Okra and Tomatoes Recipe with Bacon
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This 4-ingredient Okra and Tomatoes Recipe is a classic Southern side dish that lets the natural flavors shine. The acidity of the tomatoes balances perfectly with tender okra, while crispy bacon and a few simple spices turn it into a flavor party you didn’t know you needed!
Okra and Tomatoes: A Match Made in Flavor Heaven
Some of my favorite recipes begin with “first you fry up some bacon…” and that immediately tells you a lot about this dish. Garden fresh spoils of the spring and summer months to create the ultimate garden dream team. I’ve made many versions of this okra recipe over the years (like my Southern-Style Fried Okra Recipe!), but this one tends to be my favorite recipe—mainly because, well, bacon! I mean, seriously. Bacon.
Take a moment to just stare in appreciation at how beautiful this tomato and okra recipe looks, all mixed up together in my vintage dish. ~sigh~ Makes my heart happy and my stomach growl. I don’t reckon you could ask for much more than that.
This tomato and okra recipe is a Southern classic that’s sure to win over even first-time okra cooks. The secret? Sautéing the okra in bacon grease at high heat to cut down on the slime factor. Juicy tomatoes, crispy bacon, and tender onions come together in this easy recipe to create a popular dish you’ll want to make again and again. The only thing left to do is grab a fork and enjoy!
Ingredients
- Bacon – turkey bacon or pork bacon
- Tomatoes – fresh tomatoes or canned diced tomatoes work
- Onion
- Okra – I used fresh okra from my sweet neighbor, but you can use frozen okra as well!
- Salt & black pepper
Flavor Enhancers
- For a spicier version, add 1 teaspoon of chili powder and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Alternatively, serve it with a drizzle of hot sauce.
- For added flavor, saute 2 minced garlic cloves with the chopped onion. You might also like to add 1/2 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning or Creole seasoning.
- For more fresh vegetables, opt for 1/3 cup each of chopped celery and fresh corn kernels and/or 1 chopped bell pepper.
How to Make Okra and Tomatoes with Bacon
1. Start by chopping up your onion and dicing your okra pods and tomatoes.
2. Next, fry your bacon in a large skillet and set it aside on a paper towel-lined plate once it is nice and crispy.
3. In the bacon grease that is now in the skillet, add your onions and cook over medium-high heat until they are translucent.
4. Add sliced okra and tomatoes and cook, stirring often, until okra is tender. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper (according to your taste).
5. Serve immediately because, well, at this point I’m usually eating it right out of the skillet anyway. Enjoy!
Top Tip
If you’re using turkey bacon instead of pork bacon, as I often do, you won’t get a lot of bacon drippings. Instead, add a tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet before adding the chopped onion.
What to Serve with Okra and Tomatoes
Enjoy tomatoes and okra as a side dish with any hearty Southern main dish, like fried chicken, pulled BBQ chicken, chili, Southern fried catfish, or chicken fried steak. Because let’s face it, everything tastes better with a little Southern charm.
Want to turn your side dish into the star of the show? Just invite some protein to the party, like cooked sausage, shredded chicken, or cooked shrimp. Secondly, serve it over mashed potatoes, rice, or grits for a hearty and filling supper.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat in the microwave, and for something different, serve it alongside scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Okra and Tomatoes Recipe with Bacon
This 4-ingredient Okra & Tomatoes recipe is smoky, savory, and full of texture! Crispy bacon, tender okra, juicy tomatoes, and aromatic onions come together in one skillet for an easy, flavorful Southern staple.
Ingredients
- 5-50 pieces bacon*
- 3 medium to large diced tomatoes
- 1 chopped onion
- 2 handfuls diced okra** (2-3 cups once diced)
- Salt & pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until crispy, turning as needed. Remove the cooked bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and set it aside.
- Keep about 4 tablespoons of bacon grease in the skillet and pour the rest into your grease jar to save.
- Place the chopped onion into the bacon grease and continue cooking over medium-high heat until the onion is translucent.
- Add the okra and tomatoes and cook, stirring often, until okra is tender. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper to taste.
