sophisticated.kitchencomfort food recipes

Southern summer, cut in layersTomato · basil · mozzarella · pastry

Ten red-gold slices

The Best Tomato Pie

Firm ripe tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, and a tangy mayonnaise filling layered in a nine-inch crust and baked until bubbling and gold.

Bake the pie
A thick slice of Southern tomato pie on a white plate, showing tomato and cheese inside a pale crust.
A Southern tomato-pie slice shows the essential architecture: pastry around a soft tomato-and-cheese center. The queued recipe uses mozzarella, mayonnaise, and basil in a ready nine-inch shell.Photo by John Fladd · CC BY-SA 2.0
Makes
10 slices
Tomatoes
6 large
Oven
350°F
Bake
35–45 min

The filling begins on a towel, not in the pie shell. Alyssa Rivers’s Southern tomato pie asks six large tomatoes to behave like a sliceable supper. The answer is not less tomato. It is firm fruit, even quarter-inch rounds, and a measured ten-minute salt rest before mozzarella, mayonnaise, basil, and pastry meet.

The nine-ingredient formula stays intact here. There is no Cheddar, onion, egg, breadcrumb barrier, or second cheese hiding in the rewrite. The added guidance is procedural: blot the salted rounds thoroughly, follow the preparation instructions for the shell you actually bought or made, watch for bubbles and a gold edge, then let the finished pie stand before the knife goes in.

“Alyssa Rivers describes this as a closing note for summer: thick tomato slices layered with a mozzarella mixture in a simple Southern pie.”

Keep them firm

Ripe flavor matters, but soft tomatoes carry more loose juice than a pie shell can comfortably hold.

Salt, then blot

The source gives the rounds ten minutes under towels; pressing them dry finishes the moisture-control work.

Read the oven

Bubbling cheese and a golden pastry edge are the source’s stopping cues inside the 35–45 minute range.

Before the fillingSlice salt wait blot

Build a proper drain station

The source gives this stage ten minutes. A flat layer and dry towels make those minutes count.

Inside the layersRipe mild tangy green

Four ingredients carry the summer

The short list works because tomato supplies the volume, mozzarella the melt, mayonnaise the binder, and basil the lift.

01

Firm ripe tomatoes

Six large tomatoes make the pie a true summer main rather than a cheese pie with a token garnish.

Beefsteak or plum tomatoes are the source’s practical choices; firm heirlooms can work when blotted especially well.
02

Mozzarella

Eight ounces melt into a mild, stretchy layer that holds the tomato rounds together without hiding their acidity.

Shred from a block for a softer melt, as Rivers suggests, and weigh the full eight ounces before mixing.
03

Mayonnaise

Half a cup binds the cheese and basil into a spreadable filling while bringing tang and richness.

Fold only until evenly combined; the job is distribution, not aeration.
04

Fresh basil

A quarter cup gives the tomato layers a clean herbal seam rather than a dried-herb background note.

Chop just before mixing so the cut edges stay fragrant and green.

Source clock + serving restReady slice drain layer bake settle

One hour on the card, twenty minutes for composure

The published 65 minutes ends when the pie leaves the oven. The extra stand is a practical serving cue, not a silent change to the source timing.

  1. 0:00

    Heat and ready the shell

    Set the oven to 350°F and place a prepared nine-inch shell in its dish.

  2. 0:03

    Slice one steady thickness

    Core six tomatoes and cut crosswise rounds about a quarter inch thick.

  3. 0:08

    Salt under towels

    Use the full tablespoon of kosher salt and give the slices the source’s ten-minute drain.

  4. 0:18

    Blot, mix, and layer

    Dry the rounds, fold the mozzarella mixture, then build tomato and cheese in alternating strata.

  5. 0:20

    Bake by the source clock

    Give the pie 35–45 minutes at 350°F; begin looking for bubbles and a golden rim at the early end.

  6. 1:05

    Rest before the knife

    The card’s total time ends here. A further 20-minute stand makes the first slice much cleaner.

Rounds become strataRed cream basil gold

The whole pie depends on what the towels take away

Overlapping red tomato slices glistening on a wooden cutting board.
Quarter-inch rounds make an even layer. Firm tomatoes, ten minutes of salt, and a thorough blot keep their summer flavor while shedding free water.Photo by Alabama Extension / Janet Guynn · CC0 1.0
Do not trade ripeness for collapse

Choose fragrant tomatoes that still resist a light press. Soft fruit gives up more water and less structure than this short drain can manage.

