Gingery Pork Stuffed Tomatoes
Welcome to Tomato Week, Bon Appétit’s high-summer celebration of our all-time favorite fruit. Fill your totes with heirlooms and pack your pockets with Sun Golds: Each day, we’re sharing a brand new, extra-delicious way to make the most of this fleeting season.
- 8–10 large beefsteak, slicer, or on-the-vine tomatoes
- ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt, plus more
- 2 large eggs
- 1 2" piece ginger, peeled, finely grated
- 3 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 1 lb. ground pork
- 1⅓ cups panko
- 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced, plus more for serving
- 3 Tbsp. soy sauce, divided
- 1 Tbsp. chili crisp
- 1 Tbsp. unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
- Steamed jasmine rice (for serving)
- Place a rack in middle of oven and preheat to 400°. Using a serrated knife, slice tops off 8–10 large beefsteak, slicer, or on-the-vine tomatoes; reserve tops. Scoop cores with seeds and pulp out of tomatoes and place in a small bowl; discard fibrous cores, leaving seedy pulp behind. Season inside of each tomato with kosher salt. Arrange in a 13x9" baking dish.
- Place 2 large eggs, one 2" piece ginger, peeled, finely grated, 3 garlic cloves, finely grated, 1 lb. ground pork, 1⅓ cups panko, 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, 4 scallions, thinly sliced, 1 Tbsp. soy sauce, ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt, and ⅓ cup tomato pulp in a large bowl. Using your hands, gently mix to combine, then stuff each tomato with filling. Set reserved tops over. Bake stuffed tomatoes until pork is tender and cooked through (an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should register at least 160°), 42–47 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix 1 Tbsp. chili crisp, 1 Tbsp. unseasoned rice vinegar, 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil, and remaining 2 Tbsp. soy sauce in a small bowl. Set sauce aside.
- Serve baked tomatoes with steamed jasmine rice, drizzled with sauce and topped with more scallions.
Imagine the tender, flavorful filling of a pork dumpling —seasoned with soy sauce and brightened with a combination of ginger, garlic, and scallion. Now imagine that instead of a typical dumpling wrapper, it’s stuffed inside a juicy tomato, meant to be eaten with a fork and knife alongside a mound of rice. Cute and a little silly, it’s a fun way to use up an excess of summer tomatoes in a surprising and filling way, even straight from the baking dish.
This recipe calls for 8–10 slicer (or beefsteak) tomatoes because they can really vary in size. You’ll want all of the tomatoes full nearly to the top with your seasoned pork mixture; if your tomatoes are on the larger end, you may only have enough pork to stuff 8 in total.