- Remove to a serving bowl and generously sprinkle the crumbled bacon bits over the top.
Notes
- *I'm not really suggesting that you make this dish with 50 pieces of bacon. However, I would not object to you doing so, provided you invited me to supper. As far as the ingredients in this, you can use more or less of any one item based on what you have on hand.
- **We use turkey bacon and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet when frying the onions.
Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 94
Thank you for showing me how simple this dish is. I love Okra and Tomatoes but never learned the recipe. It looked complicated but you have now solved my problem…..and yes!!! it will be made with bacon.
🙂 I hope you enjoy it Joyce!!
Thank you for another wonderful summer recipe. Bacon makes everything better!
🙂 Amen! I hope you enjoy it!!
Sounds good, but do you have to,eat it right away? Would it be good to take to a cover dish party or will the okra get slimy?
Oh yes you can take it places. It travels well and reheats well. I was just being goofy. 🙂 sorry about that!
This dish reminds me of my mom. She fried the best okra, and sometimes added tomatoes.
Mama’s and Grandmama’s always made the best dishes didn’t they?
Not a bacon fan, but love Okra. My Oklahoma born and reared mother fried up the best Okra in the South. I miss that.
There is a special place on God’s table for a big old bowl of Fried Okra!
This will be making its way into my skillet soon! Looks delicious, and I love the idea of fried pork chops along side!
Oh my goodness, yes. They just make a meal sometimes!
Love this, reminds me of my sweet mama’s cooking. Thank you, Christy.
What precious memories and how blessed we are to have them!
When cooking a vegetable, do not add meat of any kind, nor broth, nor Bacon.
Okra is my favorite vegetable and it should be coated with cornmeal and skillet fried in vegetable oil.
Yes, I eat bacon but I do not ruin vegetables with meat products to change taste.
Thank you for your opinion, Dot. Mine is entirely different, of course, but that is the wonderful thing about our world. You don’t have to add bacon to your veggies and I can make up for it by adding double 😉
“Ruin” is the opposite of what bacon does to this dish but occasionally my daughter and I have opposite day where we have fun all day saying the opposite of what we mean. I’ll have to use this then! 🙂
Christy, This was my first solid food in almost 3 weeks. I had oral surgery and have been fitted with a full upper plate; not fun. Those who are not familiar with dentures, it’s like having a peanut butter sandwich stuck to the roof of your mouth… forever.
Saturday morning, my wife and I got fresh okra, tomatoes and butter beans from the farmer’s market. I figured, go big or go hungry. I made braised chicken thighs with mushrooms and onions; with a Cajun flare. Then I made your okra, tomatoes and bacon. Then butter beans in a homemade pork stock, with bacon and chunks from the hocks. My mouth was sore but it was divine. Your recipe is spot-on. Thank you.
God bless.
Reply:
Christy, I’ve been cooking for 60 years, professionally and otherwise and am originally from the NYC/Long Island area; now living in SC and learning to cook all things Southern. Baking is a science whereas cooking is a matter of preferences. It really irks my ire when people make their preference appear as though it’s the only way to do things.
I’m with you. Bacon makes just about everything taste better. And don’t believe the researchers who say that you lose 9 minutes of life for every piece of bacon you eat. If that were true, I died in 1798.
God bless.
LOL, blessings to you Chris!! You made my day!
What a joy you are! You’re the rare person these days who decides not to return evil with evil, but to return evil with good! I think that’s what 1 Peter 3:9 is all about!
Well okra is really good the way you said and I fix it rolled in corn meal and fried but it is really good in a gumbo with seafood and in a skillet wth bacon for season along with onion, tomatoes, okra and corn!
Dot is being doctrinaire in her opposition to cooking meat with vegetables. I suppose she doesn’t eat beef and broccoli at the Chinese restaurant? Snubs paella? Would she do the veggie and meat parts of a shish kabob on seperate skewers (this isn’t a bad idea by the way because of differences in cooking times) . There are literally thousands of recipes that call for cooking vegetables together with meat and to suggest that it is somehow wrong is just plain silly!