋🏿💓🥰