An open tomato and basil tart with a golden filling and a crimped pastry edge.
This illustrative tomato-basil tart is not Rivers’s exact formula, but it captures the open-faced, herb-bright finish and browned pastry edge to look for.Photo by MOs810 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Doneness cuesDry bubbling golden settled

Four reads from dry slice to clean slice

The timer supplies a range. These visual and tactile checks tell you where your tomatoes, crust, and oven have landed inside it.

01

The tomatoes feel dry going in

Their cut faces can still shine, but there should be no pooling juice or dripping towel when the layers are built.

02

The cheese bubbles beyond the center

Small active bubbles across the filling show that the layered interior is hot, not merely the exposed edge.

03

The pastry edge is evenly golden

If one arc races ahead, shield only the crust rim with foil and leave the center open to evaporate.

04

The first cut holds after a rest

Twenty minutes on a rack lets the cheese regain body and keeps tomato juice from rushing onto the plate.

Table + leftoversRest pair chill cover reheat

Serve warm, keep the crust in mind

A tomato pie is generous enough for ten slices; the same moisture control that matters before baking matters again in storage.

Serve after the short stand

Warm is ideal: the filling is settled enough to slice while the mozzarella is still soft.

Pair with something sharp

Peppery greens and a bright vinaigrette cut the mayonnaise-and-cheese richness without competing with the tomatoes.

Chill within two hours

Transfer slices to a shallow covered container once the pie is no longer steaming hard.

Use within 3–4 days

Reheat at 325°F until the slice reaches 165°F; the oven restores the pastry better than a microwave.

The Best Tomato Pie

Alyssa Rivers’s nine-ingredient Southern tomato pie: six ripe tomatoes layered with mozzarella, mayonnaise, basil, and simple seasoning in a nine-inch shell.

Tomato PieSouthernVegetarianSummerMozzarellaBasilSavory Pie

Ingredients

For one 9-inch pie

  • 1 prepared 9-inch pie shell
  • 6 large, very ripe but firm tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt, for drawing moisture from the tomatoes
  • 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt, for the cheese mixture
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Set the prepared 9-inch pie shell in its pie dish. The source timing assumes a shell that is ready to fill; if your dough or packaged shell calls for prebaking, complete that step first and let it cool briefly.
  2. Core the tomatoes and slice them crosswise about 1/4 inch thick. Arrange the rounds in a single layer on a paper towel-lined rimmed baking sheet.
  3. Sprinkle the tomatoes evenly with the 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Cover with another layer of towels and leave for 10 minutes, as the source directs. Press the top towels gently, replace any saturated towels, and blot the slices thoroughly dry; do not rinse away the tomato flavor.
  4. In a medium bowl, fold together the mozzarella, mayonnaise, chopped basil, garlic powder, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and black pepper until evenly combined.
  5. Arrange one layer of tomatoes across the bottom of the pie shell. Spread half of the cheese mixture over them. Repeat with a second tomato layer and the remaining cheese mixture.
  6. Finish with the remaining tomato slices, overlapping where needed, and press them gently into the filling so the layers settle together.
  7. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the cheese is actively bubbling and the crust edge is golden. Shield the edge loosely with foil if it colors before the center is ready.
  8. Move the pie to a rack and let it stand at least 20 minutes before slicing. The rest is a serving clarification supported by test-kitchen tomato pies: it lets the hot filling settle instead of flooding the first cut.

Source and research references: Alyssa Rivers’s The Recipe Critic tomato-pie card for the exact nine ingredients, ten-slice yield, 20/45/65-minute timing, ten-minute tomato drain, 350°F oven, layering order, doneness cues, source nutrition, original July 2020 posting note, and author clarification that her homemade shell is blind-baked; Food Network Kitchen’s classic Tennessee tomato pie for the independent test-kitchen pattern of salting, patting dry, prebaking a wet-filling crust, and cooling before slicing; Ree Drummond’s Food Network version for a second explicit drain-and-blot method and a center that is no longer wobbly; King Arthur Baking’s tomato, basil, and mayonnaise pie for prebaking, a golden set filling, foil shielding, a rack rest, and refrigerated storage; and USDA FSIS leftovers guidance for the two-hour limit, shallow cooling, 3–4 day refrigeration, and 165°F reheating. The comparisons sharpen handling and service; they do not replace Rivers’s ingredient list or proportions.

Image credits

Photography is used under open licenses with attribution: John Fladd, Alabama Extension / Janet Guynn, and MOs810.